As thousands prepare to take to the city's streets and squares for the magic of Manchester Day: Let the Games Begin! (Saturday 27 July) Manchester's favourite day of the year is set to be the cleanest and greenest yet.
Manchester City Council has been a long-standing advocate and supporter of encouraging Mancunians to increase sustainability through their everyday efforts such as recycling. The city’s end-goal is to be able to call itself zero-carbon by 2038. And so, as the city makes way for the thousands of visitors, who are expected to flock into the centre to celebrate, there will be chances throughout the day for everyone to do their bit in helping make Manchester and the events more sustainable through saving energy and reducing waste.
With all-singing and dancing performers, adventurous acrobatics, and pop-up performances for on-lookers to dance and sing along to, all inspired by an international summer of sport, the day promises to be an energetic one! Throughout the city, up to 70 locations have already signed up to offer year-round free water refills to members of the public who need a top up after a thirsty morning or afternoon spent in the city centre.
Manchester Day participants can find out where exactly they can quench their thirst by downloading the Refill app. Food and drink traders on the day as well as businesses across the city have also committed to keeping things sustainable by offering a reusable cup scheme in their bars to stamp out the use of single use plastic.
With the whole of Manchester designed to run where possible on “people power” as well as lots of reusable energy, stall holders will now also be able to plug their electronics into mains power, which replaces the generators that kept most businesses going on busy events days. If there are generators about, rest assured that they run on bio-diesel, usually made from recycled greases or vegetable oil.
The council are working closely with award-winning outdoor arts specialists, Walk-the-Plank, who tailor their events to be eco-friendly. Walk The Plank have previously won multiple awards for their sustainable practice, including a 4* Creative Green award from Julie’s Bicycle for Manchester Day 2019. The programme for this year’s Manchester Day has been put together with sustainability at the forefront and intends to have a low carbon impact.
For those travelling into the city centre for Manchester Day, visitors are being encouraged to walk, hop on public transport, or even use one of the many cycling hubs across the city to get to their destination and to help to their bit to reduce their carbon footprint. Visitors can plan their route by visiting Bee Network.
To help further ensure the city council does its bit to keep Manchester Day and the rest of its year-round calendar of events evergreen, the council is taking part in a national pilot scheme to trial a brand-new Green Events Code of Practice. The code details how event organisers, supply chains and local authorities can create sustainable events that don't impact negatively on the environment and will eventually be rolled out nationally.
Find out more about Manchester Day: Let the Games Begin and its path to keeping all things green.
Councillor Pat Karney, Chair of Manchester Day, said: “As we get set to celebrate Manchester's favourite day of the year once again and this time with a sporting flavour to mark an incredible summer of sport ahead, we're really going for gold in pulling out all the stops to make sure this year's event is the greenest yet.“With thousands of visitors expected in the city centre on the day we're asking all of them to join us in thinking about the future and doing their bit to help make the event as green as possible.
“Whether that's walking, using public transport, or bringing a re-fillable water bottle in with you, every little helps.“If all of us could just commit to going that extra green mile on Manchester Day as we enjoy everything that's on offer, that would be really amazing, because the race is well and truly on to secure a long-lasting greener future for all of us in the years to come.”