While a festival can be fun, one Redditor showed how they're not always the most sustainable celebrations.
Two photos showed a night scene with colorful lights juxtaposed against lots of smoke and trash.
It's not clear what festival just occurred, but these events happen worldwide all year, such as Coachella, Essence, or Oktoberfest. As people gather to watch bands, eat food, drink fermented beverages with old and new friends, and celebrate holidays or films, the result often involves lots of trash and even some pollution.
A report by A Greener Future broke down a typical festival carbon footprint trail. Audience travel accounts for 41% of the production, with all travel for everyone accounting for 58%, while food and drink production and consumption account for 35%.
In reference to the post-celebration photo, the OP wrote, "The smoke is not only produced by neighbors but by almost [the] whole country so....can't be helped." Luckily, some festival stakeholders and related businesses don't feel helpless and are taking charge of their waste responsibility.
These events last days, so people often camp out on-site. However, festival camping often wastes single-use tents. That's why DS Smith and Envirotent have partnered to create insulated recyclable tents from cardboard.
Well-known festivals like Glastonbury have stepped up with recycling, solar-powered sound systems, compost toilets, and even electricity converted from urine thanks to technology from UWE Bristol. Portugal's Boom Festival has a time limit for showers and treats shower wastewater for later irrigation, according to the Economist Impact. Burning Man emphasizes personal waste responsibility, which includes everyone pitching in for the post-event cleanup.
"This isn't mildly infuriating, this is sad and even dangerous, even more harmful to the environment. The government should make laws about this," wrote one concerned commenter. While there is no standard global festival law, ISO 20121 provides guidelines for sustainable event management from the planning phase to execution.
Another respondent was less worried and stated: "It's a festival. Roll with it and help with the clean up after. Looks like a fun time."
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