Evolve Festival 2012 goes green for Nelson

Evolve Festival - Founders Heritage Park, Nelson, on 18-19 February, 2012.

New Zealand’s longest-running festival for health and wellbeing is going green to reduce its impact on the environment.

Evolve Festival, to be held at Founders’ Park on 18 – 19 February, will this year be a carbon neutral, zero waste event. Evolve Festival organisers Chai and Bex Deva say it is in their business strategy for the event to be environmentally sustainable.

“Nelson has a lot of festivals, which is great for our city – but what’s not so good is the rubbish those events can generate,” says Evolve Festival organiser Chai Deva. “Our aim for Evolve is to have a fun, worthwhile, family event that is sustainable and doesn’t negatively impact on the environment.”

Now in its 21st year, Evolve Festival includes more than 70 workshops on sustainable living, health and wellbeing. There will also be plenty of food and market stalls, a kids’ zone, circus skills’ lessons, live entertainment and much more.

Nelson City Council’s sustainability adviser Karen Lee has been helping the couple achieve their goal of a green event. The Council has provided information signs, composting and recycling facilities for the festival, along with advice on running sustainable events.

“The council has been incredibly supportive. Karen has given us heaps of advice and useful tips. She has so much experience with events like ours - it’s been really good to have someone with her expertise to go to.”

Chai and Bex have also been working with CarboNZero - an internationally accredited greenhouse gas certification programme, to measure the festival’s environmental footprint and mitigate carbon emissions. They are hoping for it to be the first festival certified through the scheme.

“Last year we sent 12 bags of rubbish to landfill from the festival. This year we’re aiming for zero waste, and to end up with a carbon credit. This is our way of reducing our event’s environmental footprint, but also setting an example. We hope zero waste events eventually become the norm as people see more of them.”

This year’s festival will have compost and recycling facilities, but visitors are encouraged to bring their own plates and cutlery, and stallholders must provide compostable plates and cups. Any material or pamphlets handed out on the day must use recyclable materials and not be wrapped in plastic.

For more information please visit our website: www.evolvefestival.co.nz