Providing international flavours with a global conscience is the goal at Saturday’s Night of Nations, the annual Cedar International School food fair fundraiser, as organisers will attempt to make the event environmentally friendly, according to a release from the school.

The evening “has always been a community event of fun, food and entertainment celebrating diverse cultures that exist here in the BVI,” the release said. But it has also had a major drawback: “the garbage mountain” of plastic cutlery, tableware, drink cans, food and other garbage that must be sent to the incinerator.

This year, organisers say, they aim to reuse 95 percent of the waste from the function. Leftover food will be fed to pigs, utensils will be washed, and some drinks will be served in reusable cups, the release states.

Recycling is also on the menu. The Solid Waste Department will collect all the beverage cans from the evening and deliver them to a metal recycler in Sea Cows Bay.

Attendees at the event will play their part in the green scheme by discarding their waste in three different bins, according to the release: one for food, to be picked up by a pig farmer; another for cans; and a third for used utensils, which school volunteers will take home and wash.

Green VI, a local non-profit organisation focusing on sustainability issues, has supplied most of the know-how to get the project going, the release states, adding that the group is working with partners to develop territory-wide aluminium and glass recycling systems.

Greentech has supplied “green tableware” that is biodegradable and compostable, which means that if it does end up in the territory’s incinerator, less toxic gas would be released than with polystyrene counterparts, according to the release.

The scheme takes more organisation and co-ordination, but it is worth the effort, according to Scott Crawford, CIS director.

“I’m grateful to my organising committee,” Mr. Crawford said. “It’s great to have the support of Greentech for materials, and Green VI for knowledgeable assistance to be able to lead the way forward.”

Event organisers hope to “create a template through this pilot scheme where other educational institutions can follow,” the release states.

Entertainment

The Lashing Dogs will headline the event. Before that, entertainment begins at 4:30 p.m. with Bele Pitche, followed by Hawaiian hula dancing and a South African gum boot dance.

A Tae Kwon Do demonstration will start at 5:15, and the Lashing Dogs are to play from 5:30-6:30. The event will close with a visit from moko jumbies.

For further information call Jaeda Wooldridge at 494-9312.

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