We are aware of our responsibility as organizers of Germany's biggest electronic music festival - not only to provide the ultimate festival experience but also for our environment and society. To make our festival as resource-friendly, environmentally conscious and socially responsible as possible we are implementing different initiatives continuously. This is something we do together with our partners and sponsors but especially with you.
Have a look at how we are working together for a better future!
The recycling and upcycling of old, discarded materials is an essential part of decoration production at PAROOKAVILLE. We try to use existing materials and products as long and often as possible. Therefore, we frequently repair, rebuild or upgrade.
Besides recycling stage elements, we create various backdrops, decorations and event equipment based on the idea of upcycling. For "new" decorative elements or event equipment we use material that others might throw away or discard - such as our "Jukebus".
Our "Jukebus" is a discarded public transport bus that was no longer roadworthy and would have ended up in a scrapyard.
Instead we gave the bus a second life and converted it into a small stage. With further upcycling projects we transformed vehicles into the "Pizzaoki" food stall, a cocktail bar and a merchandising booth. Old sea containers have been turned into bars, sales stalls and stages. Old tires or industrial pallets have been turned into benches.
At the same time we try to encourage creativity and innovation and inspire our visitors to discover new ways of using old objects to develop new, unique and appealing decorations.
We use advanced facilities to recycle water from showers and sinks for toilet flushing. We also use water-saving vacuum toilets. By minimizing water consumption we conserve natural resources and help to reduce our ecological footprint.
More and more of our production vehicles, including off-road vehicles and scooters, are electrically powered. These vehicles significantly reduce our CO2 emissions and are an example of our commitment to more sustainable mobility. The charging power for the scooters is partly generated on site using solar panels.
Tickets no longer need to be printed but can be presented in digital form at the entrance. This allows you to help us act in a more sustainable way by saving paper and resources.
150 tons less waste in 2022!
A festival with around 45,000 campers generates a lot of waste. Keeping our campsite - which is used as an agricultural area for the rest of the year - clean and ensuring it is left clean is very important to us and our duty. And for this we need your support!
We appeal to our campers to either take their tents and pavilions back with them or, if this is not possible, to use the containers provided for disposal. We also call on you to separate waste into yellow bags, paper/cardboard and residual waste and bring it to our recycling centers.
We charge a waste deposit at the campsite, which must be paid when purchasing a ticket. When checking in to the campsite our citizens receive an empty garbage bag in combination with a garbage deposit coin. As soon as the garbage bag with the coin is handed in at our garbage deposit station the deposit amount is also refunded. This is a very effective way of ensuring that garbage is properly recycled and does not end up on the campsite.
Mindfulness is particularly important at our new "Green Camp" campsite - not only towards each other but also towards the environment. Waste avoidance and a good night's sleep are the guiding principles in this area.
We motivate our citizens to bring only the essentials to the festival and, above all, to take their equipment back with them. If you still want to leave tents, pavilions or pools behind please bring them to the dedicated collection point. We will make new, great things out of them. In collaboration with the non-profit organization Zukunftsmusik e.V. and Casa Blanca we are making tent bags and backpacks which are now available in our store! Who knows what else we can create from them?
The Casa Blanca carnival sewing project is an internal work project of the SkF e.V. Cologne for women who live on Arbeitslosengeld II and have trouble getting back into work due to their long period of unemployment or other barriers to employment. The proceeds from the bags are donated and benefit the musical education of socially disadvantaged children.
No more plastic! Disposable plastic products such as straws, tableware and stirrers have been banned from sale since 2020 for good reason and have also been banned from our city. You'll only find sustainable materials.
We have spent a long time looking at how we can act as sustainable as possible in the use of beverage cups at our festival. It's a very complex issue where many components must be considered. Our solution is neither disposable nor reusable but rather a circular system that can be realized with recyclable disposable packaging. With our experienced and innovative partners we ensure a circular system in which the beverage cups can be fully recycled and therefore used again and again. The PET cups are supplied by our partner Faerch / Paccor while recycling is handled by their specialist recycler Cirrec, part of the Faerch Group, based in Duiven in the Netherlands, just 70 kilometers from our festival site. We are convinced that this system protects resources most effectively and is by far the most sustainable for our specific requirements.
You can make a significant contribution to ensuring that this recycling system works as smoothly as possible by returning empty beverage cups to the designated collection stations handing them back in at the bars - and then of course getting your deposit back. We take care of everything else with our partners.
Help us by leaving plastic confetti and cutlery at home for example! Let's start together!
Our city has become more sustainable and cleaner through our deposit system. This is because a deposit is charged for each drink on the festival site which our citizens receive back when they return it. This helps to ensure that the cups and cans are returned and can be recycled in a more environmentally friendly way.
Backstage we are paying more attention to the use of reusable containers. All employees are provided with a free, reusable water bottle which can be refilled at free water dispensers throughout our festival grounds.
PAROOKAVILLE has been supporting the region since the festival began in 2015. Every year local restaurants, companies and associations are asked to provide support for the entire festival, so that the entire region benefits directly from the festival.
The non-profit organization Zukunftsmusik e.V. has been a loyal partner of PAROOKAVILLE since 2017 and collects large quantities of deposit donations on the festival grounds and campsites every year. Zukunftsmusik e.V. uses the proceeds for the musical education of disadvantaged children.
We have worked on projects with Haus Freudenberg GmbH in the past and will continue to do so in the future. The company is committed to the rehabilitation, care and employment of people with disabilities. Especially in the implementation of our Special Needs Camp and the Special Needs Crew Haus Freudenberg supports us and enables citizens with disabilities to experience PAROOKAVILLE.
Everyone deserves the opportunity to be a citizen of PAROOKAVILLE. That is why citizens with disabilities receive free tickets for accompanying persons. There are barrier-free toilets in the Special Needs Camp and on the festival grounds. Electric wheelchairs can be charged free of charge.
When selecting our food offerings we are paying increasing attention to regional and organic service providers. We have also increased the range of vegetarian and vegan dishes on offer many times over.
"Foodsharing - is caring!". In cooperation with PENNY Festivals we donate food that has not been consumed at the end of each day to the local food charity “Tafel” in Weeze.
In the context of Future City it is important for us to work honestly and based on facts as we do for our entire communication.
The road to more sustainability for a major event like PAROOKAVILLE is long and we have to consider many aspects such as security of supply and availability. But we love challenges that we can tackle together with you, our amazing citizens. We are trying to use our reach to raise even more attention for this issue. We are aware that we can never act completely sustainable but we are trying to continuously reduce our ecological footprint with these actions and other initiatives in the future and above all to make our citizens aware of the issue.
Do you have any projects or ideas that could help us at Future City? - Feel free to contact us!
infodesk@parookaville.com
