The OTWO team recently held Gibraltar’s very first Eco festival held on Saturday 24th September 2022 at the Europa Pool.

A statement follows below:

Gibraltar’s very first Eco festival held on Saturday 24th September 2022 at the Europa Pool and organized by the OTWO team and was a total success. Over 450 people attended and enjoyed a family day out filled with various activities, marquees and markets showcasing their many sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives for day to day living. 

The day was full of activities; A cycle was arranged first thing in the morning from Small Boats Marina that headed all through Line Wall Road straight to the venue. The doors opened at 10:30 with an Aqua Zumba class spearheaded by the lovely Justine Wilding, from there we had a presentation of Pedal Ready Certifications Level 1. This was presented by the Hon Paul Balban to the many children who attended their summer programme initiative cycling proficiency course. After, Yusef Moudden graced us with his cool acoustic sounds and finished the day with a DJ set by the one and only Adrian Dalli - Dj Dalliflow. All this with a jumping castle throughout the day, pool access and a BBQ lunch, it was a fun day all round.

We had a total of 8 companies showcasing their eco-friendly products and services at the marquees; AMA Services, Spirit of the Rock, Cycle Centre, Backing the planet, Unpacked, EBike Gibraltar, Eco Passion and La Linea Verde. The variety of products and services now available is truly outstanding – it has never been easier to make a difference. 

We had a lovely market area where a raffle was organized by UCM who coordinated their Everesting Challenge from there, all for the GBC Open Day fund. Handmade gorgeous jewelry and many vegan, eco-friendly make up options were made available to the public. The Department of Environment also set up a stall to join us for the day and showcased the incredible work that has been done by them. 

All involved at the Eco Festival donated an item of their choice to create a gorgeous hamper which was raffled for all proceeds to go to the GBC Open day fund.

We must give a special mention and our thanks to many different departments and organizations that helped us along the way to help make this the success it was. Steven Victory from the GSLA and his team for allowing us to use their facilities and helping us throughout it all. Alain Gatt from the Department of the Environment for his constant support. Gareth Latin and all from GFA for donating the astroturf that helped us beautify the Europa Pool and help make the festival, chillout vibe it was. Daniel Massias from Eroski and Daniel Linares from ATM European Gib for the donation and borrowing of all the pallets that were used at the festival. Gary Evans and all from Gib Scaffolding for setting up the bicycle parking and last but certainly not least; Jonathan Collado and all his professionals at Fresh Entertainment for their support throughout. 

Eco Park kindly collected all waste created by the event. The whole event produced only 240 kgs of waste all of which has been properly recycled ensuring that none has been left decomposing on a rubbish heap. Next year, we will endeavor to create less waste even if the event will be over a longer period.

Following this success and incredible demand by local and international organizations we are pleased to announce that next year we will host another event to promote a life of sustainability. It will be known as Green Week and will end with the Eco Festival as a two-day event. Any organization wishing to be part of this event are asked to email us on [email protected].

Our upmost gratitude must go to our 4 main sponsors – Eco Park / Metalrok, Isola’s, EVG and AMA Services without which this would have not been possible achieve. Gibraltar’s business community is indeed showing the way to go. Many, many more collaborations to come, it is time to make this change happen.