Environmental campaign and advice group A Greener Festival has awarded 36 festivals from around the world its Greener Festival Award, including Shambala and Nozstock The Hidden Valley. 

The award scheme aims to encourage festival organisers to make the best decisions to minimise their event’s environmental impact. Organisers can monitor, identify and correct negative effects, and share the environmental message with their audiences so that festivals can have a positive impact beyond the event itself.

Highly commended festivals like Bonnaroo in the USA were awarded for “investment in long term energy from their solar panels is second to none”. Some, like Amsterdam’s DGTL festival, raised environmental awareness and brought in a design-focussed environmental coordinator for a pre-festival study. This led to a key design feature of an on-site “recycling factory”, which turned waste plastic bottles and containers into recycled plastic bins during the festival in front of the audience’s eyes.

The highly commended Northside Festival in Denmark encouraged people to travel to the event using low carbon methods of transport. Organisers offered bike stands for more than 10,000 bikes and arranged for festival buses.

So far 15 festivals have received the ‘commended’ award, 12 have received ‘highly commended’, and 9 have been rated ‘outstanding’. More winners of the awards will be announced in November, with a total of nearly 50 awards expected – a new record for the awards scheme, with the first ever recipients in Denmark, Austria and New Zealand.  

Commended
Beloved (US)
Body and Soul (Ireland)
Bluesfest  (Australia)
Calgary Folk Music Festival (Canada)
Canmore Folk Festival (Canada)
DGTL Festival (Netherlands)
Extrema Outdoor (Netherlands)
Maifeld Derby (Germany)
Northern Lights Music Festival (USA)
Nozstock The Hidden Valley (UK)
Planeta Madrid  (Spain)
Plissken (Greece)
Sled Island (Canada)
SOS 4:8 (Spain)
T in the Park  (Scotland)

Highly commended
Bonnaroo (USA)
Bona Nit  (Spain)
DAS FEST  (Germany)
The Falls Music and Arts Festival, Lorne (Australia)
Freifeld Festival (Germany)
Global 2000 Tomorrow Festival (Austria)
Malmo Festivalen (Sweden)
Mysteryland (Netherlands)
Northside (Denmark)
Splendour in the Grass (Australia)
Splore (New Zealand)
Wood (UK)

Outstanding
Cambridge Folk Festival (UK)
The Falls Music and Arts Festival, Marion Bay (Australia)
Ilosaarirock Festival   (Finland)
Island Vibe 2013  (Australia)
Lightning In A Bottle (USA)
Oyafestivalen (Norway)
Shambala Festival (UK)
We Love Green (France)
Welcome to the Future (Netherlands)
 

Got a story for Access All Areas? Email Emma Hudson
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Environmental campaign and advice group A Greener Festival has awarded 36 festivals from around the world its Greener Festival Award, including Shambala and Nozstock The Hidden Valley. 

The award scheme aims to encourage festival organisers to make the best decisions to minimise their event’s environmental impact. Organisers can monitor, identify and correct negative effects, and share the environmental message with their audiences so that festivals can have a positive impact beyond the event itself.

Highly commended festivals like Bonnaroo in the USA were awarded for “investment in long term energy from their solar panels is second to none”. Some, like Amsterdam’s DGTL festival, raised environmental awareness and brought in a design-focussed environmental coordinator for a pre-festival study. This led to a key design feature of an on-site “recycling factory”, which turned waste plastic bottles and containers into recycled plastic bins during the festival in front of the audience’s eyes.

The highly commended Northside Festival in Denmark encouraged people to travel to the event using low carbon methods of transport. Organisers offered bike stands for more than 10,000 bikes and arranged for festival buses.

So far 15 festivals have received the ‘commended’ award, 12 have received ‘highly commended’, and 9 have been rated ‘outstanding’. More winners of the awards will be announced in November, with a total of nearly 50 awards expected – a new record for the awards scheme, with the first ever recipients in Denmark, Austria and New Zealand.  

Commended
Beloved (US)
Body and Soul (Ireland)
Bluesfest  (Australia)
Calgary Folk Music Festival (Canada)
Canmore Folk Festival (Canada)
DGTL Festival (Netherlands)
Extrema Outdoor (Netherlands)
Maifeld Derby (Germany)
Northern Lights Music Festival (USA)
Nozstock The Hidden Valley (UK)
Planeta Madrid  (Spain)
Plissken (Greece)
Sled Island (Canada)
SOS 4:8 (Spain)
T in the Park  (Scotland)

Highly commended
Bonnaroo (USA)
Bona Nit  (Spain)
DAS FEST  (Germany)
The Falls Music and Arts Festival, Lorne (Australia)
Freifeld Festival (Germany)
Global 2000 Tomorrow Festival (Austria)
Malmo Festivalen (Sweden)
Mysteryland (Netherlands)
Northside (Denmark)
Splendour in the Grass (Australia)
Splore (New Zealand)
Wood (UK)

Outstanding
Cambridge Folk Festival (UK)
The Falls Music and Arts Festival, Marion Bay (Australia)
Ilosaarirock Festival   (Finland)
Island Vibe 2013  (Australia)
Lightning In A Bottle (USA)
Oyafestivalen (Norway)
Shambala Festival (UK)
We Love Green (France)
Welcome to the Future (Netherlands)
 

Got a story for Access All Areas? Email Emma Hudson
Follow us @Access_AA
Or on Facebook and Instagram