FEATURE:
It’s Hard Being Green
ALL PHOTOS (unless credited otherwise): Unsplash
Should Music Festivals Do More to Ensure They Are More Environmentally Conscious?
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WHILST the sun is frying people…
and we are all wiping sweat from our buttocks (sorry to put that image in your head!), we are trying to stage hydrated and, let’s face it, conscious! Many of us complain about the lack of alcohol on a site – the latest gig Queens of the Stone Age was ‘marred’ by long queues for the beer tent – and we often get disgruntled when we are not accommodated and have to wait around. I can understand why people would get annoyed if they cannot get a drink but it is not a case they are being denied water and dying – they can bring bottles of water in. If it was a case of being denied life-saving liquid, then I could emphasise with the plight of the masses: those robbed of instant booze are lower down my list of the abused, denied and heroic. I find we are all carrying too much plastic waste and not being responsible when it comes to waste management and being economical. We might grab a few beers and, each time, a new plastic cup is provided. That then gets put in the bin, or the ground, and it all piles up. Crisps and snacks are bought and that gets placed in the same place – the same can be said for straws and bottles. An article on the BBC’s website looks at festivals and whether they are sustainable/responsible. The piece looked at plastic waste and ways to reduce the burden:
“Examples of single-use plastic items at festivals include:
Plastic drinks bottles
Plastic straws
Plastic food trays
Cable ties
Toiletry bottles
The association says their focus is on "reuse not single-use" and to encourage this they will be selling metal water bottles to encourage festival goers to use fewer disposable materials.
Melinda Watson, founder of sustainability charity RAW, said: "Recycling is important, but it is far from the solution".
The issue of festivals and their environmental damage is not a new thing: for years, we have been looking at the effects of the likes of plastic and pollution taking their toll. An article from 2013, in America, looked an issue over there:
“It probably will get worse before it gets better, as the festival circuit continues its rapid expansion. Events like Coachella and Sasquatch now occupy two weekends each, while the trendiest promoters are taking their parties to sea. (And we all know how filthy cruise ships can be.)
Most festivals don't seem to be making big efforts to be green, as anyone who has seen their refuse bins overflowing with plastic water bottles can attest. The behind-the-scenes garbage pile at Coachella, which hosts some 160,000 folks over two weekends, is particularly mountainous, and other large events suffer as well.
"Sasquatch was more like 'Trashquatch.' It was awful," says Tucker Gumber, who attends festivals constantly — he hit 18 of them in 2012 alone — and reviews them on his website, thefestivalguy.com. "The grounds are so pretty, but inside there weren't enough trash cans, there were no cleaning crews coming through, and the trash next to my campsite didn't get emptied all weekend".
IN THIS PHOTO: A scene from Sasquatch Music Festival (which will continue no more, it has been reported)/PHOTO CREDIT: Sam Gehrke
That was five years ago: we are still concerned and not doing enough but it seems improvements are coming in. Recent news has reported how festivals are tackling plastic, especially, and why we need to be more proactive and responsible:
“More than 60 music festivals in the UK have pledged to eliminate all single-use plastic from their sites by 2021 and will also ban plastic straws from this summer. The move has been announced by the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), whose events include the likes of Bestival, Boomtown Fair and Shambala. The AIF said it was also in talks with festival membership organisations across the UK and Europe with the aim of bringing hundreds more festivals to commit to similar goals by the end of this year”.
I have thrown a lot of data and quotes – the long and short is we are resolved to make big changes regarding plastic and ensure there are fewer cases of pollution and littering. Plastic is a big problem but there are other issues that affect music festivals: pollution from vehicles driven to sites; glitter and accessories from gig-goers; general emissions and pollution; other forms of litter and waste (non-plastic) that can affect wildlife and cause problems – it is a big task tackling it all. The reason I am compelled to investigate ‘going green’ at festivals is down to the way we often nonchalantly discard waste and are not always thinking straight when going about our business.
Most of us would never litter of drop stuff in the street but there are more of us who would feel okay, maybe drink would be involved, dropping cans/bottles or not really looking at our carbon footprint. The BBC article, which I shall quote from again shortly, asked whether festivals could go green and whether we are doing enough to reduce the issue of pollution. With recent festivals like Parklife, Slam Dunk and Field Day having passed; I wonder what the total cost was in terms of the plastic waste, omissions and overall pollution. Measures are coming in to reduce our plastic waste but I wonder how achievable it is – considering the heat our there right now and how many extra pints/bottles we are all taking along?! What is the news regarding vehicle omissions and what we all need to do?
“In the UK, transport accounts for most greenhouse gas emissions at 26%, according to the Office for National Statistics.
And similarly, audience travel to and from sites tends to make up most of a festival's carbon footprint. Cars, lift shares and trains are the most popular forms of transport.
Festival goers might not want to take public transport while carrying the weekend's supplies on their backs. But, with UK audience numbers hitting nearly four million in 2016, live music events might need to take further steps to reduce their emissions”.
Some festivals are already bringing in measures and being aware of their carbon footprint. Burning Man places importance on recycling and composting and has a ‘Leave No Trash’ policy – they still have an issue with transportation and vehicle fumes. Coachella has on-site phone chargers you power with bikes and is using bikes/bike energy as part of its ethos. Bonnaroo uses 100% compostable food-service items and encourages people to bring their own food. The U.S. are making changes and some of their biggest festivals, whilst not perfect, have their own designs and innovations. I am seeing improvements at U.K. sites. There are more recyclable food and drink packages; more areas for waste and rubbish; punters being more conscious of how much plastic they purchase – people are car-sharing and walking to sites. It is not always convenient trekking to a festival but, if you can make changes and cut down on pollution, you definitely should. Festivals will have to comply with laws regarding plastic waste and that will extend to plastic productions – beads and trinkets that are worn for example. I think there are improvements coming in but there need to be bigger stands made. We all need to eat and drink when at festivals but I would expect to see festivals clamp-down on those people with an excess of plastic. Limiting to a single bottle and providing on-site recycling bins would, at least, try to limit a person’s affect. Encouraging more vehicle-sharing and having environmental polices in place would be beneficial.
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
Little motions, rather than huge leaps, can set wheels in motion that can, ironically, stop wheels motioning. That drive to get more people using public transport might be difficult – considering the supplies they haul around – but shuttles between bus/train stations might be an idea. I feel no festival, a major one, can be all-green and cut down completely. What we need to see are organisers looking at the piling landfills and the sheer cost of cleaning up – the staff who have to de-litter and tidy a field after a festival is eye-watering! Many might see it a pain in the arse picking up and being all ecological but, when you look at the financial and environmental impact being felt; there might not be a choice anymore.
Imposing fines on those who contravene on-site laws/regulations would lead to change – it would not be too harsh and is there to protect others and the land where festivals take place. We never think where our litter goes and all that plastic ends up; how vehicle emissions affect the environment and what a post-festival site looks like after a full-on weekend. If we were aware of what others had to face – and what the collective impact on the environment is – I feel there would be that wake-up call. I think, with some tiny movements and gradual changes, festivals can go a long way to being…
A lot greener!