Each year, thousands of punters flock to Byron Bay to attend Bluesfest, one of Australia’s largest and most iconic music festival, now in its 28th year. This year, Green Music Australia decided to join in the fun and talk with punters about plastic waste and our campaign to rid the music scene of throw-away water bottles. Thanks to four wonderful volunteers who spent a full day onsite, we were able to have hundreds of conversations and collect signatures for our #BYObottle open letter.
Excitingly, the response we received was hugely positive with over 350 signatures collected in just a few short hours. People were so excited to talk about plastic waste, the impact it’s having on the environment, and how they could make a difference. Many punters recognised the extent to which single-use plastics are destroying our planet, and were 100% behind the idea of eliminating bottled water at Bluesfest, and other festivals across the country.
Between talking with punters and checking out the live music, our four volunteers were also on the lookout for people using reusable bottles. Fortunately they didn’t have to look too hard. In every large group was at least one person toting their beloved bottle. We got some great feedback from them, telling us that while there were lots of high quality water refill stations about that charged for chilled water, there weren’t enough easy-to-find free water refill stations onsite. Interestingly, a number of them later revealed that they weren’t sure whether they were allowed to BYO bottle, but took a punt on being let in with their precious container. Given this information, it’s pretty easy for us to imagine what Bluesfest could achieve simply by getting the message out about their existing BYO policy.
There’s little doubt that Bluesfest audiences are ready to support their favorite festival dumping disposables and going #BYObottle. It’s now up to Bluesfest organisers to jump on board the campaign and start taking the necessary steps to make next year’s festival bottled water free. By leading the way, Bluesfest can show the whole music industry that there are great alternatives to staying healthily hydrated which don’t cost the Earth!
Take Action: Sign the open letter calling on our biggest festivals to ditch disposables.
