Operational performance indicators for litter management at festivals in semi-natural landscapes

Abstract

Huge open-air festivals with more than 50,000 visitors have become a common but scarcely studied land-use practice in many countries of the world. The environmental consequences of crowds such as litter accumulation and damage to vegetation are increasingly being taken into account by event managers. At present, many festivals use overall solid waste amount as an indicator of their waste management performance. However, these operational performance indicators (OPIs) do not reflect either the success of individual litter reduction measures or the damage to valuable habitats. We developed specific OPIs for solid waste littering and compared absolute littering and littering per person at three open-air festivals in Germany across different festival zones and phases. For one festival, we established a GIS to relate sensitive habitats to waste littering. Differences in litter indicators across event zones and phases as well as the impact of litter-reducing measures were tested using generalized linear mixed models (GLMM). Waste littering reached values up to 350 g h −1 m −2, mainly in the form of glass bottles. Stage, path, food, and sanitation zones showed significantly higher littering per hour and per area than entrance zones, and littering was significantly lower during the arrival phase than during the event and departure phases. Fencing in combination with entrance controls, bin allocation, and participatory litter collection systems decreased overall littering significantly. In addition, requiring deposits for cups and providing visitor information on banners significantly impacted littering of residual (non-glass) waste. Festivals led to a clear short-term decrease in vegetation cover. Mapping waste littering in relation to valuable habitats highlights the conflict between festival use and nature conservation. We conclude that fencing, bin allocation, and participatory litter collection systems are the most efficient measures to reduce littering at festivals and should have high priority in valuable habitats. In particular, event planners should develop specific measures for waste-intensive stage, path, food, and sanitation zones. Overall, the study provides evidence that specific OPIs are more effective at assessing litter management at huge festivals than general OPIs.