We like the place where Pohoda is. That’s why it’s natural for us to approach it with respect. It is also natural for the community of people who meet at the festival, even in the time outside the festival, so green solutions are a long-standing natural part of Pohoda.
Michal Kaščák, Pohoda Festival
Energy
- Mobile solar power station and solar lighting of the grounds (19 lamps)
- 40% of electricity from the fixed network thanks to the use of temporary transformer stations
- 0.22 l of fuel per participant / day = 38% of average consumption at festivals in Europe
Waste
- 17 Separation points - waste treatment assisted by volunteers
- Collection of raw materials
- Reusable cups in different sizes
- Compostable dishes and composting on site
- Personal ashtrays, smoking in the family park and festival tents is forbidden
- Special separation of old toothbrushes
- Over 120 people are taking care of the cleanliness of the venue
- 0.92 kg of waste per visitor / day = average daily production per inhabitant in the Slovak Republic (0.91 kg)
Hygiene
- Above standard number of toilets
- Vacuum toilets that saves water
- Flushing of the toilets using utility water from our own wells
- Chemical toilets with bio-concentrate and gentle long-term disposal of waste
- Non-stop service & crew Chemical sisters & Toi Toi Police
- Repaired water supply to the airport—elimination of water tanks
- Drinking water free of charge
Merchandising
- ALTER MERCH – print your clothes with festival graphics
- Fair wear organic cotton clothing with the GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certification
Community
- Multi-generation festival
- Family park for families with children
- Volunteer programme
- No festival VIP zones
- Barrier-free area and reduced fees for disabled visitors and their assistants
- Non-profit organizations zone
- Discussions and workshops
- Free tent camps & wide offer of different types of accommodation
- Involvement of local suppliers, producers, and retailers
- Artist village common for all artists at the festival
- Limited capacity to ensure enough room for visitors
Winner EFA Green Operations Award for 2017
Pohoda for us stood out this year not only for the work it’s done on moving to more sustainable energy sources when it partnered with a local energy provider to plug in stages and stands to the main grid, creating a mobile solar power plant. Not only for its efforts to reduce its travel emissions by partnering with the national train company to operate special festival trains across the country, promoting festival buses, developing carpooling #spolunapohodu, and providing bicycles on site for staff and artists to use. Not only for its efforts to reduce festival waste by introducing waste separation in 2006, organic waste separation in 2015, implementing a refundable beer-cup system, and the introduction of compostable food packages.
We award their work not only for their social consciousness in promoting the principle of equality by having no VIP area and providing a barrier-free festival open to all with provision for the disabled, families with children and so. Not only for its work to develop information and educational platforms with its discussion stage for environmental issues as well as its shared tent “NGO Passage” housing some 30 nongovernmental organisations.
We acknowledge not just this work, impressive as it is, but creating all of this and more despite a limited infrastructure and support system in their country, particularly in their early days. This festival has championed these initiatives and leads the way for other festivals in the country and more widely in their region by showing what can be done with belief and determination. They are a shining example, an individual, great and leading European festival!
Teresa Moore, A Greener Festival (UK) director awarding the Green Operations Award