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Encouraging Festival-Goers to Reduce Their Carbon Footprint.

Andy Robertson

Most music festivals produce a significant carbon footprint at each event due to the activities of the organisers, vendors and festival-goers. Festival organisers are doing their utmost to reduce the organisation’s carbon footprint but a high proportion comes from festival-goer activity so it is prudent to encourage visitors to make efforts to reduce their own carbon footprint too.


In the UK the government do conduct regular research of the impact of music festivals and their carbon footprint where it is estimated that Glastonbury’s carbon footprint for example is 1,278 tonnes of CO2e. Organisers make efforts to reduce their consumption of power by using more environmentally friendly energy sources including biofuel and hydrogen generators or solar and wind power. Use of sustainable materials on the festival site construction and converting toilets to compost rather than chemicals can all help. Organisers should now be making more effort to encourage festival-goers to participate in initiatives and help reduce the overall carbon footprint of a festival.

Transport. 
Encouraging festival-goers to use public transport can help because a typical bus can save using up to 50 individual cars. However, despite organisers encouraging use of public transport it can be very expensive and is not always convenient given the remote location of most festival sites. Car sharing can be encouraged by providing an online forum where festival-goers to offer and find car sharing opportunities. Organisers can also charge an additional fee for cars entering a festival site that is not fully occupied. 

Water and Plastics. 
Most festivals have become great advocates for eliminating single use plastics particularly where drinking water is concerned. Festival-goers should be encouraged to use refillable water bottles and the organisers should facilitate this by providing sufficient water refill stations throughout the site. Vendors can be instructed to not supply any drinks in plastic bottles or cups.

Advice to Festival Goers.
 
Festival organisers should offer advice to festival-goes on how they can reduce their own carbon footprint when attending the festival. Encouraging a reduction in the consumption of meat and dairy products can be assisted by organisers selecting a more favourable balance of food and beverage vendors to help. Asking festival-goes to be mindful of their clothing choices by avoiding mass market, throw away fashion and accessories. Encouraging festival-goers to take their tents and waste home has one of the biggest impacts on reducing the overall waste that a festival generates and even small suggestions like use of portable ashtrays can help.

While the overall onus on reduction of a music festival’s carbon footprint lies with the organisers they do have a duty to encourage all site visitors to make their own contributions too. The public is now more aware than ever and the music festival sector should see a reduction in their carbon footprint over the coming years.

For festival organisers planning their events using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

photo by ColiN00B Pixabay

Andy Robertson
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