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Impact
Written by Kellie Vella – Human-Computer Interaction Researcher at Queensland University of Technology
Who hasn’t seen images of festivals the day after, with abandoned camping gear as far as the eye can see? It is easy to point the finger at lazy patrons, profit-driven organisers, or lenient local councils, but the festering issue of festival campsite waste is a “wicked problem”—a complex, social dilemma akin to climate change or pandemics. A solution demands a multi-stakeholder, agile approach.
In my research of music festival campsite waste, industry insiders told me about a cultural shift played out over decades. No longer were patrons satisfied with ‘a swag and a slab’, but instead brought with them every possible convenience. Monitoring patrons was hardly possible when campgrounds were the size of a suburb, or when patrons disappeared in the night, or when blistering heat hastened searches at entry. Extreme weather events – which we should see more of – resulted in wrecked campsites and litter blowing into neighbouring fields. Festival scale and ethos clearly impacted both capability and clarity of mission. While some festivals celebrated victories, the broader picture shows that annual experiments and outreach have yet to crack critical mass.
The patrons’ perspective paints a different story. They talked about exhaustion on the last day, their beliefs that abandoned gear would be repurposed and that good quality gear would only be broken or stolen. They saw others leave gear behind and this spread like a social contagion, fueled by patrons fleeing the scorching morning heat in campgrounds with no shade. Some said they would love to hire tents, but they and their friends couldn’t afford it and camping with friends was non-negotiable. They wanted to be comfortable and find their campsite in a sea of tents, and to achieve this they bought whatever they wanted, quickly and cheaply through online retailers. Thankfully, patrons who had experience camping with their families or borrowed their gear were less likely to abandon it and more likely to know what they were doing with it.
And let’s not forget the land’s story. Festivals are held on Country, both place and meaningful connection to place, though not necessarily meaningful to festivals or the people who attend them. There is much more that could be said about our relationship to land and its original custodians, to our history, and how this disconnection feeds into this problem and others.
Can Australian festivals redefine their future? Can festival cultures pivot from materialism to prioritise the peak experiences of music and friendship, one campsite at a time? More festivals incentivising group camping hire options or public transportation could be transformative. Policy makers must hold companies accountable for the landfill resulting from poor-quality products. Families can teach their children how to camp responsibly and we can all learn something about the Country we are on and foster collective care for it. We all – festivalgoers, organizers, policymakers, families, researchers, and more – possess unique skills and opportunities to contribute. Leaving festival campgrounds better than we found them will mean championing diverse approaches that begin where we stand.
This article has been written and published thanks to the generous support of Green Industries SA (GISA) as part of the Festival City Adelaide Climate Action Roadmap project, funded by GISA through its Lead-Educate-Assist-Promote (LEAP) grant program.
Written by Kellie Vella – Human-Computer Interaction Researcher at Queensland University of Technology
Who hasn’t seen images of festivals the day after, with abandoned camping gear as far as the eye can see? It is easy to point the finger at lazy patrons, profit-driven organisers, or lenient local councils, but the festering issue of festival campsite waste is a “wicked problem”—a complex, social dilemma akin to climate change or pandemics. A solution demands a multi-stakeholder, agile approach.
In my research of music festival campsite waste, industry insiders told me about a cultural shift played out over decades. No longer were patrons satisfied with ‘a swag and a slab’, but instead brought with them every possible convenience. Monitoring patrons was hardly possible when campgrounds were the size of a suburb, or when patrons disappeared in the night, or when blistering heat hastened searches at entry. Extreme weather events – which we should see more of – resulted in wrecked campsites and litter blowing into neighbouring fields. Festival scale and ethos clearly impacted both capability and clarity of mission. While some festivals celebrated victories, the broader picture shows that annual experiments and outreach have yet to crack critical mass.
The patrons’ perspective paints a different story. They talked about exhaustion on the last day, their beliefs that abandoned gear would be repurposed and that good quality gear would only be broken or stolen. They saw others leave gear behind and this spread like a social contagion, fueled by patrons fleeing the scorching morning heat in campgrounds with no shade. Some said they would love to hire tents, but they and their friends couldn’t afford it and camping with friends was non-negotiable. They wanted to be comfortable and find their campsite in a sea of tents, and to achieve this they bought whatever they wanted, quickly and cheaply through online retailers. Thankfully, patrons who had experience camping with their families or borrowed their gear were less likely to abandon it and more likely to know what they were doing with it.
And let’s not forget the land’s story. Festivals are held on Country, both place and meaningful connection to place, though not necessarily meaningful to festivals or the people who attend them. There is much more that could be said about our relationship to land and its original custodians, to our history, and how this disconnection feeds into this problem and others.
Can Australian festivals redefine their future? Can festival cultures pivot from materialism to prioritise the peak experiences of music and friendship, one campsite at a time? More festivals incentivising group camping hire options or public transportation could be transformative. Policy makers must hold companies accountable for the landfill resulting from poor-quality products. Families can teach their children how to camp responsibly and we can all learn something about the Country we are on and foster collective care for it. We all – festivalgoers, organizers, policymakers, families, researchers, and more – possess unique skills and opportunities to contribute. Leaving festival campgrounds better than we found them will mean championing diverse approaches that begin where we stand.
This article has been written and published thanks to the generous support of Green Industries SA (GISA) as part of the Festival City Adelaide Climate Action Roadmap project, funded by GISA through its Lead-Educate-Assist-Promote (LEAP) grant program.
