Welcome to another green edition of IEPERFEST! Let us remind you once again that we won the GREENEVENT AWARD 2010. This prize was handed out by OVAM (the Public Flemish Waste Management Company) to the greenest event in Flanders. We also received the GREENEVENT AWARD 2011 for our continued efforts on the winter edition of our festival. Ain’t that cool? So thank you (all) very much for helping us out. But as you can see we're going for (a) t(h)ree in a row and we wouldn't be going into competition again if we wouldn't believe we are still the greenest fest around. Plain f* simple! And yes, we’re adding a few extra’s to our green policy in 2012!
But let’s be clear about one thing: the most ecological thing we could do is not to organize IEPERFEST at all, for you to stay at home and for every single one of us to start a food forest or to change things on a local level (of course this is not an option we're considering and sounds pretty radical, does it? Really?).
Instead we see IEPERFEST as a great exercise for us to try new things towards a sustainable future and a good example for others to follow and to get inspired. Ok, that might sound naïve and cocky, but as the city of Ieper has already copied some of our ideas and people actually start asking us for advice, we’re pretty sure that we’re on the right track. So, apart from an amazing line-up of bands, we have an amazing set of ideas for an even greener festival. Be sure to take notice and help out!
Let's kick off with the biggest dump on every fest around the globe and beyond; the place where people try to sleep: the campsite. Even after 19 years we, as organizers can't believe how some of those campers behave when they are at a campsite of a festival and spoil it for everyone and everything, by behaving like suddenly all is permitted. Or at least that is what they think, or as we called it since our last edition: “doing a Tina Serrétje”. What else do we have to do than what we're already doing, writing & saying ? Yes indeed: saying, writing & doing it over and over again.
So here we go again: DON’T THROW YOUR SHIT AROUND… BIN IT !!
Use the garbage bags we offer you, for free (yes indeed: for FREE !!), collect your trash, rubbish, rubble, debris, detritus or waste at all times, go find the bins, put everything separated in the right bins as the signs on them tell you and reuse the bag we gave you (reusing means less plastic waste)! If you don't know where to put your stuff, please ask someone else. He/she might know and you might never forget. That's for during the fest.
If you’re leaving the fest and if you can’t be bothered to take home what you have brought with you, leave it at the entrance of the campsite where there will be a DONATION PIT! You can’t imagine how much stuff people leave behind that can still be used or donated to less fortunate people: tents, clothes, towels, food, drinks, toilet paper, … So no need to cut or even burn your, or someone else’s tent to pieces. Take your tent down and donate it to the donation pit. As simple and smart as can be.
And YES, it is allowed to confront people that might think this policy doesn’t count for them, show them the right way. You got our full permission to speak your mind... And so has our garbage team. These people actually volunteered to do this (we do love you long time!!). So please show them, yourself and the co-campers some respect and work with them to keep it tidy over there! THANKS.
So, to continue on last year’s success:
100% Vegan Kitchen:
To quote a visitor last year: “Hey I understand Ieperfest is going for the green but why do you keep holding on to the fact that the kitchen still has to be all vegan?” Answer: “Sorry to say but I think you don’t quite understand the fact about being veg-green.” And if you still wonder, please go check the MTM to inform you about what you can do to change the worlds environment on a daily basis by choosing what to eat or even better what NOT to eat. Best time to do so: Saturday August the 11th around 13h.
Bio-products from local Farmers / Fair-trade Products / Tap Water System:
At Ieperfest we try to shorten the travel distance of the food that is offered to us all. Most of that food, let me say, as much as possible, is bio. At the bar and in the MTM (again) you can find loads of fair-trade drinks & vegan snacks, most of them are also very bio. We know most fair-trade products come a long way, but still, choosing for these products is in every ways and not only in the process of thinking green. Fair prices for the farmers and people along the travel process, is also recommended and worth choosing for. Go and fill your stomachs!
Since last year you can't find any water in plastic bottles at the fest. It takes about three liters of water and approximately 3.4 mega joules of energy to produce and sell a single liter of water in a plastic bottle. Plastic bottles are recyclable, but inevitably a bunch of them end up on landfills, get burned or end up in our oceans. Most recycling is actually down cycling: making lower quality products than the originals, and requiring the addition of virgin plastics and toxic chemicals in the process. There is nothing green about that! In 2011 we’ve invested in a good tap water system and it was well received. There will be clean and tasty tap water for all. Hooray!
Recycling / Reusing / Recovering Material & Reduce Trash:
On the fest you might find loads of things we made of recycled stuff. Or we didn't even make it, we just reuse them, sometimes for a totally different purpose. If a band you don't want to see (huh?) is playing, you’ve already tasted every single meal, you’ve read all what could be read in the MTM, you cleaned up all the mess around you and boredom is looking around the corner, go around and find those things we're talking about here. If you can find at least seven of them, you will win absolutely nothing. And even that is also how we reduce trash: Fuck those gadgets you can 'win' at other events. Isn’t that simple, isn’t that clean ?
Strict Sorting System / Bio-plastic drinking cups collected separately / Reusable food plates & Trays with Deposit system / Compostable Cutlery:
Glass: fuck it, we don’t want it here, so don’t even bother to bring it. It is not allowed on the campsite either. But if you feel the urge to be an ass and bring your own glass bottles to the fest, we will ask you to put them in one of the big glass containers we put at the entrance of the camping and the festival ground or in some of the smaller ones around. There’s actually a huge change that the word ‘GLASS’ is written on it. You just can’t miss it.
PMD: what PMD stands for: Plastic bottles, Metallic cans and Drinking cartons. NO cups of plates or other plastic things. Just plastic bottles, metallic cans and drinking cartons. This kind of waste belongs in a BLUE BIN or bag, and will be used again to make new bottles, clothes or even bikes...
Paper & cardboard: You can throw all your paper and cardboard in one of the big cardboard boxes that you’ll find in the merch tent where the bands and some distros will try to sell you all kinds of stuff, sometimes unfortunately wrapped in non-recyclable plastic (see: All other stuff that can’t be recycled).
Organic waste: this GREEN BIN just loves food… food, unprinted napkins & wooden cutlery only. Which means that the package where the food was wrapped in (if you brought it from home or somewhere else), doesn’t belong in this bin! Even the food doesn’t belong in it as long as it can be eaten, and there is always somebody around who will eat it. Just ask around. And if you don’t find anyone, bring it to the More Than Music tent or to the collecting point for dirty plates and cups (read on).
Green plates: if you were on one of the last editions, you will recognize the lovely green, long-lasting hard plastic plates! So we don’t have to tell you that they are being re-used. Just like last year we ask you to pay a warrant (extra food coupon) when you get your food/plate. When you return your/a plate to our special ‘RETURNPOINT’ somewhere in between the kitchen and the bar, you will get a food coupon back. Sounds easy, right? The plates will be washed with 100% biodegradable washing-up liquid (www.ecover.com). So we can use them again.
Drinking cups: for quite some time now, we're going for fully bio-degradable cups made out of corn or sugar beet! And just like in the past we want to separate all the cups from other trash and you can leave them in those blue barrels with “cups” written on them. All our cups will be reused again to make new bio-degradable cups. We're working together with LOOPLA on this matter. Visit their website www.loopla.org to see how it works exactly. Help us a hand (or two, or even more) and collect those cups! We make you the same deal: If you collect 50 bio cups, you will get one drink ticket in return! So get on your feet, collect and drink some more! Let’s make this cup-thing work!
Ashtray Tubes
We’ve recycled the grey tubes we once used for collecting reusable cups (so don't use them anymore for your empty cups) and reinvented them as ashtray tubes. Look around for them as they actually look like cigarettes. If you smoke, please take note that in Belgium smoking in tents is not allowed by law and can be fined by authorities. Not the organization, but the smokers themselves. So be kind to all and smoke in open air, put your cigarette out and bin it in the ashtrays and ashtray tubes provided. Every cigarette bud you throw on the ground pollutes about 3 liters of ground water. Fuck that shit! And if you should find the walk towards and ashtray (tube) too exhausting, a non-recyclable object (not a PMD-bottle, green plate or our drinking cups!) can be used as a portable ashtray as well – be creative (and careful not to set the place or your pants on fire)!
All other stuff that can’t be recycled: if you’re holding something that doesn’t fit in one of the groups we’ve just explained above, you might hold something that can’t be recycled (yet that is) and maybe that’s why we call it non-recyclable waste. But hey, you can still put in into the right bin on the fest: the BLACK BIN.
Biodegradable Soap and washing-up Liquids (for free):
Another fine victory over the past years was the fact that we could give everyone who wanted to take a shower 100% biodegradable shower gel, totally free of charge. And we wouldn’t be IEPERFEST if we wouldn't try to take it to the next level. As we speak we're still negotiating with a brand that is offering us more flavors than you can dream of: IEPERFEST will team up with LUSH for goats sake. So leave those nature-killing soaps and gels at home and gain from our generosity … and wash away the shame if you haven't heard of them yet (www.lush.com). And if you want more: Lush will be selling their vegan stuff in the MTM (still not sure if they can make it the whole weekend, so don't hesitate). At all other places (kitchen, bar, backstage, ...) we're still be using 100% biodegradable ECOVER products. At the campsite you can also ask for washing-up liquid so you can do your dishes or even you laundry professionally on the campsite.
Good Waste Water Management / Composting Toilets:
As you might (not) know, all the water used on the festival ground is collected in several water tanks above and even underground. From time to time, and when needed, a local farmer comes around to suck those tanks dry and take our water straight to the water cleaning-station not that far from the fest. Not the cheapest way, but the most effective one.
Apart from your usual chemical toilets, there will be some composting toilets at Ieperfest as well. Many people know about composting toilets, particularly those in the alternative movement who are quite familiar with composting in their gardens, and who understand the advantages of recycling and simplification of our needs. Composting toilets are toilet systems which treat human waste by composting and dehydration to produce a useable end-product that is a valuable soil additive. Last year our shit was turned into electricity through the production of biogas. This year we might even have some other DIY composting toilets working together with the (very nice) guys and girls from ‘De Briques à Braques’. By taking a dump on these toilets, you produce energy or valuable soil additive! What are you waiting for? Go test them out! And remember: Poo only, so you might want to take a piss first and please use the toilet paper & sawdust provided! Thank you.
Saving trees by selling chocolate / the IEPERFEST Amazon Forest Project:
Over the last edition we sold many chocolate bars to you all and saved loads of trees in the Amazon in Ecuador. This chocolate brand stopped producing those bars of sweetness and that's why we don't sell them anymore. But nevertheless, we are still the proud owners of that saved piece of planet and now, we're going for another brand of chocolate with another mission. So keep an eye on that. Meanwhile we're trying to figure out how we can still go on with saving trees in the future.
Other things we wanted to share:
* Poster Walls: Reduce the amount of posters you hang up (and the amount of ducktape used) by putting them on the Poster Walls on the festival site. All other posters found elsewhere shall AND will be removed or relocated to the Poster Walls! There will be plenty of space for everyone and you’ll find all the info you need on this wall. This is a free space for you to promote your show, to express your thoughts or to leave a message. Go check them out and use them wisely.
* Bubble Gum Tree(s) Instead of spitting your bubble gum on the ground, you might want to stick it on the bubble gum tree(s). Look around for them. And it might encourage you to stick it on the tree if you know that birds often mistake bubble gum for food and die from it.
* Human wasted liquids and/or solids: We also ask everyone, men and women, to use the toilets to piss and shit. There are plenty of them on the fest and campsite and all of them will be cleaned on a daily base or more if needed. There‘s really no need to annoy the plants and grass with your body’s wasted liquids or solids. The festival ground’s smell will surely benefit from it and the chance of peeing on your own shoes will be reduced to almost zero... If you’re familiar with the use of composting toilets or willing to learn all about them, you should pay them a visit whenever you need to go badly …
* Maybe more on the fest itself: if so, we bet you, you're not going to miss it and thou shall know ...
Sensibilisation / Communication / More Than Music Ethics:
As a fest and individuals we still believe that we shouldn't blindly follow others if we can set an example ourselves. For the record: we don't claim to be perfect, but at least we fucking try. But still, we can't do it on our own. We need you: all visitors, band members, distro holders, volunteers, shitworkers… in short, everybody on the fest to help out! We might come up with the ideas, we might provide all (sometimes expensive) logistics and we might ask you all to participate in what we believe should be the standard on all festivals, and maybe in our daily life. But if you're not using the logistics and not responding to our calls, it would all be in vain. We can't let that happen so we have to act NOW !!
If you’re still reading this, thank you, it means you have ears to what we have to say! So, spread the message to the non-readers and/or non- believers on IEPERFEST and everywhere you go … Our and, even more important, Mother Earths gratitude will be eternal !!
If you want to do more than we ask you to do, feel free to do so, we won’t complain at all. You must know that your splendid example could and will be followed by many others.
And if you might have an excellent idea regarding this matter or you want to help us before, during or after the fest. Be our guest and speak your mind! You might get in for free as well. Don't hesitate to get in touch with Martijn & Sofie through greenpolicy [ad] ieperfest [dot] com or to express your thoughts on the Green Ieperfest, the present(ation) on Sunday at 13h.(of course subject to change). We're working day an night on this aspect because …
this quest will never end we will never give in !!