Festivals going green

All festivals are now going green

1. Music & Arts Festivals (Glastonbury, Coachella, etc.)
Ten years ago, festivals left behind mountains of plastic tents and mud-soaked garbage. Today, many are becoming regenerative events:

Banning Single-Use Plastic: Major festivals have banned plastic water bottles, replacing them with free water refill stations. They are also banning plastic glitter (which is microplastic) in favor of biodegradable, plant-based glitter.

Powering Stages with Renewable Energy: Festivals are using solar-powered stages, biofuel generators (made from cooking oil), and even kinetic dance floors—where the energy from people jumping creates electricity for the sound system.

Composting Toilets & Waste-to-Energy: Instead of chemical port-a-potties, festivals use composting toilets that turn human waste into usable soil. Food waste is collected and sent to anaerobic digesters, which convert it into biogas to power the grid.

Leaving No Trace: Many festivals now run "Green Campsites" that reward attendees with free drinks or merch if they bring a full bag of recycling to the depot. Some have even banned disposable tents, forcing attendees to rent durable ones.

2. Cultural & Religious Holidays (Christmas, Diwali, Eid, Lunar New Year)
These holidays historically had a heavy carbon footprint due to travel, lighting, and mass production of gifts. Now, they are shifting toward sustainability:

Eco-Friendly Decorations: Solar-powered fairy lights and LED bulbs have replaced energy-guzzling incandescent strings. In India, cities are swapping firecrackers (which cause severe air pollution) for laser light shows during Diwali and New Year's.

Sustainable Gifting: "Experience gifts" (concert tickets, cooking classes) are replacing physical items to reduce manufacturing waste. Wrapping paper is being replaced by reusable fabric wraps (Furoshiki) or recyclable brown paper.

Food Waste Reduction: Apps and community fridges now allow families to donate leftover holiday feasts to shelters in real-time. Many holiday meal kits now come with exact portions to prevent overbuying.

Carbon-Conscious Travel: Instead of everyone flying home for Thanksgiving/Christmas, many families are using "Zoom feasts" for distant relatives or pooling resources to rent electric buses for local travel, drastically cutting flight emissions.

3. The New "Net-Zero" & "Carbon-Positive" Trend
The biggest environmental benefit today is carbon offsetting. Many festivals now calculate the total emissions from attendee travel, food, and power, and then purchase verified carbon credits to fund rainforest preservation or renewable energy projects.

Even better, some festivals have gone "carbon-positive"—they actually remove more carbon from the atmosphere than they create by planting thousands of trees in the months following the event.

The Bottom Line: Festivals are no longer just "less bad" for the planet; they are actively funding renewable energy, restoring local ecosystems, and teaching millions of people how to live sustainably through immersive, fun experiences.

By Jamuna Rangachari