GREENING THE ALMEIDA

As a national arts venue that receives some of its income from Arts Council England, we are committed to monitoring the impact our productions and our employees have on the environment. When producing more than six plays a year, it is important that each one has considerations about materials we use and what their future life may be, from our stage to touring across the country and beyond. All sets are recycled or stored and reused for future life.

We are making a commitment 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 and 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, Chef Tom Artiss aims 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 – and every piece of waste thrown away in the bar area is sorted by our staff to ensure it is reused, recycled or composted correctly.

Since 2013, we have made a 42% reduction in gas usage at our theatre and 43% reduction in electricity. Hand dryers were installed in the bathrooms in 2013 and have saved 115k paper towels per year. In May 2022, we decommissioned our gas boilers and switched to heat pumps in our rehearsal room and offices. In 2018, the installation of LED lighting reduced our energy usage by 20%. We are also in the planning and fundraising stages of a capital project to improve the insulation and energy efficiency of our offices.

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.

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