Environmental Agenda

To combat climate change RIFF has put in place measures and an environmental agenda to be an environmentally friendly and sustainable film festival. RIFF's commitment to the environment is reflected in the program, especially in the A Different Tomorrow section, which showcases socially conscious documentaries on environmental and human rights issues. This section was established over ten years ago and holds increasing relevance and popularity with local audiences. For an Iceland-based festival to reduce the carbon footprint holds its geographic challenges. We have taken the following steps to become a green enterprise, where the mantra is to reduce, recycle and reuse: 

Steps to reduce our footprint, recycle and reuse materials.

• To reduce the number of flights, we have made sure to connect the travels of our foreign guests with other festivals, which play around the same time.
• The festival brochure is printed by Litróf, a Nordic Swan Eco-labelled printing company, that uses sustainably manufactured paper and minimizes all material waste in the printing and cutoff process.
• During the festival, the staff primarily use Hopp electric scooters and bicycles to get around the city.
• The festival has a co-operative agreement with Aleppo Cafe, a bakery in the same street as the office. The festival office receives bread and pastries, from the day before, which otherwise would have been thrown out, in exchange for some free publicity. This reduces food waste and provides our staff with free meals.
• Our ticketing system has been digitized to a very large degree, decreasing unnecessary material usage to a minimum.
• Old material bags and t-shirts are being reused for giveaways at the festival.
• Leftover posters are reused to make new ones and thereby reduce the amount of paper.
• Handouts and printouts have all been reduced in amount and transferred online, digitizing more than ever before.
• The use of plastic glasses, cutlery and plastic bags has been prohibited on our premises and events.

With the help of all involved, RIFF's environmental additions to the festival will be able to advance over the coming years. 

Featured image by: Photo by Alex Talmon on Unsplash