Environmental Sustainability

Feeding people is hard work but wasting food is even harder (for the environment). We’re working with OzHarvest to donate any surplus edible food and make sure that these items don’t go to waste. 

In 2022, approximately 96% of the waste generated during Vivid LIVE was reused or recycled (up from 70% in 2019!). 

Not sure which recycling receptacle your waste should go in? Just ask our friendly Waste Warriors! We’re working hard with our collaborators at Quayclean to beat that record by deploying a dedicated waste management team called Waste Warriors. You'll spot them roaming throughout the festival sorting through waste to ensure everything goes to its rightful place.

Thanks to the Waste Warriors, we're maximising our recycling rate and diverting recyclables from landfill. 

Sydney Opera House is a proudly single-use plastic free venue.

At all our Vivid LIVE events, we’re using 100% reusable or compostable options to serve food and drinks for you to enjoy.

Make your actions count by bringing your own water bottle. You can stay hydrated with a number of hydration stations located across the Opera House site. 

Raring to get to your show? Consider leaving the car at home and taking public transport to reduce your footprint.

Artist flights and accommodation is also carbon neutral and more than ever before, we're providing "green" riders too. We're supplying artists with reusable water bottles and setting up water stations in dressing rooms as an alternative to single-use plastic bottled water. 

The Opera House is committed to creating a safe and welcoming environment for all artists and audiences at Vivid LIVE in line with our diversity, inclusion and belonging commitment that the Opera House - who we are and everything we do - reflects and respects the diversity of the community. 

Some of the many ways we are doing this is by providing all-gender bathrooms and a Changing Places facility for staff and patrons; collaborating with Gig Buddies who provide adults with intellectual disability the social opportunities by pairing them with volunteers to attend gigs; welcoming patrons who are blind or vision impaired to experience the Lighting of the Sails through Audio Description; regularly training our public facing staff in delivering excellent customer service; and more. 

For further information about accessibility at the Opera House.