AusLeisure

Organisers of the Airlie Beach Festival of Music have ensured that the most recent edition of the six-year-old event was plastic bag-free, straw-free and offered re-usable bottles and cups.

Festival co-ordinator Ellie Hanlon said the initiatives were a natural progression for an event that took place in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef.

Hanlon explained “at the ticket office last year, everyone was asking for plastic bags to take their merchandise home in and I just thought, ‘we can change this’.

“And the amount of plastic waste from a couple of thousand people having a fresh cup with every drink of water or spirits is mammoth.

“We can’t do it with beer for hygiene reasons but by offering re-usable cups for those types of drinks I’m hoping we can at least halve our waste.”

Having joined the growing list of businesses signed up to the Whitsundays’ ‘No Straw Campaign’ the festival committed to having no plastic straws in the main tent at the Whitsunday Sailing Club and asked each of the other 17 venues to follow suit.

Hanlon added “we’re on the edge of the Barrier Reef – we don’t get any closer than this – there’s no other festival on the ocean like us so we just felt there had to be a better way.”

Backing the initiative, Tourism Whitsundays Chief Executive Tash Wheeler said these environmental introductions should not be underestimated, stating “I think we all need to take responsibility for our footprint and if we all implement the things we can to make a difference what a difference we will make.”

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