A Greener Festival

‘Going green’ in business almost goes without saying in 2010. Organising a festival over one or more days has an impact on the environment. That is simply the way it is. However, this impact can be kept under control and reduced. Rock Werchter, TW Classic and Werchter Boutique have set themselves the goal of achieving this. The icing on the cake is the Green ‘n Clean Award, awarded by Yourope, the European umbrella festival federation. The measures which reduce the impact of the festivals in Werchter on the environment will be expanded again this year. Green business works. Green festivals can be realised.     

Nowadays, the festivalgoer almost takes it for granted. Public transport to and from Rock Werchter is included in the festival ticket thanks to good partnership with the NMBS and De Lijn.  In this way, Rock Werchter encourages festivalgoers to leave the car at home and head for the festival grounds by train or bus. In the case of the two one-day festivals, Werchter Boutique presents Prince on Saturday 10 July and TW Classic on Monday 12 July, a ‘B-Excursion’ ticket is available at a very reasonable price. A minor yet significant detail: De Lijn will use buses fitted with diesel particulate filters: another boost for greener travel to Rock Werchter. The cycling festivalgoer is also well looked after. There is not just one but three bicycle parking areas. You will find one next to each entry zone, free and supervised. We are grateful to KBC and their Argus environmental centre. 

This is an area of some importance. How do you keep the mountain of refuse that accompanies a festival under control? Better still, how can it be reduced? Intensive sorting takes place at the festival site and the campsites. This requires a little effort. However, a little effort is rewarded if you collect 20 plastic beakers or PET bottles on or around the site. For years, doing so has earned the festivalgoer a free drink token. This is a proven and successful recipe. The beakers and bottles which are collected are used as raw materials for more beakers and bottles. PET is also used to produce polyester textile fibres which are used to make things like fleece clothing, garden furniture and rugs. Even more sorting and recycling takes places at the Werchter festival grounds. To our waste partner, Veolia ES, refuse is a resource rather than a useless mass.  The container park at the festival which is situated backstage and is run in collaboration with Fost Plus contributes to the improved collection and processing. Every stand is informed of the appropriate guidelines. Fost Plus also informs the festivalgoer using a stand on the festival site. Eco teams from Bevers Catering clear up any refuse that is still left on the site. After all, everything is simply more fun on a tidy festival ground.  

Most of the power on the festival site is provided by diesel generators. There is still no real economical and practically feasible alternative to this. Under the mottos ‘every little helps’ and ‘helping science go forward', a number of alternatives will be used. For example, the stands of solidarity partners will be powered by a hybrid I-generator . This generator runs on rapeseed oil, which emits a good deal less CO2 and is extremely economical. This is a project by the energy and automation research group at the KaHo Sint-Lieven in East Flanders.  Our festival partner Junkers also has a great deal of expertise, and will place 6 solar panels for water heating backstage. So the performers can shower using water that has been heated by the sun. Festivalgoers can also enjoy the same service, as the Junkers stand has 8 solar panels to heat water for 4 luxury shower units. The sun should also provide energy for Jans Creacar’s Solar Trailer. This prototype, a trailer with solar panels, battery and built-in generator with a capacity of 5 to 8 KW is placed on the staff campsite. The panels on the trailer rotate with the sun.    

• That the festival is kept clean in a green way? All washing and cleaning products we use which are supplied by our new official supplier, Alpheios Vive?, have the European Ecolabel.
• That Coca-Cola supplies t-shirts made of organic cotton to the bar staff?
• That Bevers Catering, in partnership with Velt, is offering the ‘ecoroll’, a roll filled with organic ingredients?
• That the artists’ dressing rooms will have recyclable carpets? After use, the PP carpet is ground and granulated into plastic granules. These are turned into simple plastic objects such as flowerpots using an injection moulding procedure.   
• That we no longer issue a paper programme booklet at the entrance?  The Rock Werchter mobile application powered by Proximus, which can be downloaded free and is available for most mobile phones, is an excellent, green alternative. The Humo Rock Werchter supplement is still available to interested parties from the Humo stand. 
• That the screw caps of the PET bottles are also collected separately? Rock Werchter passes these on to the Belgisch Centrum voor Geleidehonden (Belgian Guide Dog Centre) for their bottle cap campaign. More information on www.dopjesactie.be