New Years Eve in Sydney could look different with city councillors looking to scale back fireworks for more environmentally friendly alternatives.
The Daily Telegraph report that that councillors have voted to carry out detailed reporting on the environmental impact of fireworks as part of the war on carbon emissions.
City of Sydney deputy mayor Sylvie Ellsmore said the council is also seeking the public’s input into ways to reduce festivity carbon footprint, in a “creative ideas competition”.
“We know the fireworks have a negative impact, but the community loves them so it’s the council’s responsibility to look at keeping them going but more sustainably,” she said.
“The emissions are primarily from residue from the fireworks and we think there are things that can be done that could make them more sustainable.
“That could be looking at things such as the use of drones or it could be light shows.
“We’re getting increasing feedback from the public about the environmental impact and that’s increasing year on year.
“We want to find a way to have a big party but not in a way that’s harmful to the environment.”
She assures that they are not trying to “cancel New Years Eve” but want to celebrate in a way that takes better care of the environment.
The public have had mixed reactions to this, while some agree with the effort, others, like Paul Nicolaou, executive director of Business Sydney, disapproves of any changes, saying “leave the fireworks alone”.
“It’s an iconic event for Sydney and Australia and our fireworks are shown on TV screens across the world,” he said. “This is the one night in Sydney everyone looks forward to – why do we need to look at alternatives and try to destroy everything we’ve got?” he said.
“We’re talking about half an hour at 9pm and 12am once a year. The fireworks bring in millions to the city and NSW from tourists interstate and around the world. It needs to be left alone.”
Many suggest drones to be a suitable replacement for fireworks.
Sydney Chef Luke Mangan supports the council’s review and believes drones to be the best option to replace fireworks.
“During Vivid the best thing I saw was the drone show (and) the amount of people that turned out at Circular Quay to see it was just like New Year’s Eve,” he said.
“They should replace the fireworks with drones because there are other ways of celebrating New Year’s Eve and the cost of the fireworks is astronomical
“We see the fireworks every year but drones are different and also more environmentally friendly.”
Drones are driven by electricity and can be reused every year, thus being more sustainable.
The City of Sydney previously conducted a review and found that it would take 6500 drones to produce the New Year’s show, at least to the same scale.
The council are currently investigating methods to improve the carbon footprint of the New Year’s Eve shows.
