In 2022, Lost Paradise worked with a range of partners including Green Music Australia and B-Alternative to reduce festival campsite waste on Darkinjung Country in Glenworth Valley, NSW.
Each year, music fans leave behind massive amounts of waste at festivals. Commonly, broken tents, rubbish and leftover camping items are abandoned at campsites, damaging the environment. To tackle this issue, Lost Paradise ran a recycling and education campaign to encourage attendees to leave no trace.
Using best practice behaviour change methods, attendees were encouraged to consider their environmental impact before arriving and while attending the festival.
With the support of B-Alternative, Lost Paradise’s Green Team helped fans recycle and dispose of waste correctly.
Signage was placed throughout the site encouraging attendees to dispose of waste correctly and take their camping equipment home. B-Alternative ran a Repair Cafe, helping fans to fix broken equipment instead of dumping it into landfill. A cup initiative also encouraged correct recycling by offering fans $1 off their next drink when they returned their drink container. The result saw over 7970 kg of organic waste avoid landfill, a reduction in 55,790 kg of C02 emissions!
Before arriving on site, attendees were invited to trial Camping Buddy, Green Music Australia’s new campsite planner tool.
Created in partnership with Queensland University of Technology, the app encourages attendees to adopt sustainable habits by better planning their festival campsite experience, and encouraging borrowing before buying.
Festival-goers found the app useful to plan ahead of the festival.
One user, Madison, explains "[We] loved [Camping Buddy’s] collaborative elements and ease of use. It helped us successfully organise supplies before arriving on site."
Feedback from the Lost Paradise beta testing is being used to improve the app ahead of a new update in mid-2023.
Results from a recent survey of attendees found signage and communications made an impact:
- 85% noticed the messaging “Leave No Trace”
- 90% used the recycling and waste bins correctly
- 88% took their tent and belongings home with them
- 71% used the bin bags provided at entry
- 82% used a reusable water bottle
- 54% noticed on-site signage
Lost Paradise is a member of the Party with the Planet alliance, comprising major music festivals, promoters, artists, social enterprises, and nonprofits across Australia. Launched in 2019 and led by Green Music Australia, the alliance aims to collaborate to address the issue of waste in the festival and event sector.
Green Music Australia’s contribution has been supported by the The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA), and funded by the NSW Environmental Trust.
The Cleaner Campsites (Camping Green) project is delivered in partnership with Queensland University of Technology and all Party With The Planet events and activations are made possible with our network of festivals, Australia-wide.
