Acting City of Launceston mayor Danny Gibson said it was an exciting partnership between the festival and council.

“For the very first time we’re going to have the opportunity to recycle almost all elements of waste from the event,” he said.

Council waste and environment officer Michael Attard said it was an exciting opportunity.

“We’re going to be able to recycle in the way of composting the food packaging,” he said.

“We’re going to be able to divert a lot of this stuff that would otherwise go to landfill. We’re going to be able to take it to our organics processing facility, and turn that into compost.

“It’s a really fantastic outcome, because what we’re hoping for is to try and be able divert at least five tonne of this material. Last time we did an audit for the whole thing of the festival, and we’re looking at around 18.5 tonnes of waste that was generated.”

He said about half was recycled and half was general waste.

Festivale chairman David Dunn said this was a natural step for the festival.

“We’re really keen to have Festivale leave the most minimal footprint on the environment that it can,” he said.

“Tassie’s got a great reputation for being clean and green and recycling where we can … it wouldn’t be responsible of us to not go down this line with the amount of waste that we do generate.”

Festivale will run from February 1 to 3 at Launceston’s City Park.

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