Music Festival of Memories Instead of Trash

From late August to September, Shanghai is having a number of large-scale, international-level music festivals: Shanghai Summer Sonic, UNITY, Ultra China, Concrete and Grass and JZ Festival (mid-Oct). Each of these festivals will attract around 10,000 to 50,000 participants per day. Needless to say, a lot of plastic cups, water bottles, paper plates and food waste will be produced, along with massive energy consumption.

You can't blame these problems entirely on promoters. As there are numerous challenges they need to deal with, such as water distribution, food and beverage, transportation, merchandise and promotional materials, and many of them are directly linked to sponsorships, who are the main reasons why music festivals can happen to begin with. So what the audience can do to make the festival "greener"? Here are a few easy tips:

• Use public transport. A lot of these festivals are usually walking distance from metro stations

• Bring your own reusable water bottle and cutlery

• If needed, bring reusable blanket and raincoat

• Buy only what you really need

• When ordering drinks, tell the bartender: "No straw, please!"

• Try to purchase locally grown, organic, fair-trade food. Remember: eating vegetables is better for the environment

• Clean your plate! Festival food isn't cheap anyway

• Don't take flyers, freebies unless you truly want them

• If the litter bin is full, don't make it worse...

• When you leave, don't leave any trace behind

• Even better, pick up the garbage on your way back to the exit

  

This year, Green Initiatives is working with Concrete and Grass to help the festival go greener. We have a few openings for 'Waste Warriors', whose main job is to be on-site from 2pm to 7pm (you can pick either 'single day' or 'two-day'), assist their artists and waste sorting company during the festival. By the way, the lineup is quite amazing!

The volunteers are free to arrive early or stay later to enjoy the festival - goes from midday until 9.30pm. We cannot reimburse traffic fees, but lunch and dinner will be provided. For more info, scan the QR code below and join our 'Waste Warriors' group chat!