Mariposa Folk Festival, Canada

Now, everything the food and beverage vendors at Mariposa serve their food on is 100% compostable. That includes the cups and glasses, bowls, plates, utensils. Of course, all of the food scraps are compostable! You would never know it to look at it or use it, but all of the serving ware at Mariposa is made from 100% renewable resources including wheat and corn starches, sugars and plant oils. This is a major shift away from petroleum products, and these bio-degradable bio-plastics use less energy to produce.

Basscoast Festival, Canada

The main program for the upcoming festival will be a self-sorting station where people are able to sort their garbage and dispose of it appropriately. Basscoast Festival organizers are also planning on tripling their green staff in order to assist with the sorting of waste, and to help keep the area clean over the three-day festival period. This strategy allows the public to witness the amount of waste that is produced over the period of the festival, encouraging them to appropriately recycle their waste, reduce the amount of non-reusable waste, and simultaneously reducing their carbon footprint.

Camp Bestival, UK
All beer cups and cans purchased from our bars are worth 10 points each. Collect a load and return them to one of our cup and can return points and you could easily have enough money to buy yourself and your mates a round.

Ilosaarirock Festival, Finland

The festival schedule is provided as a mobile app instead of paper copies. But when printed copies have to be used, the paper has been awarded the PEFC certificate which proves that the paper comes from sustainably managed forests.

Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, United States

In the past the festival provided fans and artists with reusable containers to purchase instead of disposable cups. Seventy-five hundred of them were made available to fans at Bonnaroo, and everyone that bought one got one dollar off every beer they purchased throughout the weekend. The containers were limited edition Bonnaroo refillable stainless steel water bottle with carabineer clip carrier. They could be purchased for only $5 at all concessions stands or at participating vendors.

Bon Appetite, Ottawa, Canada

Bon Appetite makes an effort to be environmentally conscious. Food samples are served on compostable plates, and all wine samples are served in reusable glasses. There are also multi-purpose waste containers that can receive the recyclable, compostable, and cardboard materials.

10,000 Lakes Festival, United States

At the 10,000 Lakes Festival in Minnesota, attendees are given two plastic bags – a dark one for their trash and a clear one for their recycling. Recycling stations are located in the campgrounds, at the gates, and in the concert area. Attendees are encouraged to keep their trash (especially cigarette butts) and recycled items separated and deposit them at the numerous 24-hour Greening Stations located throughout the venue. Food waste will be composted and used for fertilizer.

Pop Montreal, Canada

The festival will be eliminating the use of one-time plastic cups/water bottles and replacing them with reusable eco-cups and stainless steel bottles. A reimbursable deposit of $2 will be implemented into an initial drink purchase. In exchange you will be given a durable Ecocup. We encourage you to reuse this cup for drinks thereafter. At the end of the night, feel free to exchange your cup for $2 back. In exchange, our partners at Ecocup will wash the returned cups and keep them from ending up in the ocean’s arms.

Winnipeg Folk Festival, Canada

In 1997, the Winnipeg Folk Festival was the first event to be certified by Canada’s Environmental Choice Program. Since then, this festival has taken on different initiative to lessen its impact on the environment. For the past few years, the Winnipeg Folk Festival along with the Edmonton and Vancouver Folk Festivals, have operated a plate program, where washable plates are being reused. Both of these festivals have also have a no Styrofoam policy and use Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) beer cups, which are compostable.

Sled Island, Canada

All vendors at Sled’s main outdoor locations use compostable or recyclable food packaging and food ware: help us prevent waste by putting your throwaways into the appropriate bin. Our Green Team volunteers are on hand to help out if you are unsure. Sled Island prohibits wasteful packaging at the festival, especially plastic water bottles. Instead, why not bring your own reusable bottle—we provide water stations, so you can fill up and stay hydrated.

Camp Bestival, UK

A team from www.no-buts.org.uk will be onsite distributing free Cigarette Butt Bins made from old film canisters and encouraging people to not drop their fag butts on the floor.

Cambridge Folk Festival

The festival recycles waste cooking oil at all sites. Each toilet is supplied with a waste paper bin to recycle paper hand towels. The aim is to recycle anything that cannot be used in subsequent festivals. Last year Cambridge Folk Festival recycled stage carpets and the few tents that some people ‘forgot’ to take home through CHYPS (Children and Young Peoples Participation Service) for art projects.

Vancouver Folk Music Festival, Canada

In 2011 the festival reduced the number of garbage cans on the Festival site in hopes of encouraging festival-goers to be mindful of their consumption. Garbage cans were replaced with a new recycling and composting system that now allows guests to recycle paper and plastic, and compost appropriate food products. All cups, stir sticks, eating utensils, and even straws are compostable.

Rothbury Festival, United States

The Rothbury Festival strongly encourages attendees to bring their compostable items to one of the many manned compost stations on the grounds. The Rothbury festival has hundreds of manned Waste Reclamation Stations available on-site. These stations accept all compostable food and food service items, as well as any personal items that are biodegradable (like paper). For those items that are not compostable, like bottles and cans, Rothbury provides easy to use full-service recycling.