Digitalising the event
This year the event is very different. All of the events, both festival and rafting, have been scaled down and will be completely digital. The points down below describe the continuous work we’ve been doing for years, but of course we have had the environment and sustainability in mind this year as well.
Sustainability
We want to think long-term, and one way we’re doing this is designing a good way of gathering statistics to reduce waste, and another to reuse material that we design.
Litter free river
In order to not litter and to restore the river, we have taken action. Partly, we clean the river after the event in collaboration with the association Fyrisåns vänner and Uppsala county. The material on the rafts has to float and in the finish area there is like a strainer that catches the litter.
Enviroraft
When the rafts reach the finnish line, the bottoms that are whole will be saved for next year, so called envirorafts. This will reduce the usage of styrofoam and waste.
Choice of styrofoam
We chose a denser styrofoam for the rafts. The hope is that this will prevent it from breaking as easily. This will reduce the amount of styrofoam in the river and the envirorafts can be used longer.
Responsible for sustainability work
In 2019 the committee expanded with one more person. We now have a person that is responsible for our sustainability work (Håll).
Reduce of litter during the festival
To reduce the dispersion of styrofoam and other trash the building area is defined with a fence with construction fabric that will catch things (like styrofoam) that easily can blow away. The rafters must also sit in big containers when they rasp the styrofoam.
Reduce of plastic and disposables
We try to reduce dishes that require a lot of disposables and try to invite visitors to bring their lunch box to fill with food, cutlery and water bottles to fill with water. The focus of the disposables we have to order will be to reduce the plastic by offering wooden cutlery and paper mugs for water. We don’t sell drinks in plastic bottles. We don’t share flyers or inedible give-aways.