A sustainable alternative to plastic bottles at festivals

Last year marked the 100th anniversary of the Lithuanian Song Festival. The week-long summer celebration brought together around 37 000 dancers, singers, and musicians, while hundreds of thousands of spectators from Lithuania and abroad attended 14 different events. This is an impressive festival—UNESCO has recognised the Lithuanian Song Festival tradition as a masterpiece of humanity's oral and intangible cultural heritage. Last year, the festival organisers encouraged participants to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly.

One of the biggest challenges of large-scale events is the use of disposable tableware. To address this, Song Festival participants were encouraged in advance to bring reusable water bottles and avoid plastic ones. Water was provided by Vilniaus Vandenys, Lithuania’s largest water management company. Their water trucks delivered 130 tonnes of fresh water from deep boreholes during the festival, held from 29 June to 6 July. This initiative helped eliminate approximately 260 000 plastic bottles.

Water trucks transported fresh, high-quality water directly from the source to festival participants. Mobile water stations placed in strategic locations ensured easy and convenient access to water, and attendees eagerly used them. Throughout the festival, an extended team of Vilniaus Vandenys employees worked to promptly refill the mobile water tanks.

The entire mobile infrastructure of Vilniaus Vandenys was used for the project, including water trucks, a cistern, mobile water stations, one-cubic-meter tanks, and a multi-point “drinking fountain” system.

Additionally, residents and visitors in Vilnius could refill their water bottles for free at 40 fixed water stations throughout the city. These stations, available during the warmer months, also provided water for pets.

Last year, Vilniaus Vandenys estimated that more than 3.8 million glasses of water were consumed from the outdoor drinking fountains, preventing the use of over 5 million plastic bottles and reducing more than 128 tonnes of CO₂ emissions.

Another aspect of the festival’s sustainability efforts was highlighted by UAB Ecoservice, the waste management company overseeing the event. They noted an increase in the number of sorting containers for recyclable packaging compared to previous years, along with a reduction in mixed waste containers.

Overall, all partners agree that an event’s sustainability largely depends on the initiatives taken by its organisers. There are clear opportunities to celebrate more sustainably, and at last year’s Song Festival, the most significant achievement was the elimination of plastic drink packaging.