Melbourne’s (rightly earned) reputation as the cultural capital of Australia sees locals and tourists both flocking to the Victorian capital in their droves to enjoy the cultural exhibits, good music, and exotic food and drink. Events like the outdoor Moonlight Cinema, Midsumma Festival, or the Greek Antipodes Festival draw hundreds and thousands of guests.
With such a spectacular turnout comes the inevitable need for waste disposal. After all, people need to eat and drink, stay hydrated under the Australian summer sun or enjoy new flavours as part of our multicultural melting pot society. Responsible waste management is the key to preserving the beauty of the city, allowing both locals and tourists to continue to enjoy this vibrant city in all its splendour.
Melbourne’s January Extravaganza
Major events such as the Australian Open, Midsumma Festival, and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival are massive drawcards for the Victorian Capital. Each event brings people in their thousands every single day to enjoy the best displays of sport, culture and comedy that Australia and the wider world offer. Just last year, the 2023 Australian Open saw 840,000 attendants in just two weeks!
With that comes the need to keep those thousands of people hydrated and well-fed, and with each event attendant producing at least one disposable cup and food container, the needs for responsible and efficient waste disposal quickly add up. The challenges don’t lie simply in the sheer volume of waste produced but in the ease of access that guests have to bins and other sites for disposal. After all, nobody wants to be carrying around their rubbish for any longer than they need to and providing regular access to responsible waste disposal is key to discouraging littering.
Image Credit: StKildaFestival.com.au
February Festivities
February events include the St Kilda Festival, White Night Melbourne, and the Sustainable Living Festival. White Night routinely attracts more than half a million attendants in just one night, and this figure is growing by the year, while the 2023 St Kilda Festival saw some 375,000 live music lovers attend in just one weekend! Each event will have its own challenges in terms of waste management, especially the responsible disposal and recycling of food and drink containers.
For example, outdoor events may generate more drink container waste, whether that is glass bottles, aluminium cans, or plastic cups. Providing options for sorting and separating makes the recycling and disposal of hundreds of thousands of containers much more efficient and effective.
Navigating the Waste Landscape of Outdoor Summer Concerts
How often do we see regular council bins full or even overflowing with rubbish on the street? And that’s just with regular, everyday foot traffic. Now, scale up the number of people into the hundreds of thousands, and you will see just how vital having a reliable garbage collection system in place really is. In the Australian summer sun, the logistics of cleanup can seem daunting, but venues can easily outsource that challenge with skip bin hire.
For serious events, you need serious waste disposal. Skip bins can be designated as general waste or recycling. Skip bins can be hired for a set amount of time and estimated waste requirements. Skips can be strategically placed to manage the surge in waste generated by music enthusiasts, foodies, artists and craftspeople. This way, no waste gets left behind, and no bins will overflow and spill unwanted items into the environment.
Image Credit: Timeout.com (Hawthorn Makers Market)
Art and Markets: A Canvas for Sustainable Waste Practices
While we’ve talked a bit about disposable cups and recyclable plates and other food containers, eating and drinking is only the tip of the event waste iceberg. Art festivals and outdoor markets during the summer months can also generate a great deal of waste from craft materials, offcuts and packaging of bought items. Fortunately, a lot of these materials, including cardboard, recycled plastics and paper, can be easily recycled. It just needs to be divided.
Just like we have different bins at home (general waste, recycling, green waste, etc.), so too can skip bins be customised to accommodate the diverse types of waste generated at these events. Patrons can either dump their waste in the provided skips directly, or event staff can be a go-between, regularly emptying smaller bins into the skips themselves. Your skip bin operator can then return with their fleet of trucks and take away the skips (and the mountains of rubbish, recyclable and not) in one easy step.
Image Credit: ConcretePlayground.com (Melbourne Zoo)
Family-Friendly Events: Instilling Eco-Friendly Values
Family-oriented events like the Melbourne Zoo Twilight Series and community picnics are the perfect places to encourage eco-friendly values in younger generations. Sustainability and our individual duty to the environment can be entwined with the excitement of parties and festivals and provide the opportunity to answer the question, “Where does our rubbish go?”
Showing your children how to separate their general rubbish from recyclable items will instill in them a lifetime respect for their own rubbish footprint, encouraging in them a pride and sense of responsibility to their city and their country. Reminding our children to be mindful of the waste they produce throughout their lives will lead them on to being responsible citizens. After all, what better gift can we give than ensuring the world is left in a better state for the next generation than when we inherited it?
Dispose of the Event Rubbish Mountain the Sensible Way
The Melbourne summer is absolutely packed with events, festivals, shows and opportunities to get out and about and see the rich cultural landscape of Australia. However, with great attendance (sometimes in the hundreds of thousands of people) comes the logistical challenge of waste disposal for so many people. With thousands upon thousands of food and drink sales comes thousands upon thousands of discarded plates, cups and containers that need to be responsibly and safely disposed of.
We should all be able to enjoy a cold drink and a tasty snack under the summer sun while we listen to live music, watch fireworks, or peruse markets full of arts and crafts, but to do so, we need to be of the importance of environmental care. This is not on any one person or group but on everyone, all of us, together. Event organisers, festival attendees, and skip bin users can all collaborate in making Melbourne’s January and February events not only enjoyable but also environmentally conscious.
If you are planning an event, contact Best Price Skip Bins to take care of your waste needs. We have different-sized bins to cater to every need, and if you’re unsure, call our friendly team 7 days a week for a free and instant quote. If you’re an attendee, keep an eye out for the skips at your next event and do your part to keep Melbourne clean and pristine!