Author: 
Music festivals are a time to embrace new perspectives, connect with diverse groups of people, and enjoy great music but should this fun come at the cost of the earth? After attending Summer Set Music Festival this summer, I was astounded by the amount of waste left over. By the fourth day of the festival, a once pristine, beautiful campground was riddled with piles of crushed water bottles, left behind tents, and cigarette butts.
Although many festival goers are lovers of the environment, many become caught up in the hype oblivious to the waste they are creating. Music festivals produce on average 6 pounds of waste per person (Creative Carbon Scotland Music). That’s almost twice the national average! For a music festival such as Bonnaroo or Lallapalooza with over 60,000 people over 720 tons of waste is produced not including the fuel for stages and shuttles or the waste produced by vendors themselves. Typically once people enter the campsite there is no leaving, so the music venues must take action in advance to provide sustainable options and inform people of how they can prepare.
Here are a few options music festival venues could employ to reduce the amount of waste:
1. Provide campers with a green guide after buying tickets to help them pack sustainably with reusable bags or water bottles
2. Have water stations available so that campers may refill their water bottles or packs
3. Give each car entering the campsite a recycling bag which they can drop off after the festival to be properly disposed of
4. Offer free t-shirts, rides, or reusable water bottle for bringing in empty plastic water bottles or used cigarette butts. Currently Coachella offers a free reusable water bottle for every ten empty plastic water bottles campers recycle.
5. Have a bike parking lot to encourage festival goers to not use the shuttles
6. Make sure charity boxes are available at the end of the festival for unwanted items like tents.
7. Require food vendors to use recyclable plates, utensils, and cups
As a camper you can even reduce waste before you enter the festival by carpooling to the grounds with three or more people in order to reduce fuel usage. Carpoolchella is an app where Cochella festival goers who ride with four or more in a car can be entered into a raffle to win prizes!
Have a fun, hippie, and sustainable music festival!
-Kelsey DiMarco
References:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.mindbodygreen.com/articles/can-a-music-festival-be-100-percent-sustainable-7-creative-ways-festivals-are-getting-close
https://www.creativecarbonscotland.com
http://www.conservationvalue.org