#SustainabilityMonth: Rocking the Daisies pioneer in festival greening

A locally and internationally recognised pioneer in the “play hard, tread lightly” festival ethos, Rocking the Daisies has made serious commitments to being as green as they possibly can. Some of the major ways in which they try and reduce the festival’s carbon footprint include: the procurement of sustainable goods; recycling and effective waste management; energy efficiency utilising wind and solar energy and biodiesel; the cut down of carbon emissions through carpooling and Walking the Daisies; and responsible water consumption.

While the promotion of eco-awareness stretches to workshops and talks in partnership with Hemporium and Greenpop at the Green Village; as well as promoting social initiatives such as plant days; involvement in Bridges for Music, a non-profit organisation supporting electronic music development in developing countries; and the #DaisiesSpringClean, which collects clothing donations. This really is just a scratch of the surface, as there are many many more initiatives and practices in place.

“This year we have really looked even further at how we can cohesively bring the myriad and detailed list of growing greening elements, initiatives and partners together to form one comprehensive environmental strategy.” Brian Little

Some of the green initiatives specific to this year include:

• A refined waste management system and an ecobrick system. Ecobricks are clean plastic bottles stuffed tight with non-recyclable materials and soft plastics. The ecobricks collected at Daisies will be used in Waste-ED building projects, including one with the City of Cape Town constructing an Early Childhood Development Centre out of (almost entirely) reclaimed and natural materials.

• 1,000 additional spots have been added to the Green Parking area - a “VIP” parking area close to the entrance reserved for cars with 4+ people, promoting carpooling.

• All food vendors are given a bin for organic waste collection. RTD has always composted, but this year there is a mandate for the food vendors to do so too. This food will be composted on site for use on the farm and in community garden projects.

• Biogreen will be providing the biodiesel for the biodiesel generators and will be collecting all used oil from the food vendors to recycle into biodiesel, effectively closing the loop in this energy cycle.

• There is a compost toilet in the conscious camping area, where the Walking the Daisies walkers arrive.

How is new title sponsor Superbalist.com on board with the green initiatives?

All of our sponsors receive and sign off on Environmental Policy documents that mandate actions around transport, energy and water usage, and waste management. As our title sponsor, Superbalist.com’s involvement supports all of the festival initiatives, of which greening is a major component. A portion of Superbalist.com’s activation fee contributes to the festival’s green levy, which includes Renewable Energy Certificates purchased through Darling Wind Farm, and support of waste management and recycling initiatives.

How many festival goers actually take part in all the eco and social workshops and campaigns when attending RTD?

This is one of our biggest challenges - getting the punters really involved and activated in the eco and social initiatives. The reality is that some of these initiatives are not even “separate” from just being at the festival. Picking up trash and throwing it in the appropriate bin, using a reusable water bottle and carpooling to the fest are simple, daily actions that we actively encourage punters to get on board with. We have more than 60 volunteers, in addition to our staff and crew in these areas, specifically focused on greening initiatives including waste management, Trash Exchange, ecobricking and Green Village eco-activations. Many of the initiatives are proactive and seek to engage the festival goers. For example, the Green Parade winds throughout the Campsites twice a day to encourage punters to clean up their areas, providing bin bags and ecobricks and further explaining the waste bin system. Trash Exchange incentivises festival goers to collect specific items that are traditionally challenges, i.e. stompies and cans, and turn them in at Trash Exchange stations for prizes, like drinks, food, and bigger incentive prizes like tickets to Greenpop’s Platbos Reforest Fest or next year’s Rocking the Daisies!

How can festival goers help contribute to assisting the green initiatives of the festival?

There are some super simple things that festival goers can do. If each person who comes to Superbalist is Rocking the Daisies does a few simple things this year - the environmental impact will be huge!

• Bring and use a reusable water bottle - fill it from the free taps. The water quality is exceptional.
  
• ​Dispose of your waste appropriately - take a second to look, think and put things in the appropriate bins: Paper, Plastic, Metal, Organic, or ecobrick for non-recyclable materials.
  
• ​Bring less and leave less - don’t bring excess rubbish or things you don’t really need. Clean up your camping area during and after the festival and leave less trace by not leaving your rubbish, tents, etc., behind.
  
• ​Carpool - reduce your carbon footprint (and your own transport cost!) of getting to the festival and travel with a full car of friends.

These aspects are not separate from the rest of the festival experience; they are part of the festival itself. Throwing waste in the proper bin is not a specific “green” initiative. It is just part of day-to-day life at the festival and really takes minimal effort on everyone’s part to make a huge difference.

What do you think is the most important thing that we as individuals can do to address sustainability and environmental issues?

We think it’s important to be aware of the impact of your actions and choices and know that small changes can ultimately have a massive impact. Everyone needs to start somewhere and take steps - progress over perfection. If we don’t take a single step, we won’t actually make any progress and it’s now critical that we all take some action in our lives towards a more sustainable and earth-friendly lifestyle. We hope that the messaging and practices integrated in the festival can help plant seeds with festival goers to tread more lightly.

The power of the collective consciousness is powerful and something that we can support really well here. As the positive energy of the festival carries on beyond the festival gates, we can really feel we’ve achieved something special.

To read more about Rocking the Daisies eco and social initiatives click here. And if heading to Rocking the Daisies this year remember to “play hard and tread lightly”!

rockingthedaisies.com