Garbage

Ieperfest 2010 … It's gonna be a HELL of a fest, no doubt, and not only because of the amazing great line-up but also because we're taking a next step to become an even greener fest than we always were … So green we aim to win the GROENEVENT AWARD 2010, an award for the greenest event in Flanders and we shouldn't be going into competition if we wouldn't believe we are the GREENEST fest around. Plain f* simple ...

Do you know another festival with an 100% vegan catering (except for the almighty Flufffest, not accidentally another HC-fest), or a fest with reusable trays for French – I beg your pardon ?? - Belgian fries, or a fest where the visitors and bandmembers get, totally free of charge, 100% biodegradable showergel to use in our showers (www.ecover.com), or a fest which use and collect all the PLA-cups and recycle them in order to make new PLA-cups or bottles (www.loopla.org), or a fest that owns some trees in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador (www.organicmeltdown.com) and protect it from destruction, … Or a festival with all these advantages at once ?? We don't and if we would, it wouldn't be here in Flanders !!

Why following others if you can set an example yourself ?? Ok, 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, bandmembers, distroholders, volunteers, shitworkers … in short; everybody on the fest to help us out !!

We might come up with the idea's, we might provide all (sometimes expensive) logistics & 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 for nothing or like we would say in our dialect: “voar den'unt zin klotn”.

But if we do, in the end, we will all enjoy the benefits of our behaviour nowadays ...

So, no more beating around the bush this is shortly what we want you to do on Ieperfest (and beyond):

We thank you if you still didn't quit reading, because it means you have ears to what we say !! So, specially for you all we will give more details on each aspect we thought of so far: read on and spread the message to the not readers and/or not believers … Our gratitude will be eternal !!

We still hold tight to the slogan we launched last year:

DON’T THROW YOUR SHIT AROUND… BIN IT !!



If you read this sentence, it seems so logical and easy. But every year we must conclude that it just isn't. And we're not only talking about all the foreigners at Ieperfest, but also and maybe even more about the Belgians. We have noticed that those who think they know the very strict Belgian sorting-system aren't paying any attention at the very clear signs we put on all the different bins, you can and will find around the festivalground and still put waste in the wrong bins. Please use your eyes and common sense. And if you still have some doubts, just ask someone else, you might learn (from) each other and meanwhile you're talking about what we hold dear !!

OK, here we go again:

Glass: Fuck it, we don’t want it here, so don’t even bother to bring it. It is not allowed on the camping either. A few weeks after the fest, cows will be grazing (NOT glazing!) on it. If you feel the urge to be an arse and bring your own glass bottles to the fest, we will ask you to put them in one of the big glasscontainers we put at the entrance of the camping and the festivalground 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 drinking bottles, cans and bricks. This kind of waste belongs in a BLUE bin or bag, and will to be used again to make new bottles or even bikes ... Paper & cardboard: You can throw all your paper & cardboard in one of the big cardboard boxes that you’ll find in the tent where the bands and some distro's will try to sell you all kinds of stuff, sometimes unfortunately wrapped in not-recyclable plastic (see: All other stuff that can’t be recycled).



Organic waste: this green bin just loves food… food, napkins & wooden cutlery only. Which means that the package where the food was wrapped in (if you brought it from home or somewhere else than the festivalground), doesn’t belong in this bin!! And what’s more 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 MTM-stage. I bet you there will be people around who finish your plate with great pleasure. Finish leftovers … fatality !!



Green plates: if you were on one of the last editions, you will recognize the lovely green, long-lasting hard plastic plates. So I 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). If you return your/a plate to our special ‘RETURNPOINT’ nearby the kitchen and bar, you will get a food coupon back. Sounds awfully easy, right? The plates will be washed with 100% biodegradable washing-up liquid (www.ecover.com). So we can use them again. What a service, what a pleasure, what a festival !!



Drinking cups: for the second year we're going for fully bio-degradable cups made out of corn or sugar beet! Hurray²! And just like last year we want to separate all the cups from other trash. Last year all our cups were composted. This year we're going even further: all our cups will be reused again to make new bio-degradable cups out of it. We're working together with LOOPLA for this matter. See on their site www.loopla.org how it exactly works. We fully believe & support this company. So help us a hand (or two) and collect those cups. We make you a deal: YOU collect 50 biocups and YOU get ONE drinkingCHIP in return! So get on your feet, collect & drink some more! Lets make this cup-thing work !!

All other stuff that can’t be recycled: if you’re holding something that doesn’t fit in one of the groups I’ve just explained before, you might hold something that can’t be recycled (yet) 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. Shit, this is not normal: there’s a bin for everything… not normal, I say ...



DON’T THROW YOUR SHIT AROUND… BIN IT !!

Human wasted liquids and/or solids: We also ask everyone, men and women, to use the toilets to piss and shit(talking). 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 pissing on your own shoes will be reduced to almost zero ...

Showers: Another fine victory last year was the fact that we could give everyone who wanted to take a shower 100% biodegradable ECOVER showergel, totally free of charge. And why change a winning team? This year we and ecover are just gonna do the same. So leave those nature-killing-soaps & gels at home and gain from our generosity … and maybe, just maybe we go a little further this year and we try to provide also 100% biodegradable ECOVER washing-up liquid so you can do your dishes professionally at the campsite. More info on that soonish

Campsite: THE pain point for every festival; it seems to be hard or even impossible to keep the campsite tidy. Kinda strange if you ask me: how stupid it is to ‘fest’ on an untainted site if the campsite is nasty … and hey, we’re talking about the same people staying there. I don’t get it, and in fact we as organizers don’t have to care, cuz none of us are sleeping over there anyways. But that’s just not us. We want the campsite funky and clean, so same rules on the campsite as on the festivalground. As simple as that. Use the bags we offer you, for free, when you enter the camping for the first time, collect your the trash, rubbish, rubble, debris, detritus, waste or whatever you like to call it, put it in the right bins, that can be found not far from the campsite entrance, where you will pass several times a day and re-use the bag we gave you !!! And YES, it is allowed to discuss with 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 ...

DON’T THROW YOUR SHIT AROUND… BIN IT !!

All of us are campers/visitors/organizers/shitworkers/band members with certain responsibilities, whether you like it or not. All big deeds start very small within yourself… take action and keep it tidy wherever you may roam ... The Ieperfest collective and, even more important, Mother Earth will be so grateful !!

And 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 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! Don't hesitate to get in touch with Martijn through straightkieken at hotmail dot com. We're working day & night (no kidding) on this aspect because ...

It's a true story that this quest will never end but it's even more true that we will never give in !!