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3rd - 5th Oct 2025
Dingle Food Festival - Féile Bia Dhaingean Uí Chúis

Sustainability

Dingle Food Festival
Féile Bia Dhaingean Uí Chúis

Sustainability at the Dingle Food Festival.
 
Dingle Food Festival aiming to be Zero-Waste.
 
The Dingle Food Festival, with the help of the local community sustainability group Transition Corca Dhuibhne, is continuing on its mission to be Zero-Waste to landfill.
 
People coming to enjoy the festival are encouraged to bring their own bowl, cutlery and cup to help in the effort of reducing the huge waste that is being created by the festival. 
 
The Dingle Food Festival, which takes place during the October 4th and 5th weekend, will provide rinse stations and waste segregation bins, as well as a lunch box rental system – which people can rent and return, or keep – and a reusable bowl and cutlery pack for sale.
 
Prompted by the massive growth in popularity of the festival 10 years ago, a group of locals started noticing the huge volumes of avoidable waste and rubbish that the festival was generating, and decided to do something about it.
 
‘We estimated that the festival was generating 350,000 piece of rubbish over the weekend, not to mention tons of food waste as well’,  says Transition Corca Dhuibhne member Darach Ó Murchú. ‘Most of the rubbish was single use disposable plates, bowls, cups and cutlery, all of which was needless and easily avoidable’.
 
In 2016, the group started to work with the festival to introduce attended waste segregation bins. The following year, with the support of Kerry County Council and the Community Foundation of Ireland, they started to tackle the waste at source by providing a festival pack with a reusable bowl, plate, up and cutlery available for sale at the festival. They also built an ingenious system of rinse stations so that people could wash their reusable tableware in between tastings. Since then, the rinse station system has been expanded and updated, and today forms an integral part of the festival.
 
It’s a major operation to put in place and Transition Corca Dhuibhne – entirely run by volunteers – are happy to lead the way in food festival sustainability in Ireland and beyond. 
Many other festivals around the country are following suit, taking the lead from Dingle. 
Darach adds: ’We believe that we are pioneering this model and it shows the power that a dynamic group of people, coupled with a very popular food festival, has to bring about change’. 
The group’s focus has always been to encourage people to bring their own bowls, cutlery and cups from home to use at the festival, as this is the most ecological solution. 
The festival fully embraced this concept over the past couple of years, providing the options to buy a bowl and cutlery set for 5 euros, or to rent a stainless steel lunchbox for 2 euros with a 5 euros refundable deposit, and with the cooperation of the food outlets and stalls, banning single-use bowls, plates and cutlery. 
 
Along with the Zero-Waste initiative, the festival is promoting local food, reducing waste, encouraging the use of public transport with extra local link bus services over the weekend, and other measures such as recycled oil to power the electricity for the festival.
‘We are delighted that our hard work over the years has paid off’, says Ó Murchú. ‘There is a mindset change happening amongst the public regarding disposables. People are really engaging with this issue and are having fun being creative by bringing their own bespoke bowls and containers from home. We couldn’t have achieved this transformation alone and we, Transition Corca Dhuibhne, are very grateful to our sixty volunteers, the Food Festival committee and our other supporters.’
The group are looking  forward to seeing you at the festival, and please remember to BYOB – Bring Your Own Bowl and cutlery – to the Dingle Food Festival on the 4th and 5th of October. 
 
If you would like to help Transition Corca Dhuibhne and the Dingle Food Festival achieve their aim of Zero-Waste, please sign up to volunteer for a 3-hour shift during the weekend.
Contact by email: ttcorcadhuibhne@gmail.com 
or text/WhatsApp 087 2153758 
or complete the online form: https://form.jotform.com/252113800994354

Sustainability Initiatives at the Dingle Food Festival 2025

Bear leat do babhla / Bring your own bowl

Working with our sponsors, we are endeavoring to make the Dingle Food Festival a “zero-to-landfill festival” in 2025.

The main aim is to reduce the amount of disposable packaging used over the weekend. We encourage all festival-goers to bring their own bowl and fork.

We will also offer the Dingle Food Festival bamboo pack (bowl, platter, and cutlery set) for sale, which can be used during the event and taken home for continued reuse.

Rental of Stainless Steel Bowls

To participate in the Taste Trail and markets, customers purchase Taste Trail tickets. To buy tickets, customers will need to show their own bowl, or they can rent one of our stainless steel bowls for €2 for the weekend.

4,000 stainless steel bowls and sporks will be available, to help eliminate packaging and plastic waste from the festival.

Each customer can rent a bowl and spork for €2 (with a €5 refundable deposit) for use throughout the weekend.

Rinse stations will be provided for a quick rinse if the utensils are not heavily soiled, or they can be exchanged for a clean set if needed. We will have a sanitation crew working all weekend to collect, wash, and return these items through a dishwasher at a local hotel.

There are approximately 150,000 tastings over the weekend, so it’s a big challenge for the community, but one we feel will be embraced.

Waste Bins

All bin areas will be staffed to advise festival-goers on sorting waste correctly.

Our team measured and categorised all waste last year and will do the same this year to provide metrics on improved waste management. Removing disposable packaging from the tastings should make a significant difference.

HVO Generators

We will run our generators on ethically sourced HVO for the weekend, providing electricity for the market stalls.

We are transitioning most of our printed material to online resources, including our festival programs.

Green Transport

Our team are working with Bus Éireann and TFI to provide more buses over the weekend to reduce car journeys.

Sustainable Practices

In the past demos and workshops were part of our festival. We have now switched these to demonstrations on traditional skills and sustainable practices. This aims to emphasise the importance of learning from the past to inform the future.

For any further information, contact Martin at info@dinglefood.com or 0879177700.