Shrink your summer festival footprint

The Hillside Festival in Guelph, Ontario is the greenest music fest I've ever seen. They have ample water re-fill stations and they use and sell re-usable beer mugs, cups, plates and sporks. Volunteers are on-site to wash dishes throughout the festival.

Love the tips! I hope to see more and more green changes in my local festivals too!

Love that idea to carry a cloth napkin. A fork would be easy too!

Alison, I agree that all vendors should use environmentally friendly packaging. I think this should be the standard in all national parks as well.

This is great, just posted it to Facebook. We could reduce waste by an astronomical amount if we all carried our own dishes, napkin and refillable water bottle. Thanks for putting it into this conext.

Personally, I think it's easier going green when you have small children. They need to "graze" constantly, so you always have reusable containers with you to eat out of. And I for one have no qualms about asking them to fill my container than to put it in a throw away. Not like we travel that much

The Winnipeg Folk Fest has had the plate rental program for years and years. When you get food from one of the vendors, you pay and extra $2. When you are done, you return the plate to the drop-off place and get your $2 back!

Unfortunately, the festivals I've attended have a long way to go… But I do my share (bring my reusable water bottle and carpool). It's a great suggestion to volunteer, I could try to implement the changes!

I think it would be great if cities and towns passed a bylaw to ensure that festival vendors are "green". As consumers we have to make a choice… but wouldn't it be great if the festivals offered only earth-friendly items in the first place?

@Marieke: I agree with you about Bluesfest being impressively green. Last year I volunteered for them and couldn't believe how far they went to make sure that all possible steps were taken to "greenify" the festival.

I was a little disappointed this year, though. All of the cutlery in the volunteer canteen was plastic, while the public enjoyed compostable cutlery in the fair grounds! Considering they're feeding thousands of volunteers for 12 days, that really adds up!

Even so, what they do is miles better than what a lot of huge festivals do!

one of my favourite small festivals in alberta is the sasquatch gathering. they don't even have any food vendors!

Summer festivals also build community. Sunshine, fresh air, spending time with friends and neighbours — these are all excellent ways to connect with people. We usually walk or bike, but sometimes we can carpool as well. We usually bring our own reusable shopping bags for any flyers or samples that might be there.

Bluesfest in Ottawa does an excellent job, all their beer cups are made out of corn, same for plates and cutlery. Always enjoyed being on the Green Team (before I moved out West) and spreading the word to people attending.

All of our local festivals offer water refill stations and compost and recycling stations (on top of regular waste). This is a huge improvement over previous years and other places I have visited, so although it is still not "perfect" it is a step in the right direction.

I also was pleased to see a few whole foods/organic food stands at the last few events (instead of just the usual chip wagons)… offering things like fresh fruit smoothies and juices, corn on the cob, salad rolls and collard wraps, and one stand even selling just apples, bananas and other easy to carry/much fruits. I definitely appreciated having some healthy food options!

Great tips! I'd love to win the tiffin! Keeping my fingers crossed. :)

I am looking forward to all the festivals Edmonton is offering this year. I already have plans to take my own plate and cutlery to Taste of Edmonton. The only way we can teach our kids to be green is to lead by example.

PS — I was amused by the fact that you are offering a tiffin box as a giveaway (my blog is called thetiffinbox.ca)

In The Soil- Niagara's home-grown arts festival is my favourite local festival! It's green because it is a local and accessible festival- I'd say most people walked, biked, or used transit to get there! There aren't any limits on bringing your own food or water, so that definitely cut down on plastic bottles being used.

The Ottawa Folk Festival is super environmentally friendly! They offer water fill up stations and sell only aluminum bottles. The food vendors use reusable dishes and cutlery. The booths house local artisans (there are a lot of recycled and "up cycled" goods).

Good ideas. Simple ways to go green!! I will share these ideas with my friends and family. I do carry a reusable water bottle and coffee mug with me on my commute every day, but hadn't thought about using these to festivals. Good idea for Farmer's Markets too, I'm going to bring containers with me on my next visit.

I volunteered at the Folk Fest last year and no one sold plastic water bottles — instead, they hooked up water stations from "watermatters" to existing water sources. I thought that was a great green initiative and I had a lot of festival goers comment on it!

The Hillside Festival at Guelph Lake in Ontario is the greenest festival in the country. Food and beverages are sold in re-usable containers. Beer and wine are sold exclusively in Hillside festival cups that are sold on site. There is a dish washing station where volunteers wash the dishes and return them to the food vendors. The city of Guelph donates tanker trucks of municipal water that volunteers fill concert goers reusable containers with. No empty plastic water bottles, no stacks of disposable beer cups any where. This year is already sold out :-( There might still be volunteer positions available. This is my third year of volunteering. Great music and a great time. http://hillsidefestival.ca/#/home/

i think the fringe fest does a pretty good job of 'green' in fact they have a whole volunteer team dedicated to green: recycle etc etc

I've been going to the Hillside Festival for years, and I'm always amazed at all the great things they do to keep it green (re-useable plates and utensils, compost bins, water-refill stations etc.) it inspires me to be smarter about the way I attend.

Because my daughter and husband are celiac. We rarely eat food provided at events, and usually truck our own food in (and containers come home with us) but I do like my travel mug, it keeps my tea/coffee warm and it's re-usable. My daughter loves her travel cup too…It's nice, I don't necessarily do it to be "green" but it's nice to think that the the automatic things we do are lessening our footprint (and our pocketbook because sometimes you get a deal, or a free coffee with a cup!)

I love that almost all the festivals we attend now have drink container recycling bins! My family uses all reusable glass and stainless steel bottles and food containers, and I have a tough time understanding why more people don't, but at least recycling what they do drink out of is a step in the right direction! One day…

Great tips! I have a reusable set of utensils I bring with me on road trips.

Great tips! I recently went to Cooking Fire at Dufferin Grove park in Toronto. All meals were served with reusable plates, cutlery and cups or by bringing your own. There were lots of volunteers who worked so hard so that others could enjoy the event. Cheers to them!

Would love to win the tiffan! I'm working towards many of the tips on this site, including converting all of our lunch containers. Help me out :-)

We have got our kids into the habit of picking up garbage wherever we go! A little gross sometimes, but I love hearing my 4 year old say incredulously "Mommy, somebody littered!"