Green Music Australia have released the results a new study, finding that attitudes towards campsite littering by festivalgoers in Australia aren’t exactly tip-top.
The Festival Littering report analysed the behaviour of 800 festival patrons across three festivals, Falls Festival in Tasmania and Party In The Paddock and Unify Gathering in Victoria. Overall, results were pretty damning.
The seeming disposability of tents were a primary culprit, with 23% of attendees leaving behind a broken tent, 36% admitting they were “not fussed” if their tent were destroyed. Around half of those surveyed said that they felt packing up a tent after a festival would slow them down.
In addition, over half of those surveys believed it wasn’t everyone’s responsibility to clean up, and around two-thirds felt it wasn’t their responsibility to clean up rubbish that someone else had left behind.
The statistics are unsurprising for anyone who’s seen a festival site after the event is done and dusted, and signal some worrying trends in festival wastage.
So, what’s being done? Well, Green Music Australia have also hosted the Cleaner Campsites Industry Roundtable event, with APRA, Music Victoria, Untitled Group, Party In The Paddock, Falls and Splendour In The Grass festivals and more uniting to discuss the issue and attempt to help reduce it.
According to The Music Network, some of the interventions discussed at the roundtable included the launch of a marketing campaign to encourage festivalgoers next summer to take home their tent at the end of the festival, and trialling of programs such as an onsite repair team to fix broken tents, which will pilot next month at Splendour in the Grass.
With Splendour in the Grass fast approaching, Falls and Splendour general manager Elise Huntly is focused on creating a change in the culture. “We know that people want to do the right thing and we will work together as a group to provide them with the opportunity to do so through education and awareness. Forming an alliance to tackle campsite waste at festivals is a massive step in the right direction!”
As for what you can do – if you’re heading to a festival anytime soon, consider doing your bit by cleaning up after yourself and others, and not leaving your tent behind to go to landfill.
