Environmental Wonderland: A Perth music festival goes green

By Chelsea Johnson Wonderland Festival is returning to Perth for the sixth year running in December this year with one very important change: it is going carbon neutral. “Wonderland started its ‘green’ journey last year with the introduction of ‘trash talks’ incentive whereby punters are encouraged to recycle their waste for a rebate on their next drink,” said event organiser Luke Whelan. He said this year organisers wanted to take it even further and become the first fully carbon neutral music festival in WA. “I think it’s imperative, in 2016, that all people, businesses and governments are starting to take climate change seriously and change their behaviours to help undo some of the damage we’ve caused,” he said. There will also be limited printed materials for advertising, recycling bins throughout the event, and food and drink suppliers will be encouraged to use recycled materials and donate leftover food after the event. Staff from the festival will be planting trees to make up for any carbon emissions generated by the festival. Dylan Hindle, a Perth-based DJ who performs under the name ‘dylan iS’, is one of the artists at Wonderland this year and believes going carbon neutral is a “cool initiative” on the part of the events team. “It’s a great initiative where a festival company can know they are running a profitable event and not having any negative impact on the environment,” Dylan said. “The guys running the event are super switched on so I am sure they will manage it.” The City of Subiaco will be hosting the event at Kitchener Park this year. “We’re looking forward to welcoming the Wonderland Festival to the city in December,” said City of Subiaco CEO Don Burnett.