How To Be More Eco-Friendly At A Festival
The Challenges of Being Eco-Friendly
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It can definitely be a challenge being eco-friendly at a music festival. I mean, you are camping in the heat for multiple days. It’s hard to do dishes and what about WATER? Water is one of your most essential things at a festival and you need to have enough to survive the weekend. Check out one of my favorite collapsible water bottles!
Many festivals push for you to be more eco-friendly. Festivals such as Summer Camp invite you to recycle and reward you when you use refillable water bottles. LiveNation, one of the world’s biggest concert and festival promoters, is planning to ban single-use plastic items by 2021 at all of its festivals. With all of this controversy, how can festivals be more eco-friendly? More importantly, how can the average festival-goer be more eco-friendly?
Photo credit to Summer Camp Music Festival.
LiveNation’s Plans
LiveNation is trying a few different alternatives to decide which type of material is the most cost-efficient as well as still meeting eco standards. One suggestion is trying a plant-based water bottle that is biodegradable. Another is to put water into aluminum cans, which is similar to beer cans. Similarly, a third option would be to utilize cardboard bottles, similar to the bottles of coconut water you see around. LiveNation will be testing these options.
Photo credit to EDM Sauce.
How Can You Be More Eco-Friendly?
- Bring reusable dishes and wash them directly after eating your meals. This is actually cheaper than buying the single-use items. This set includes dishes for two people.
Photo credit to Rolling Fox.
- Bring your own water containers! I have found that the majority of festivals have free water filling stations. You can bring a hydration pack and a handful of water bottles. Water bottles are expensive anyway!
- Don’t want to constantly be filling your eco-friendly bottle? Bring a 5-gallon water jug or one of those portable water containers. Fill the 5-gallon jugs with ice before leaving their homes or right before entering the festival. The ice will melt and you’ll have cold water throughout the weekend. You can always refill it with more ice throughout the weekend! We love this one!
- Bring a recycling bag with you to the festival! I purchased a box of 20 for less than $5. I tie my garbage bag on one edge of my canopy and the recycling bag on the other edge. Here are some great ones!
- Use regular bottles of condiments, not the single-use ones! I’m guilty of not doing this one because cooler space is a commodity at a festival and so this is a goal for me to accomplish this next festival season (I plan to use all the ones I currently have or else that would be wasteful too!)
- I wasn’t aware that you should use biodegradable soap while camping! I heard this recently at a festival and did my research. As a result of using regular soap, waterways can be contaminated and you can hurt the environment. Here is a great combo!
Photo credit from Walmart.
- Rechargeable batteries will save you money and help the environment!
Leave No Trace!
I know I am not perfect and don’t follow all of these tips at festivals. However, I am making it my goal to follow more of these tips at upcoming festivals!
The biggest piece of advice I can tell you is to leave no trace! For example, I’ve done cleanup crew for a festival before and it is appalling the number of garbage people leave behind! People will leave behind trashed and nasty campsites. I found multiple tents, canopies, and chairs! If you aren’t taking any of your supplies home, leave them by a designated trash receptacle and make sure your campsite is clean! Above all, LEAVE NO TRACE. Check out this link on what Leave No Trace Means!
Photo credit to River Beats.