Cuddly toys and colorful bins: Festivals are a test-bed for sustainability

The traditional Hanse Sail festival in Rostock has set all sails – and Clean is on deck scouting for sustainable innovation.

Through the STRIVE-project, Clean supports sustainable initiatives during Hanse Sail and other events marked by a strong tourist presence.

Clean is the lead on the project, and for us it’s really nice to have a lead that has so much knowledge in making new projects and who has a big platform. – Janika Ballhöfer, Project Manager, Plastikfreie Stadt

My first circular economy

One concept, realised by the Plastic-Free City Initiative, turns waste collection into a can-tossing game with cuddly toy prizes.

Closing a child-sized loop of ownership, families can donate their own pre-loved toys. The toys are then thoroughly cleaned and put up as prize rewards for others.

It’s no accident that STRIVE pioneers new projects at an event like Hanse Sail.

This is an opportunity to test innovative solutions, and festivals are the best platform for that, because they are a kind of creative labs. – Janika Ballhöfer, Project Manager, Plastikfreie Stadt

Supporting sorting

Another project involves experimental bins. Using intuitive combinations of shape and colour, the bins are designed to improve festival-goers’ waste sorting.

15 stations sorting stations currently test the effectivenes of the recycling streams where waste is sorted into plastic, paper and residual.

Each waste item might be small, but the potential reach is massive, as the traditional sailing festival attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.

The plan is to scale it up and use it so it spreads, and so it has an influence on the tourism in the city’s other areas. – Janika Ballhöfer, Project Manager, Plastikfreie Stadt

Circular sanitation

As part of the STRIVE project, Hanse Sail is also testing compost toilets from the company Finizio at the festival.

The aim is to asses user acceptance and environmental impact from the innovative solution and set up a system for recycling human waste.

Going around, coming around

The initiatives are pilot-projects testing scaleability. But STRIVE’s presence also supports a general and ongoing knowledge-exchange:

It’s about collecting best practices, it’s about learning from each other – Janika Ballhöfer, Project Manager, Plastikfreie Stadt

Through STRIVE-initiatives, the exchange of knowledge spreads to festivals such as Malmöfestivalen in Sweden and the Freedom and Solidarity Festival in Poland.

We can learn from each other. We can see how they face these challenges and struggles. – Janika Ballhöfer, Project Manager, Plastikfreie Stadt

STRIVE is co-funded by Interreg South Baltic with funds from The European Union.