Celebrating our neighbourhood at South Bank and Waterloo Eco Fest
On Sunday 13th September, neighbours came together at St John’s Waterloo for South Bank and Waterloo Eco Fest – a local celebration of sustainability, creativity and family fun. As our annual community event, this was organised by South Bank and Waterloo Sustains Us in collaboration with South Bank and Waterloo Neighbours, Coin Street and many local partners.
Building off the success of last year's Wonderful Waterloo and South Bank Fun Day, this year we explored how we can reduce waste in our neighbourhood through practical ways to swap, share, repair, recycle and reuse.
A little rain didn't stop us and St John’s was buzzing with activity. We browsed clothes and book swaps, learned new repair skills, received personalised energy-saving advice and energy-saving tools like draught excluders, got hands-on with low-waste planting, explored clay reuse, learnt about retrofit and circularity, refilled pantry essentials and discovered more about local recycling and waste services.
Families enjoyed face painting, arts and crafts, while the Junk Orchestra sound garden brought music and creativity with instruments from reclaimed materials. A dance workshop and performance added even more energy, creating a lively atmosphere.
Thank you once again to our partners, volunteers and everyone who helped make Eco Fest a warm, welcoming and inspiring afternoon. Every item repaired, reused, recycled, swapped or shared represents a step towards a fairer, greener South Bank and Waterloo, and it was wonderful to see so many people taking part.
Upcoming community resource to help you save waste locally
As part of the afternoon, attendees added to a growing map of local tips and tricks for reducing waste in the neighbourhood. Sustains Us is collating these ideas to create a local resource to share with residents. You can sign up to our newsletter to be notified when this is released.
Additions included everything from shops that accept soft plastic recycling and locations of clothing banks to repair services, electrical recycling points and other useful community resources. A special congratulations to our prize winners on the day for their map contributions and eco-pledges!
Feeling inspired to get involved?
If Eco Fest has inspired you to get involved locally, the Living Green Challenge offers plenty of ideas and opportunities.
We are also always keen to welcome new members to the Sustains Us Residents Group, which is run in partnership with SoWN. If you would like to find out more, please reach out.
