The Lost Lands festival is widely regarded as a leader in environmental sustainability, cultivating creativity and music in a family-oriented space. In 2018, the festival took a green leap forward; eliminating all fossil fuel-based single-use plastic products on the site, including food-ware, cups and water bottles. A combination of reusable and compostable solutions were introduced both back and front of house, with the assistance of Green Music Australia. Other key sustainability initiatives included installing high quality water stations throughout the site, and implementing recycling measures for staff and punters to ensure they left no trace.
What we did
Green Music Australia assisted with messaging and signage to encourage festival-goers and artists to bring their own reusable bottles to the event, and offered advice on how to implement plastic free hydration systems. Thanks to the strong communication campaign, the majority of festival-goers brought their own bottle. For those that forgot, we offered water bottles for hire as part of our “Refill Not Landfill” library stall. In exchange for a partially refundable deposit, punters were able to use their Green Music bottle over the weekend and return it once they were done.
The Results
The Lost Lands 2018 successfully implemented a ‘leave no trace’ waste policy, resulting in:
- Less than 1% of waste being contaminated
- 4500 campers leaving less than 1/2 a garbage bag of rubbish (despite a 58% increase in audience size)
- 200 kg reduction in landfill waste
Musicians welcomed the concept and many artists brought their own water bottles. It was a debut for Green Music Australia’s front of house team, and the festival goers fully embraced our #BYOBottle campaign and #RefillNotLandfill bottle hire service. The team were able to collect a significant amount of signatures for our open letter plastic-free petition, asking larger-scale festivals to adopt similar plastic-free practices. Front of house were very well received by artists and ticket holders alike, it was a great brand fit for both the event and our ethos.
Lost Lands founder, Simon Daly said:
‘We’re passionate about promoting environmental awareness to future generations and plan to raise our sustainability initiative goals each year. We take great pride in the environmental consciousness of our community and are thrilled with the results we collectively achieved. Our vision to reduce the environmental impact of the festival continues and we hope more people will join us.’
To learn more about what’s next in store for The Lost Lands, visit their website.
