Good for our community good for the planet

26 April 2024

Varmints, 2013. Photo by Manuel Vason. Varmints was a co-production with Sadler’s Wells and Stratford Circus looking at the impact that the arrival of high rise buildings and regeneration can have on nature. See the full project here.

Earth Week has given us the opportunity to focus on one of our goals, which is to build a sustainable organisation that is fit for the future. We have reflected on what we already do as an organisation and what we can do more of to promote and normalise sustainable behaviour and minimise our impact on the environment.

It can sometimes feel overwhelming and out of our control, but we firmly believe that many people making small changes can make a big difference to our environment.

Here are some of the things that we currently do as an organisation to maintain a sustainable environmental footprint:

• We are based in a BREEAM standard building, meaning that the Talent house was designed to allow us to determine and drive sustainable improvements in the running of the building.
• 90% of our core staff cycle, walk or take public transport to work, with 50% cycling or walking.
• We bank ethically
• We are on a journey to replacing all our building suppliers with ecological choices – for example all of the free sanitary products we provide are made from organic materials
• We prioritise serving vegan, vegetarian and ethically sourced food at our events.
• We responsibly dispose of electric goods
• We encourage our staff not to use single use plastics

Here are the things that we are committed to implementing over the next year and beyond:

• Developing a green checklist for people who hire our space and for all the programmes and projects we run.
• Extending our building recycling initiatives
• Taking over our building heating controls from our landlord to allow us to regulate the energy we use.
• Engage our beneficiaries in at least one environmentally focused project a year.
• Continuing our move towards using sustainable and ecological suppliers for all our operational and programme needs.
• Providing staff training and education on environmental sustainability
• Partnering with and learning from companies and organisations that share our environmental values.

Finally, we would love to hear from you on what you’re doing in this area and if you have top tips to share with us on how we can continue to improve our environmental efficiency and help promote sustainability in the arts sector and in life.

Please email office@eastlondondance.org with your comments or suggestions.