Sustainability

The University of Sydney has a long-standing commitment to caring for Country and fostering sustainable practices. As part of the University, we too are dedicated to reducing the environmental impact of our events and theatre productions.

Green cuisine

At our bars and café, instead of plastic options, you’ll find bamboo cutlery, paper straws and paper cups. Plus, we provide free drinking water stations and encourage the use of Keep Cups to reduce reliance on single-use products.

We donate surplus food from our bars and café to charities like Oz Harvest and Wayside Chapel, and our commitment to food waste prevention extends back-of-house too. We have a food scraps collection system in our office kitchen and main green room, and we donate these scraps to the University’s community garden compost.

Sustainable suppliers

We pride ourselves on working with suppliers committed to sustainable sourcing, packaging and delivery practices, and we strive to support as many local businesses as possible.

European Catering are committed to sustainable practices such as waste management, recycling, and energy efficiency. They write seasonal menus to reflect the availability and quality of ingredients, and connect with local producers such as cheese made in Marrickville and butter churned in the Shire.

Also based in Marrickville is our ice cream supplier, Serendipity. Proudly carbon-neutral, Serendipity pack their ice creams in recyclable packaging and reuse machine-cooling water in other parts of their factory. Plus, since 2014, they've been fully powered by green energy.

Eco lighting

On the audio-visual side, our technical team has spent the last few years changing many of our lights to LED—no mean feat for a complex, multi-venue performing arts centre like ours!

All our external and foyer lights, plus the house lights in our three main theatres, are now LED, as are the flood lights and lighting rig in the York Theatre, and the flood lights in the Everest.

Switching to LED has reduced our energy consumption significantly, and moving away from traditional lamps means less need for new bulbs and lighting gels, so less landfill waste.

Paper Usage

We’re also reducing our paper usage. We strongly encourage customers to opt for e-tickets rather than printed tickets, and patrons can now place their e-tickets into their phone wallets for further digital access ease. Our season show programs, which were previously printed, are now available electronically via QR codes outside the theatre. Furthermore, our paperless ethos has extended to our bathroom facilities, where we encourage patrons to use hand dryers over paper towels.

We are committed to creating an ongoing culture of environmental sustainability here at the Seymour. Working with our suppliers, hirers and resident companies, we're always looking for new ways to expand upon our current sustainable practices and minimise our impact on the earth.

 

Pictured: Attendee of Sydney Youth Theatre Festival, 1985