Sustainability

A sustainable future will not happen by itself. As an organization, we know that very well, which is why we take our responsibility. To make a big impact, we do this together with all the suppliers, the crew, our partners and visitors.

But we start with ourselves

We share clear briefings, emphasize our goals and actions during the events and engage with suppliers and other parties to see how they can contribute to a greener festival landscape. For everything we want to change, we look at ourselves first.

Visitors help

Festival visitors help us out with a contribution of one euro per day: the Green Fields Fee. We invest that directly in sustainable initiatives at our events.

We want to be there for all generations in Helvoirt, Haaren and surrounding areas. Even if people cannot attend our event, we organize activities to bring people together and meet local needs. Together with local residents we try to green the environment. Anyone who wants to, we get involved. In addition, we offer DJ workshops at local schools to introduce youth to our events, guide elderly people around our festival grounds, and support local initiatives such as Park Ruijbosch in Haaren.

Mobility is a big theme when organizing an event. We try to limit the traffic of both suppliers, visitors, staff and artists as much as possible.

With shuttle buses and carpool promotion

Therefore, at REBiRTH Events we arrange shuttle buses as public transportation, promote the use of carpooling and help visitors who visit our events by coach. In this way we try to get visitors to our events with one transport move. On our website we timely communicate the departure times of the shuttle buses that we use from ‘s-Hertogenbosch station and we work closely with touring car organizations.

We encourage driving together

Should there be no other options for visitors to visit our events by car, we encourage them to travel with a full car by, for example, offering your empty car seats through Slinger.

By using sustainable machines for construction and dismantling.

We also take a close look at our own behavior. To build up and take down the festival, we use machines. In 2021 we started using electric gators and loaders. By 2025, we want as much of our machinery as possible to be electric during set-up and take-down. Unfortunately, this is not possible for all machinery at the moment, for example for a forklift. In that case, we choose the most sustainable option: Stage V Machinery. These machines have the latest technology which means they emit less harmful substances and consume less energy.

By combining and reducing transport

Furthermore, we try to optimize and combine transport as much as possible. We make the best possible use of our suppliers’ assortment to avoid unnecessary loads from suppliers. Finally, since 2023 we have been asking all our suppliers, “Where do you come from? That way we can see exactly how many kilometers our suppliers travel. This helps us in the future to choose the right suppliers with the least impact.

For the environment and to keep our lawns nice and green, we want to reduce waste on the festival grounds as much as possible. Because we at REBiRTH EVENTS like to keep things nice and positive, we help festival-goers do that and encourage them to dispose of their waste responsibly.

By recycling cups and bottles

Upon entry, you will receive an eco-token. Do you always hand in your cup with a new drink? Then you don’t have to pay a deposit. Because the more cups returned to the bar intact, the more we can recycle. To do this, we work with an organization that collects the plastic behind the bars and recycles it in a high-quality way. This is how we were able to recycle 1613 kg at REBiRTH Festival 2023. That is over 87% of the total. Our bar staff has been thoroughly instructed on the proper collection of waste, making our festival grounds cleaner than ever before. A win-win for both us and our visitors!

Thanks to special waste bins, stewards and the ‘Harmonie Helvoirt’

We have special waste bins for other waste and there are constantly people working to keep the grounds and surrounding area free of waste. Every morning there are campsite stewards who hand out garbage bags and ensure that visitors leave their spots clean. In recent years we have noticed that many visitors leave their tent and belongings at the end of the festival, we want to break that habit, we actively communicate about taking back belongings. We also offer accommodations that are reused at other festivals. No accommodation needed? No problem! Just take everything home neatly. Whatever scrap metal is left at the campsite is collected by Harmonie Helvoirt, which earns money for the association.

By preventing waste

Finally, we have completely abandoned giving out magazines and flyers at the end of the festival. You can check the program digitally on one of the screens on the grounds or in the app. And do you have a question? Then you can go to the information point on the festival grounds or at the campsite.

Thanks to fixed power points

The Green Fields Fee has allowed us to install fixed power points at our event locations. This allows us to run on fixed power during the entire set-up and breakdown period and even during part of the event, without the need for generators. For these power points, we purchase green energy from ENGIE Nederland.

By using batteries and biodiesel

To further reduce power consumption, we use batteries. For the generators we still need, we use the cleanest and newest Stage V generators, which run on Biodiesel (HVO 100). This diesel reduces CO2 emissions by almost 90%.

We care about our environment and take it seriously. Therefore, every year before, during and after our events, we engage an independent consultancy for a thorough inventory of nature. This consultancy carries out a very detailed inventory of all flora and fauna on and around the event site. This way, we have detailed knowledge of the environment and adjust our plans if necessary.

By offering more sustainable meals

As a festival-goer, of course you deserve a good meal. We are making our offer more and more sustainable and varied. Every year we introduce more vegetarian and vegan choices and we take a critical look at the assortment of our other stands. We do this not only for festival-goers, but also for the crew. We work with a large caterer and a number of local entrepreneurs. We encourage them to use sustainable products.

By reducing food waste

Crew and artist catering is provided by local entrepreneurs. To avoid food waste as much as possible, we agree exact quantities with suppliers. We ask suppliers in advance if they want to use the meal. If suppliers provide incorrect numbers or do not show up, we bill them for the expenses incurred. In this way we oblige our suppliers to think consciously about food waste and we can buy our products in an increasingly targeted way.

By banning mono packaging from crew catering

Sugar sachets, milk cups or small bags of ketchup or mayonnaise? We have officially banned this type of single-use packaging – so-called mono packaging – from crew catering. Also, our crew members can now choose a vegetarian menu.

This is how we make banners and boardings reusable

Many building materials are needed on the festival grounds. For example, for communication and marketing with banners and boardings. We switched from MDF wood to plywood boards. This allows us to store and reuse the wood more easily. We used to make up all our banners in the theme of the event. Nice, but it caused a lot of unnecessary waste. Now we make up most of them in a universal and timeless style, so we can reuse them at a next edition.

By choosing labeled cleaning products

Labeled cleaning products often contain fewer harmful chemicals and have a lower environmental impact in production, use and disposal, while cleaning just as effectively.

Are you staying at the campsite for a weekend during REBiRTH Festival? Then a refreshing shower once in a while is a must! The used shower water is collected, filtered and reused to flush the toilets. As a result, we saved 35% water during REBiRTH Festival 2023. That’s great, but we’re not sitting still. Because, of course, that has to be more next year.