A different way to get TRASHED!
Volunteers bring green atmosphere to Electric Picnic

This year, about 150 volunteers including many YFoE members descended upon Electric Picnic to spread that green goodness as far as possible. Their official title? Green messengers. Their tasks were many, each more prestigious than the last:

1. Ensure people put their rubbish in the correct bin
2. Collect signatures for, and create awareness of, FoE’s Run On Sun campaign
3. Manage cup return station
4. Encourage people to bring tents home

            We met with varying levels of success. In terms of rubbish separation, we did try and the punters tried but the system failed. Substantial confusion about the types of waste which could be recycled or composted meant that the waste system was suboptimal; several items which really should be recycled, such as coffee cups, were consigned to landfill while compostable food containers were also, bizarrely, not acceptable in the organic waste stream. The biggest problem, however, was with signage! There seemed to be a shortage of signage for specific bin types (Food Waste, Recycling & General Waste)  in the main arena. Bin signage tended to be absent, ambiguous or else unreliable; the bin signs during my shifts were changed at least three times. This confusion was counterproductive as festival-goers generally do care enough to throw their waste in the correct bins if they are clearly marked but asking them to stop and try to identify the correct bin is a bridge too far. We needed to make it as easy as possible for them and unfortunately, we were prevented from doing so. 

            On a more positive note, the enthusiasm with which the Run on Sun campaign (link at bottom) was met by the festival public spurred us on to great heights. Generally, if you had a decent pitch and people gave you enough time to explain the petition, they would sign. Noticeably, even those volunteers who were just in it for the ticket had no problem getting passionate about this cause because, well, who can argue with a feed-in tariff to incentivise solar panels? This, along with the fact that a signature is not as much of a commitment as a lung transplant and the presence of enthusiastic younger people as green messengers (some of whom were dressed in vibrant Sun costumes) made it an easy sell. Hopefully, Varadkar sees it that way too! He seemed to at EP last year anyhow.

            The cup refund scheme was also quite successful. It is simple;  festival-goers could collect discarded plastic and paper cups and plastic bottles to be rewarded with a cash pay out. Ingenious in its simplicity and obvious in its benefits; rather than accept the pollution or hire cleaners to remove it, just incentivise the festival-going public to do it! Now, it did look rather ludicrous to see people diving into bin-shaped treasure chests in search of plastic treasure but it is well to remember that they were the smart ones! Some of them were doing very well from it indeed. I spoke to one guy who had paid his way through an entire Summer’s worth of European festivals just by doing this. Apparently 31 grand was given away last year and there is no doubt that, this year, some industrious, unselfconscious punters made a tidy profit!

            Encouraging tent removal was not an official tasks for the green messengers but it definitely occupied a prominent place on the agenda. We operated a tent return station for people who did not want to bring their tents home and have been continuously working with the festival organisers on a solution to the problem of 30,000 tents being discarded and consigned to landfill every year. But the problem stretches far beyond the perimeter of EP’s Stradbally site. Festival waste does not represent a lapse in form for those responsible; it merely serves as a stark and conspicuous reminder of the inconceivably vast amounts of waste we human beings discard every day. However it still does not seem to move most people to change. This was perfectly illustrated when I got back home and a friend remarked that the thousands of tents left behind at EP was a disgrace. When I reminded him that he had ditched his own tent at Body&Soul last year, he instantly retorted - ‘Yeah, but I was in a rush! I had to be somewhere!’ Very occasionally, there might be a legitimate excuse but I assume we don’t all have pressing matters to attend to the day after a festival (I hope not anyway)! What sorts of schemes and changes can be put in place at EP and other festivals to change this mentality and resulting behaviour remains to be seen but things certainly cannot continue the way they are going (see my other posts on the topics of festival excess for more information).

            Indeed, seeing the sort of excess happening at some festivals can be a sobering experience indeed (which could be a good thing if you’re a wee bit tipsy? LOL). However, it is also heartening to realise just how many people actually would do the right thing if it was facilitated a bit more and also how willing many were to listen to what we had to say. At EP this year, we went to spread the green message and I dare say it landed well. There were many reasons to be hopeful, in spite of the mountains of litter: Our message was well-received. Venues like Global Green and the Body&Soul area were aligned with our vibe. The eco-campsite was booked out within a day and the Cup Return scheme was a great success. These are all small wins but they get you thinking about how far we could be from a big win. They also make me feel that, even if we are swimming against the tide, we are gaining momentum!