“Clean Vibes is a company formed and dedicated to responsible on-site waste management of outdoor festivals and events. Our mission is to actively encourage and promote recycling, composting and proper waste disposal. We hope to educate and inspire a new generation of responsible stewards. Our goal is to divert waste from landfills by increasing the amount of material that is recycled and composted, thereby greatly reducing the ecological footprint of outdoor festivals and events.” -CV
If you’ve ever been to a music festival you know just how messy it can get. Clean Vibes is a responsible on-site waste management group for outdoor festivals and events whose focus is on education through action. “We show concertgoers how easy it is to minimize one’s waste footprint through recycling and composting in hopes that they might take this knowledge and apply it to their daily lives,” says the organization. Clean Vibes works dominantly on a volunteer basis and works some of the biggest most well known festivals in the country, including: Bonnaroo , Gathering of the Vibes , and Outside Lands .
Clean Vibes keeping it organized.
Clean Vibes has a two pronged approach. The first being a solid foundation of organized trash, recycling, and compost bins with clear guidelines on each to remind festival goers what exactly can be recycled, composted, and the remainder heads to the landfill. Their team (including many volunteers) does an incredibly efficient job not letting these containers overflow, and getting its contents where they need to go.
An inside look to the Clean Vibes Trading Post.
The second prong involves getting the actual concert goers to pick up their own trash. How? With incentive! A separate entity but with the same objective, the Clean Vibes Trading Post invites a variety of vendors and businesses, including ENO, to donate their merchandise to be used as motivating tools. They then decide the price tag of the donated goods–which is measured in garbage. Let’s just say a DoubleNest hammock and straps can run you many, many trash bags of cigarette butts. But the point is, they are getting the immediate festival community involved–and it works. When Clean Vibes and the Clean Vibes Trading Post on the scene, after the party is over, the venue property is restored to its original cleanliness. For years, ENO has happily donated hammocks to the Clean Vibes Trading Post, and is excited to continue being a part of their movement.
In 2013, both Clean Vibes and the Clean Vibes Trading Post, diverted an incredible amount of recyclables and compostables out of the landfill. And this year, all those cigarette butts were also kept out. “That’s right, we diverted cigarette butts. Thanks to a partnership with TerraCycle , we collected and then mailed butts to their headquarters in NJ where the butts were recycled into industrial plastics. 2013 was our first year working with TerraCycle and we look forward to that relationship growing, “ says Meg Luce, project manager of the Clean Vibes Trading Post. Now that’s impressive.
Outside of being the people who keep our festivals tidy, these sister businesses are leading by example. We only have one earth and we just need to take better care of it. The decisions we make have power, and through these decisions translates how much you respect the environment. So big ups to Clean Vibes for keeping it fresh and inspiring music lovers everywhere to do the same, even when they go home.
