Page 56 - Reggae Festival Guide Magazine 2019

ith thousands of music-lovers include emailed tickets with an option to pay a

attending reggae festivals, fixed amount to compensate CO2 emissions for

activists have long worried about a printed ticket, using ecologically sustainable

W the environmental impact. From öKlo mobile toilets that do not require chemicals
hundreds, to hundreds of thousands of guests, or water connection, and motivating campers to

festivals of every size create many forms of take their garbage to waste stations with rewards

waste, stress the environmental infrastructure like CDs, totes and posters. In Marcola, OR, the

of an area, require mass amounts of energy, Northwest World Reggae Festival promotes
increase emission levels and pose potential reduce-reuse-recycle policies; encourages

damage to the festival site. Reggae festivals attendees to “leave no trace” to keep the festival

across the globe have implemented similar site pristine; powers the stage, site and trucks

programs – recycling, reducing single-use with biodiesel fuel; requires all food booths

plastic products, using compostable materials, to be organic and sourced locally as much as
providing reusable water bottles, hosting possible; composts all food waste and more.

educational forums, requiring pack-in/pack-out Celebrating their 33rd anniversary this year, the

policies, offsetting carbon emissions and more JazzReggae Festival at UCLA has a Sustainability

– to shrink their footprint on the environment. Team devoted to keeping the festival green and
Here, we touch on just a few stand-out examples has garnered national recognition from VH1

from the growing movement toward producing and DoSomething.org as one of the Top 4 most

a reggae festival with green initiatives.
sustainable music festivals. There is a strong

The Tmrw.Tday Cultural Fest in Negril, Jamaica, educational component to all JazzReggae’s

strives to reduce single-use plastics by 95% sustainable initiatives, striving to bring the

during the festival, and challenges companies community and the college together through
in Jamaica and worldwide to do the same. music and inform them through action. In

Across the globe, the Sunrise Reggae & Ska addition to providing free water-filling stations

Festival in Burtenbach, Germany, implements to decrease single-use plastics, they are

a variety of initiatives – its more unique efforts working toward a goal of zero-waste for the

event, eliminating even the smallest trash like
sauce packets and requiring food vendors to

use cutlery that can be recycled or composted.

Taking their recycling effort a step further,

JazzReggae partners with Biotane Fuels to pick

up leftover cooking oil to convert to biodiesel.

Unique cell phone charging stations can also
be found at the festival. Stationary bicycles

provided by Rock the Bike generate power

while pedaled, allowing people at the concert to

charge their own phone without adding to the
One initiative of the Sunrise Reggae & Ska Festival is ecologically
sustainable öKlo mobile toilets that do not require chemicals or festival’s power usage. (The bikes are also used
water connection. Photo courtesy of the Sunrise Reggae & Ska Festival
to spin a frisbee with paint, making an artistic

56 Reggae Festival guide 2019