[Go Green] Malomfesztivál / Windmill Festival
Malomfesztivál / Windmill Festival
10 Aug 2023 - 13 Aug 2023
Orom, Serbia
The aim of the Windmill Festival is to break down all the barriers; eliminate inner limits, and banish borders between each other and between countries.
It was 2004 when a group of friends organised a spontaneous arts gathering just to feel connected and build a community. The event, then balancing on the verge of illegality, answered to the cultural void and need for togetherness, sharing and creating art and community. The idea of an organic, zero waste, bring your own mug policy, was later developed as the basic guiding point of the festival.
1. A big NO to creating and leaving waste and rubbish after the festival; based on the thought that people, our friends, our audience and our future audiences are all smart, who will even cherish this idea of not creating and leaving more waste after the event.
2. Our wish to re-use waste in a creative way by involving a larger group of volunteers in the creative process
3. The desire to create from ecological, organic elements long lasting buildings on the festival grounds that will stay for the local village people permanently (see answer no. 4)
4. Since 2018, thanks to one of the festival fans, we have been making our own soap and shower cream out of natural ingredients and we provide them free of charge to the visitors to use, instead of using industrial cleaning products that are full of artificial elements
5. The festival provides re-usable plastic cups, but using or purchasing these is not obligatory
6. Also, for a small fee, e.g. 30 eurocents, we provide to every smoker a small cigarette butt holder that can hold up to at least 30 butts (in this way no cigarette butts are thrown around the festival area).
We learned from our experience that, with clear communication and rules that are explained in a positive manner, one can reach our target group. After a year or two, the festival could easily have said that it was already waste free. A sad fact is that no matter how positively we are looked at on a local and regional level, the efforts of our festival have still not been taken up by other event organisers and community builders. Next to our windmill we are still tilting at metaphorical windmills. But we will prevail and stay persistent and hope that other events will be organised following, at least, the bring your own mug policy.
More info: Malomfesztivál
(General Editor: Simon Mundy)
