Project Surge was established as a research project aiming to identify and evaluate sources of waste in the music events industry. The findings were then broken down into six categories; energy, food, water, waste, circularity and offsetting. From there, we developed a sustainable festival model, with the intention of creating a set of guidelines that could be implemented to improve sustainability practices at any event. 

With Tasmania as the home of the research project, the proposed model offers solutions which are particularly relevant for Tasmanian events, and highlights the capacity of the Tasmanian seaweed industry as a emerging solution for many areas of concern in the events space. However, the model aims to provide relevant and useful guidelines for application at any given event, anywhere in the world.

Algae Rhythms festival is the first implementation of the Project Surge sustainable festival model.

Click below to view the model.

  • In the context of events design, the concept of circularity refers to designing products and/or systems that not only reduce waste output, but require less inputs, and as a result, ‘close the loop’.

    An example of this in events design is liasing with musicians pre-festival, to understand energy requirements specific to their set (stage audio and lighting requirements, etc). This then allows for more accurate estimations of energy requirements for ther event (how many generators might be needed, how much offsetting will be required post-event, etc). In summary, there are less inputs (less generators hired for event), less outputs (energy used is closer to the energy provided), and therefore less waste.

    A more tactile example of circularity is to implement algae-bioplastic wristbands or lanyards, to replace traditional plastic or fabric ones. The product is manufactured from natural materials, is used for its purpose, and is then either used again, or can biodegrade.

  • Through primary and secondary research, we calculated the average waste outputs of a festival of 10,000 patrons scale, per day. Here is a snapshot of what we found: 

    - 570,000 sheets of toilet paper

    - 40,000 water bottles distributed

    - 360,000L water for flushing toilets

    - 1080t of CO2 emissions from artists and crew travel

    - 575t of CO2 emissions from patron travel

    - 1300t of CO2 emissions from supplier travel

    - 2700L of water to produce one cotton t-shirt at the merchandise stall