Photo: Peter Waiser

The Green in Bluesfest

Festivals can be a wonderful time to get out of doors in the fine weather and enjoy the arts in lush green surroundings. But how green are festivals and what are they doing to ensure that the impact they have leaves the audience with a great experience while not leaving the disruption behind?

We spoke with Mike Rouleau, Director of Operations, Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest to find out how they have risen to the challenge. Bluesfest initiated a green program five years ago. During that time, the program has grown requiring consistent and concerted efforts in order to make it work. Mike recalls, when they started out, the biggest concern was how much money and resources the festival would need to allocate to realize their plans. They must be on the right track; the Recycling Council of Ontario has awarded Bluesfest recycling awards for three years in a row.

Bluesfest recognizes their large volunteer base of 4,000, gives them greater resources than most local festivals. The commitment of the volunteers to ensure the green program's success has been a key component of their plans. For example, members of Bluesfest's volunteer Green Team hand sort stray garbage items out of the recycling container contents. That's dedication!

They have been adding new initiatives every year, from composting beer cups in their first year, providing recycling containers in their second year, to their most recent initiative of having all serving ware (plates, cups and cutlery) compostable. Currently all on-site generators use biodeisel fuel and for cyclists there is supervised bike parking.

Mike says a key strategy for festivals of any size is to start small. He suggests it's not realistic to jump in all at once with every initiative you can think of. Patrons need to develop buy-in and can be overwhelmed by too much at once. Although there is an increasing awareness and desire by festival patrons to see active green programs at festivals, Mike cautions that they attend for the entertainment and not for a festival's green initiatives. How does Bluesfest gauge their success? Well, the tonnage of recycling and compostable materials increases every year and speaks for itself.

The NCC and the City of Ottawa understand the issues of festivals' need to have green initiatives and are themselves helping by providing some administrative support with contacts for garbage and composting removal. The City of Ottawa lends bins for festival use, although, Bluesfest have also purchased some of their own to help ease the demand during festivals' peak summer season.

Ottawa Festivals is a great voice for Ottawa area festivals as they tackle green issues—for example, carbon offsets for festivals have been a recent topic of consideration.

With accolades comes responsibility. With that in mind, Bluesfest has taken on a leadership role in speaking with others about their green program. If you have any questions about greening your own festival or event, please do not hesitate to call Mike Rouleau at Bluesfest 613-247-1188 ext 232. For more information on the Bluesfest green program please visit
www.ottawabluesfest.ca/en/?page=bluesfest_goes_green

Additional information can be found in the Sustainable Event Guide online at www.sustainableeventguide.com

Text: CAO staff