Beats for Love
www.posiv.cz ǀ 19
SUSTAINABILITY
Large festivals work with huge numbers of people,
materials, waste, equipment and energy. Where
do you think there is the greatest potential for savings
and smarter operations?
We have always viewed and planned our festival
as a long-term system, not as a one-off four-day
event. In an operation of this scale, every decision
is multiplied across materials, transport, waste, energy
and people’s work.
We see better material planning and the repeated use
of equipment as absolutely key. Every year, the festival
works with a large number of banners (decorative
covering PVC fabrics), structures, floors, fences,
signage, decorations, furniture and technical facilities
that we own. If these items are designed so that they
can be reused, stored, repaired or adapted for the next
edition, it creates significant savings. And believe me,
across the whole site, many installations can be, and are,
used repeatedly in this way. The savings are not only
ecological, but also financial.
There is also great potential in logistics. Every
unnecessary journey, unused vehicle, poorly timed
delivery or surplus material order means costs, emissions
and pressure on production. That is why it is important
to coordinate suppliers better and combine transport.
Why send two vehicles from Prague when we can use
one larger one? And that applies to everything.
Another important area is waste, catering and packaging.
Sorting waste is, of course, important, but a truly
smart solution starts earlier, by trying to prevent waste
in the first place. Returnable cups are a huge advantage.
Last year, we also introduced an edition of 0.3-litre
cups, and it had a major impact in terms of cleaning
and recycling. We reduced the number of containers,
and the cleaning staff could be used in more important
areas, and so on. Next year, we will continue in this
direction again.
And, of course, we also deal with energy and technology.
This year, we will see how the price of diesel affects
the festival’s costs. Like every festival, we need separate
standalone systems to prevent outages in the local
grid. So here too, it was important this year to prepare
the generators for a better distribution of connection
points and to adjust operating times so that nothing was
running unnecessarily.
For us, then, it is not about limiting the festival or reducing
its quality. It is about making it work more intelligently.
Returnable cups are a basic element. Do you
also monitor their return rate? Where do you see
the greatest room for improvement?
Returnable cups have been with us since the very
beginning of the festival and are one of the basic
and essential elements of our more sustainable
operation. The cup itself, however, does not solve
the problem unless the entire system around it is well
set up. That is why, together with our partner, we fine-
tune the individual steps every year and also monitor
Trees for love