Stuff thousands of people into a small area.
Let them eat and drink and make out and enjoy great concerts.
What do you get? A kick ass festival.
And probably a big mess of mud, cigarette butts, food leftovers, pizza boxes, plastic cups, bottles and wrecked camping chairs…
…unless you have a plan for dealing with that mess, of course!
A master plan
Right from its very inception in 1999, the organizers of music festival Øyafestivalen has made efforts to handle the festival waste in a responsible manner.
While results were mixed for the first couple of years, their third year saw them sink their teeth into an ambitious plan for recycling and waste management.
Working with several industry partners and NGOs, they meticulously worked out a plan to minimize the amount of waste generated and recycle what they did generate.
Every year since, this plan has been honed and improved upon, reaching a recycling percentage of 67,21 for the 2008 edition of the festival.
The total amount of trash generated by the festival in 2008 was 39 tons – a meagre 500 grams (1.1 pounds) per visitor.
Few festivals are able to match this, but the goal for each year is always to improve on the previous year’s results. Here are the highlights of what Øyafestivalen is doing in 2009 to further improve their waste management program:
- No flyers, bottles or camping gear allowed
What isn’t there, can’t litter. Several seating areas and easily recyclable GreenSeats are available for sore festival backs. - A comprehensive deposit system
Highly popular among children and broke students; anyone returning used cups, pizza boxes, popcorn boxes and cigarette butts get paid for their efforts. - A lot of fractions
Waste is sorted into 4 fractions in the visitor’s area, and then further sorted into 14 sub-fractions in the festival’s waste management station. Fine-grained fractions ensure the festival can sell their waste as raw materials. - A fantastic partner
Partner organization Natur og Ungdom (“Nature and Youth”) and its squads of volunteers continually patrol the festival site to keep it clean. They also do the sub-fraction sorting previously mentioned. - Recycling station in visitor’s area
A manned recycling station is placed slap bang in the middle of the visitor’s area.Information about environmental issues and the festival’s relevant policies are prominent, a good example of greening by talking about yourself.
Want to read more about music and green issues? Take a look at the other posts in the Renewables At Home Green Music Special.
This post was tagged with: fractions, music festivals, recycling plans, trash, waste