How a rock band pushes festival organisers to eco-innovate

06 Oct How a rock band pushes festival organisers to eco-innovate

Por Petz Scholtus

Until recently, music festivals have been about music, rocks stars and partying, which is all very much fun but not so for the environment. Noise pollution is probably the most obvious negative impact, but waste from plastic cups and food packaging or the massive energy consumption as well as CO2 emissions shouldn’t be underestimated. Slowly but surely, festival organisers are applying more and more attractive solutions to their events, in order to keep festival goers, themselves and the planet happy.

One rock band that really cares for its environmental footprint is the British band Radiohead. Their 2008 ‘Carbon Neutral World Tour’ brought them to Barcelona, because the Catalan city had potential to lessen the festival’s eco footprint. After a study by the UK-based company Best Foot Forward, to find out how to reduce Radiohead‘s carbon emissions, the band prefers to play in cities because the impact is significantly lower than playing big gigs out of town. CO2 emission are much less if people can use public transport to get to the events.

This spring, Sinnamon organised the festival Daydream in Barcelona, as a tribute to Radiohead. According to the festival organisers, the band requested real cutlery instead of disposable plates and eating utensils, as well as water tanks to refill their bottles to avoid the use of plastic ones. The biggest impact, both environmentally and visually, was however not hidden backstage. It was Sinnamon’s decision to use a reusable cup service, already popular at festivals outside Spain, but never before applied to large celebrations in Barcelona.

The Catalan company Ecofestes offers this eco-friendly product service with three benefits: reduced waste, less cost and extra marketing. The cups can be personalised with logos of the festival and its sponsors. Here is how it works: The cups are fully recyclable and available for 1? at the bar. It comes with a handy clip so you don’t loose the cup. At the end of the night you can either return it to get your Euro back, or take it home as a souvenir.

Other initiatives like giving out free bottles of water for every 5 empty bottles collected help the festival organisers to keep the space clean and recycle their waste easily.

Radiohead also works on bringing the message across. To do so, they invite local groups in the towns they play to raise awareness about global warming. In Spain, Amigos de la Tierra informed people about how to fight climate change and collected signatures to send to the politicians of Spain to reduce CO2 emissions.

Last but not least, thanks to the latest technology, the use of paper can be lessened. The festival programme and didactic material were downloadable via Bluetooth, at a special tent. This is a practical way to receive information while saving a few trees alongside.

Greening festivals is just another business example where eco-innovation can be applied. Whether the inspiration comes from a rock band, a more personal initiative or a purely economical one, eco-innovation is a win win solution, which if done correctly, offers economical as well as ecological advantages. The tools to do so, like in this case the reusable cup service, are out there, ready for you to use.