We all enjoy a good time in the city, and what better way to enjoy ourselves then at Melbourne Music Week. Now in its 10th year, it has become a staple in the calendar, offering a week of live music events to excite us just in time for summer. As we head towards a new decade, can festivals in the city be sustainable and ensure we are having a good time, conscience free?

Recently on a trip to Basel in Switzerland, I stumbled upon a music festival along the River Rhine that was so well run, it should be an inspiration to all event organizers. There were recycling points on every corner, bars taking deposits and serving re-usable cups, and responsible festival-goers contributing to a fantastic day.

Australian festivals have certainly come a long way since the mass events of single-use plastic cups and litter everywhere. But it’s only in the last year or so, with the wider conscious concern on climate change, that we are starting to see real changes that mark the festivals of the future.

This year's Melbourne Music Week organizers have put practices into place to ensure the festival is sustainable and environmentally friendly, setting what should be the standard for all music festivals in the future. For the first time ever, MMW will be powering its hub with 100% renewable electricity sourced through the Melbourne Renewable Energy Project’s wind farm. As well as reducing the festival's carbon footprint, this project will also invest in new renewable energy infrastructure for Victoria - “Purchasing renewable energy is one of the easiest ways to reduce emissions from venues while also directly investing in the long-term solution.” says Councillor Rohan Leppert.

The festival Hub this year is Kubik at Alexandra Gardens, a striking display of repurposed industrial containers, filled with 100% captured stormwater from within the city. Each unit houses LEDs, individually controlled by custom software that interacts with the beats and frequencies of live performances, the structure lights up in response to music, a real synthesis of sound and light. After the event, the water will be returned to water storages to irrigate Melbourne’s parks and gardens.

To ease the footprint of music fans, the festival is targeting a zero-waste Hub by carefully planning operations with every contractor, so that any single-use item they can’t eliminate will be recyclable, and nothing goes into landfill. They're also including a $1 carbon offset contribution to each Hub ticket.

Councillor Rohan Leppert believes this is the future direction for festivals and city councils need to support these changes - “As consumers increasingly demand environmentally friendly products, services, and experiences, festivals need to adapt to stay relevant. The more resources are available to event organizers the better. To support the industry, the City of Melbourne has developed a Sustainable Event Guide for event organisers to utilize, with tips and tools on how they can take action on climate change by making their event more sustainable.”

The extra time spent planning and effort in the details will hopefully mean we can continue to have these events in our ever-growing city.

Melbourne Music Week runs from 14 – 23rd November 2019 – full program here: https://mmw.melbourne.vic.gov.au/program/

Written by Melbourne captain & correspondent Netta Justice