Greening NYE

New Year's Eve campaign to reduce disposable water bottles at the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney and the Domain

Around 25,000 people visit the managed access areas that surround the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney on New Year's Eve. Many of them are overseas tourists and are not aware that a day in the sun without adequate water supply can lead to dehydration. Those who are aware drink substantial amounts of bottled water and other beverages that are sold on site. Alcohol licensing requirements also require the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust (the Trust) to ensure that no alcohol is brought on site. People put alcohol in soft drink bottles, so no open soft drinks or water bottles are allowed on site. Therefore this increases consumption by this method once people are on site.

The Trust is part of the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) and wants to provide an example of how to make Sydney a more sustainable 'event' city. Their staff aim to be leaders in environmentally sustainable practices. They work to reduce negative impacts of events by incorporating and promoting recycling practices and other initiatives into our operations.

The use of disposable plastic bottles creates a range of issues including

1. creating a large and costly amount of rubbish to be collected and disposed of;
2. many of the containers are put into waste rather than recycling bins and therefore dumped at landfill sites;
3. that they are an environmentally expensive method of supplying water to people because huge amounts of resources are used to extract, bottle and transport the water via bottles. The packaging creates the same issues;
4. encouraging a 'throw away' mentality in people in a world of ever diminishing resources.

For the Trust with its own limited financial resources, the scheme must recover its costs, including staff costs.

Our events provide an opportunity to educate the community and change their attitudes and behaviours towards water and environmental conservation.

The Campaign

The Trust will be selling attractive re-usable metal New Year's Eve branded souvenir bottles for $15.00 each, that once purchased can be refilled for free from a water station located in the two public access areas for the duration of New Year's Eve. There will be a souvenir bottle sales point prior to entering Mrs Macquaries Point and area which caters for 70 per cent of the crowds, adjacent to the Art Gallery. They will also be on sale at the two public sites.

We will also encourage people to re-use their disposable bottles. Any other non-New Year's Eve branded bottles will be able to be refilled for a lesser price of $2.00, at our water stalls.

To achieve the goal of reducing disposable bottles all other beverages sold on site will have a minimum price point of $3.50. This minimum price point has been introduced for but not limited to carbonated soft drinks, still waters, mineral waters, iced teas, sports drinks, packaged fruit juices and mixer drinks. 

This will ensure that the branded reusable bottles have value both as a souvenir and as a container for free water.  The pricing for the scheme provides a disincentive to repeatedly purchase beverages in disposable containers.

New Year's Eve at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and Domain is a Waste Wise Event

The Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust is committed to achieving best practice in environmental management. Help us lessen the impact of NYE celebrations on our environment by making your new year’s resolution to be a part of the solution to environmental sustainability rather than the problem.  We need your help to keep the recycling streams clean. Please use the correct bin when disposing of general waste or recycling. If you bring a picnic, please pack it in reusable containers and take them home with you. All packaging of food and drinks sold on Trust land for NYE is biodegradable or recyclable. We cannot recycle containers if the recycling bins have general waste in them. If contaminated, the recycling station will send the containers to landfill. Help us protect our environment and contribute to a sustainable future.

Responsible Service of Alcohol
Only people aged 18 and over are able to drink and purchase alcoholic beverages. If you are aged between 18 and 25 years or look particularly young and wish to purchase alcohol at our events you maybe asked to show proof of age. 

You will need to provide security and bar staff with the following proof of identity:

1. NSW RTA Drivers Licence  or Interstate Drivers Licence http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/licensing/index.html
2. Passport (NO Photocopies)
3. NSW RTA Photo Card http://www.olgr.nsw.gov.au/liquor_info_photo_card.asp or interstate Proof of Age cards
4. Overseas Driver Licences with photo ID incorporated

International identification cards, International drivers licences and internal passports from other countries are not acceptable.