My partner Trina writes this post about Hillside’s environmental/sustainability initiatives during the festival.
Hillside has some pretty amazing enviro-friendly measures they are employing. None seem particularly challenging to do, for either the festival or the patrons (a must for successful sustainability, in my books) and I hope to see more festivals pick up on some of these:
1) Free shuttle bus from downtown Guelph. This takes a tonne of cars off the road. And given the lineup to get in via car on Friday night, this is a good thing for more than just environmental reasons. They also promote carpooling.
2) Massive bike lock-up area (that I believe is also manned). Even better than a bus.
3) No bottled water, water trucks on site provide it for free. I’ve seen other festivals do this (Sled Island in Calgary,for one), but Hillside was also advertising the closing-time of the water trucks so that campers could fill up for the night.
4) Reusable dishes. All food at Hillside is served on sturdy plastic plates, that are dumped after use into identified bins where volunteers wash ’em up for re-use. Beer and beverages are served only in Hillside mugs, which are bought for $2.50 and used all weekend. I can’t imagine how much waste this cuts down. Brian and I also brought our own re-usable cutlery (when in Rome!).
5) Recycling AND composting. I saw bins for both available outside the food tent.
6) Solar-powered stage. The Sun Stage is small and used for spoken word acts only, but it’s a step in the right direction.
7) Enviro workshops. You can walk (or bus, or bike) home from Hillside with a red-worm composter, homemade rain barrel, or knowledge on how to green your funeral. A tag-line reads “How can my death make the lowest environmental impact?”
Happy sustainable Hillside-ing!
