{"id":1596,"date":"2016-03-01T15:44:22","date_gmt":"2016-03-01T15:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eventsglos.wordpress.com\/?p=1596"},"modified":"2018-11-05T16:48:15","modified_gmt":"2018-11-05T16:48:15","slug":"are-festivals-a-load-of-rubbish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/2016\/03\/01\/are-festivals-a-load-of-rubbish\/","title":{"rendered":"ARE FESTIVALS A LOAD OF RUBBISH?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are festivals a load of rubbish?<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/em><\/h3>\n

Did you know that 23,500 tonnes of waste is created by festivals in the UK each year?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Festivals have become popular tourist destinations with thousands upon thousands of people attending them. The waste that has accumulated at them has had detrimental impacts on the wildlife, soil and landscape appearance as well as other things so it is important that we, event managers make an effort to try and counteract waste production to minimise these impacts. Several festivals up and down the country have put initiatives in place to manage and minimise the impacts of waste at them. Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

All these initiatives have been put in place to reduce the impacts of waste but it is only the start of how effectively we can manage it. The issue that surrounds this is all<\/strong><\/span> stakeholders need to be on board<\/strong><\/span> for this to happen.<\/p>\n

This can prove a challenge for festivals as most of the staff are short term, traders or contractors and so are not directly connected to the business, therefore may not share the same values and thoughts on waste management.<\/p>\n

It is believed that to ensure a successful festival all the stakeholders should be agreed on the benefits, aims, vision and purpose of it. This can be as simple as making sure we communicate what we intend to do about waste as part of a waste management plan, all stakeholders are aware of this and the environmental commitments they must make to comply with our policies. This can be done very simply by including it as a clause in their contracts or engaging them to communicate with us about the policies we have planned to make sure they understand and are on board.<\/p>\n

The initiatives do not have to be that drastic either as long as the policies are communicated well among all stakeholders. The Shambala festival banned the sale of plastic bottles completely and initiated a \u2018Bring Your Own Bottle\u2019 scheme. This encouraged attendees and the crew to bring their own bottle and fill it up using the free water taps dotted around the site. From just doing this:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

All stakeholders complied with the sale of no plastic and it was a success.<\/p>\n

As well as all<\/u><\/strong> <\/span>stakeholders being on board so should all us<\/u><\/strong> <\/span>event managers.<\/p>\n

Do you think it should be COMPULSORY<\/strong> <\/span>to have a minimum standard of waste management initiatives in place at our events?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Or is this acceptable throughout the campsite?<\/span><\/p>\n

The problem is we don\u2019t have a COMPULSORY<\/u> minimum standard within our industry. <\/strong><\/span>There is legislation which is standard across all industries about waste disposal but not specific to our industry. It is believed that the events management field is an emerging profession due to the lack of professional accreditations and certifications needed to be able to practice in our field however; it is also believed that there may be a rise in professionalism due to the growth in research in our sector.<\/p>\n

If there is not a COMPULSORY minimum standard in our industry how can we expect all of us to comply and how can we further professionalise our industry?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the lack of COMPULSORY<\/strong><\/span> minimum standards there have been a few guides published for good practice on the sustainability of events, most with a focus on waste management at festivals as well as other types of events. One very good guide is:<\/p>\n

Julies Bicycle Practical Guide: Waste Management at Outdoor Events – http:\/\/www.juliesbicycle.com\/files\/Julies-Bicycle-Waste-Management-at-Outdoor-Events-2015.pdf<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Waste is the most noticeable negative impact at events, especially festivals through the sheer volume of it! If we can implement waste management initiatives this can be reduced, event manager image enhanced and potentially seen as a more professional industry.<\/p>\n

Visitors are as much stakeholders as everyone else, without them events wouldn\u2019t happen. Visitor behaviour whilst at a festival can effect waste management. If the festival site is tidy visitors may be more likely to keep it that way and dispose of their waste in the correct places. It is important that us, the event managers make sure there are ample bins around the site to increase the likelihood of visitors disposing of their waste in the bins or areas provided. A survey conducted by A Greener Festival confirms this as over 80% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they would separate their rubbish into the appropriate bins if they were there.<\/p>\n

All stakeholders whether that be contractors, traders, visitors or event managers have a degree of responsibly for waste management and implementing waste management initiatives. The amount of waste from a festival can be easily decreased by simple measures being put in place and communicated to all involved. The future of the events industry lies in our hands; let\u2019s not \u2018<\/em>waste\u2019<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>it.<\/p>\n

Be responsible for YOUR EVENTS<\/span><\/strong>. Be responsible for YOUR WORLD<\/span><\/strong>. Be responsible for YOU<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Do you believe all stakeholders are responsible for contributing to waste management at festivals and other events?<\/p>\n

Do you think there should be a compulsory minimum standard in the events industry for waste management?<\/p>\n

Tweet us @greenfestevents<\/strong> or comment below<\/p>\n

Image Source: The Author<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are festivals a load of rubbish? Did you know that 23,500 tonnes of waste is created by festivals in the UK each year? Festivals have become popular tourist destinations with thousands upon thousands of people attending them. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":2845,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-2016"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2016\/03\/waste2.png?fit=355%2C109&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1596"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2844,"href":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1596\/revisions\/2844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}