Cleaning up
Ryans Cleaning is dedicated to ensuring the service it provides to event organisers is as environmentally friendly as possible
“We make sure that anything that’s not separated on-site by the public goes across an MRF – a conveyor belt that separates different streams of rubbish – when it goes on to the waste disposal company”
I f you happen to be at a major music festival or sporting event in Ireland this year, there’s a pretty good chance that Thurles-based Ryans Cleaning was responsible for ensuring the cleanliness of the venue – and doing so in an environmentally sound way.
The company was set up as a general cleaning service for local schools and businesses by husband and wife team, Pat and Phil Ryan, in the mid 1980s.
Being asked to do the clean-up for the three-day Féile – aka the Trip to Tipp – in the early 1990s was the first step towards its subsequent focus on providing the cleaning before, during and after indoor and outdoor events.
“MCD asked us to do the concerts in Slane and it expanded from there,” explains waste manager Aisling Ryan, who’s also Pat and Phil’s daughter.
These days, clients include Electric Picnic, the Three Arena, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, the National Ploughing Championships and eight of the biggest racecourses around the country.
The business, which employs 46 people full-time, has also expanded to the UK, where it started off at the V Festival in 2005. Since then it has worked on a number of high profile events and is the preferred event cleaner for Live Nation.
Strongly committed to reducing the impact of its activities on the environment, two of its four ISO quality standards are for its environmental management and event sustainability management systems. “We have to follow a lot of procedures to remain a sustainable company,” says Ryan.
One of the main concerns is ensuring that as little as possible of the waste collected at events goes to landfill. “For some of our events, we have zero waste to landfill,” Ryan says. “We’re trying to get all of them as much as possible to zero to landfill but some are more difficult than others. It depends on the type of audience.”
Some of the tools used to help increase recycling at events include the company’s three-bin strategy with coded signage and its mobile baling facilities for compacting cardboard and aluminium on-site.
“We make sure that anything that’s not separated on-site by the public goes across an MRF – a conveyor belt that separates different streams of rubbish – when it goes on to the waste disposal company. We put that effort into all of our events.”
A current challenge is the number of tents being left behind at festivals. “We’re looking into options to see if there are any new ideas out there from other companies to help us to recycle those.”
The company also works closely with its clients on their waste management strategies. “Working alongside Croke Park we’ve helped them to achieve a 95% recycling rate within five years, which is huge,” notes Ryan.