![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2016\/03\/incentives1.png?resize=697%2C345&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nWith huge amounts of waste being created every year by music festivals across the world, is it about time that events try to minimise waste to help preserve the planet that we all rely on? Glastonbury alone created 1650 tonnes of solid waste with 54 tonnes of that being plastic bottles and cans! This begs the question, should we all carry on and slowly suffocate our planet or should event managers step up and take responsibility?<\/p>\n
It is simple, consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the impact that human\u2019s hedonistic lives are having, and are making an effort to reduce their own carbon footprints. Therefore, the incentives are clear:<\/p>\n
Due to the incentives of becoming a green event, some festivals can be seen as green washing their event. This is when they say they have green policies in place to gain the consumer demand however they do not always implement those policies. Consumers should be aware of this so that they can make an informed decision and watch out for green washing festivals.<\/p>\n
So why wouldn’t you want to attract a more conscious consumer who wants to enjoy festivals without the negative impact? Becoming green is not a token gesture for the marketing department, it is a long term investment so inevitably it has some cons:<\/p>\n
These challenges are offset by the increasing consumer demand of green events which means it can become cost effective in the long term. Here are the people who have already jumped on the bandwagon and are proving green is the way forward. Now the only question is should resources be used to prevent waste or to manage it once it has been created?<\/p>\n
The ideal event would prevent all waste from being created, in reality this will never happen but we should all prevent as much as possible. One music festival in the UK leading the way is Shambala with a 10,000 daily capacity. They have received a Greener Festival Award two years running and champion prevention of waste. Their main initiative to achieve this is banning single use bottles and selling metal bottles that can be filled up from the taps around the site. This prevented an impressive 10,000 plastic water bottles from being wasted. Additionally the caterers and drinks outlets used hard plastic glasses where people paid a \u00a31 bond to use them, gaining this bond back when they returned the glass. These preventative measures and their wind turbines has allowed them to be carbon net positive, so why are we not all following suit?<\/p>\n
Even after your best preventative measures, chances are there will still be some solid waste floating about the arenas and camp sites, so what do you do with it? A leading example is an initiative in Ohio, USA which has received awards for its work with music festivals to divert as much waste as possible from landfills. In the first year it managed to divert 33% of a festival\u2019s waste materials from landfill, four years later and the figure is approximately 96%.<\/p>\n
How they avoided landfill:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2016\/03\/avoid-new.png?resize=803%2C422&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n
The dream festival would be able to prevent all waste however this is unrealistic. Therefore festivals need to apply resources to both prevention and management of the waste created. The European waste hierarchy creates a standard protocol that all festivals could follow to make sure they are being as green as possible.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2016\/03\/waste-hierachy.png?resize=2000%2C1091&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n
Image sourced from Wikipedia (2016)<\/p>\n
Applying the hierarchy to festivals, the most favourable option would be to prevent the waste in the first place. We could all learn something from the Shambala festival where their prevention methods are already proving successful. As you move down the pyramid the focus shifts to what to do with the waste that you do have. The more of it that you can re-use or recycle the better. Any other last ditch attempt to recover items may seem futile at this point but is an important part to make sure as much as possible avoids landfill. The items that cannot avoid landfill can then set the new waste target for your festival!<\/p>\n
Sources of images used:
\nWikipedia. (2016). Waste Hierachy.<\/i> Available: https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Waste_hierarchy. Last accessed 25th February 2016.
\nHedges, D. (2015). Glastonbury Festival 2015.<\/i> Available: https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/brizzlebornandbred\/19244167956. Last accessed 25th February 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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