Sustainable practices for festivals that are cost-effective.
Sustainable practices at festivals shouldn't stop with the efforts of festival-goers alone; festival organizers need to play their part.
According to Circular, festivals generate around 23,500 metric tonnes of waste per year. In kilograms, that is approximately 23,500,000kg, just to give you a clearer view of things.
Not just that, carbon emissions from these events significantly contribute to issues impacting climate change and pollution. There's no doubt festivals like Afronation, Afrofuture, Lollapalooza, and many more have a high carbon footprint.
Regardless, this doesn't mean all festivals should be banned anytime soon. They're an important part of culture and aid human interaction.
What's important is adopting practices that help make them more sustainable and eco-friendly. However, sometimes these practices may cost more than budgeted. Which is why we have developed a list of some sustainable practices for festivals that are cost-effective.
Encouraging Recycling:
This should be the utmost priority of festival organizers. To reduce waste, it is essential that factors be put in place to encourage recycling. Setting up separate bins for various waste materials, such as plastic, paper, glass, e.t.c., will make repurposing them easier. These bins should be present at major points around the festival grounds to discourage littering. Also, employing promotional incentives for the proper disposal of waste is another way to get festival-goers keen on keeping the place tidy.
Using Recycled Products:
Recyclable materials such as oil drums, shipping containers, e.t.c. can be repurposed to make bins, furniture, vendor kiosks, stands and other key structures for festivals. They're cheaper, more durable, and make a good contribution to waste reduction.
Using Biodegradable or Reusable Materials:
To help reduce the detrimental amount of plastic in our environment today, this is necessary. Festivals should learn to utilize biodegradable materials like paper or leaf plates, paper cups, wooden cutlery, and the like for serving food. They can also encourage goers to bring their own stainless steel water bottles and metal straws by banning plastic bottles and straws.
Going Digital:
Adopting digital means in the promotion of festivals or better yet, selling digital tickets, is a cheaper waste reduction solution. Not only will there be less paper to waste on tickets, but the cost of printing and delivering said tickets will also become non-existent. This also works well as a substitute for promotional paper materials like posters, festival programmes, flyers, and the like. They are better displayed on the festival's Website, App or social media page or sent digitally to attendees. Companies like Faaji specialize in apps that suit this need perfectly.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CbA7r9qga7r/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==Using Renewable Energy Sources:
Major festivals known to adopt this approach are Coachella and Finland's Flow Festival. Green energy is a cheaper alternative to powering events. For example, compared to conventional diesel, biodegradable and renewable diesels are much cheaper, as discussed in this 2023 article on clean energy prices. Also, solar power panels make cheap energy sources for charging stations. Therefore, following Coachella's energy playground idea or Flow festival's renewable diesel approach is a perfect start to lowering the carbon footprint of various festivals. You can start by trying sunfi's solar panels.
Leasing Structures:
Leasing festival stands and structures is another great way to reduce waste. Asides from that, manufacturing these structures from scratch costs more than the number of times they will actually be reused. As a result, it is advisable to temporarily own or rent these structures instead. That way, less is spent on these structures, and they can be repurposed rather than unnecessarily disposed of. Check out Redcityestate for more ideas on structures to lease for any upcoming festival.
All these and more serve as great solutions to making festivals more sustainable. They are necessary for reducing climate change and pollution. Here at Redcity, we prioritize sustainability and eco-friendly practices, which is why our products are specially built for these purposes. If you would like to save costs and lease any of our products for that upcoming festival or event, simply click here to get started.
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