In January 2019 the Earth Warriors took to the stage at Rainbow Serpent Festival with two missions: to hunt down the trash and encourage patrons to take up the fight against the Waste Invaders.
Complimenting this mission was the first trial of the Upcycle City initiative – where tents and camping equipment reclaimed from previous festivals was rented to event patrons, in an attempt to find a new use for abandoned camping gear from previous festivals.
The trial was a success with a dedicated group of eco-campers paying a good price to have a place at Upcycle City. Camping in upcycled tents, the citizens of Upcycle City had prime access to the festival, located just hundreds of metres from food stalls, toilets and the dance floor.
The citizens arrived with their tents already set up, parking spaces awaiting and inflatable mattresses ready to go. Who knew that the wastefulness of campers at previous festivals would be used to such good effect down the track?
Rainbow Serpent Festival has expressed interest in building the Upcycle City initiative in 2020, and we’re keen to expand it to other events down the track.
The main hurdles to expansion of the program going forwards are:
- The cost of collection and maintenance of camping equipment abandoned at festivals
- Storage of Upcycle City gear in between events and transport around the country
- Maintaining a high standard of camping gear as the quality of cheap tents sold today as can be quite poor, even designed to be ‘single use.’
Thanks to everyone who has supported this initiative thus far.
If you are interested in the Upcycle City program and future collaborations, don’t hesitate to reach out using the contact form on the Upcycle website.
