GREENING THE ALMEIDA

We have been working to re-use or recycle parts of previous productions at the Almeida.

All of the candles used in Romeo and Juliet have been sent to the Recycled Candle Company where the wax will be re-used. The balcony used in A Streetcar Named Desire was originally built for They Drink It In The Congo in 2016. In addition, the rain effect was achieved with water that was recycled for every performance using an on-site filtration system underneath the stage.

We are committed to the Baseline standard for Theatre Green Book – an initiative that sets standards for making productions sustainably – to ensure that 50% of materials used in each production has a previous life and after the show, 65% of materials are re-used or recycled.

Our Café & Bar is committed to reducing consumption of single use plastics. Our plastic cups are from recycled plastic, our coffee cups are compostable and we offer a 20% discount if customers bring their own. We keep our menu compact and order perishable goods daily. In our kitchen, we aim for at least two-thirds of the recipes to be plant-based and we always go 90% vegan for Veganuary.

In our bar we serve Climpson & Sons Coffee, who source beans from farms with traceable environmental practices. Our wines are provided by Sustainable Wine Solutions, who work with winemakers who practice sustainable grape growing and winemaking techniques. Every bottle is returned, sterilised, and reused at least 30 times, reducing the carbon footprint of each bottle by up to 95%. We stock Toast Ale Beer – they use surplus bread to replace barley. Every piece of waste thrown away in the bar area is sorted by our staff to ensure it is reused, recycled or composted correctly.

Over the past 10 years, we’ve cut our energy us by 34% annually, saving 146 tonnes of CO2e each year – equivalent to driving 876,000 km in a diesel car or taking 146 economy flights from Paris to New York! This comes as a result of an investment of more than £700k in capital improvements, including the installation of LED lights, upgraded boilers at the theatre, air handling units in our offices, decommissioning of gas boilers, and installation of new energy-efficient windows and roofs. Some of our plans for the future include installing solar panels in our offices, and new bar windows and front doors at the theatre.

Our audiences help us reach our sustainability goals by using digital tickets and displaying them on their smartphones, and by travelling to the theatre by bicycle or public transport where possible. Hand dryers installed in the bathrooms in 2013 have saved 115,000 paper towels per year.

Staff transport emissions have been reduced by 87% since 2013. Many staff have purchased new bikes through the Cycle to Work Scheme.