The 2022 edition of MTN Bushfire continues to live the promise of the #GREENYOURFIRE commitment towards environmental sustainability. The festival invites its partners, stakeholders in the environmental sector, as well as guests of the festival to help the festival achieve its green goals.
This year, MTN Bushfire has partnered with Nsimbi Recycling and the Malkerns Town Board to ensure that as much of the waste generated during the festival is recycled and reused. Nsimbi will be separating waste on-site, while the Malkerns Town Board is assisting with supplying skips to move unrecyclable waste for disposal.
Malkerns Town Board is also managing the zone for informal trading set up adjacent to the festival grounds, supplying sanitation and waste disposal services to local vendors.
Through the #GREENYOURFIRE call to action, launched in 2016, MTN Bushfire has actively and consistently committed to encouraging and normalising an environmentally sustainable lifestyle for all. MTN Bushfire shines the spotlight on the urgency for environmental conservation through creative activism and specially curated environmental programs that encourage action against pollution and climate change during the festival and beyond.
In 2016, the #GREENYOURFIRE call to action was established to encourage positive environmental activism among all festival participants, making MTN Bushfire one of the first African festivals to firmly develop a green footprint.
These dynamic strides in environmental action and awareness earned MTN Bushfire the Best Responsible Event Award at the African Responsible Tourism Awards in 2017.
Year on year, the festival improves its recycling programme and adopts more eco-friendly practices. From 2017-2019, over 50% of waste generated was recycled. An increasing amount of that waste consists of less plastic and more biodegradable items. Festival traders have been using biodegradable packaging since 2016
As Nsimbi’s slogan accurately says, together we’re “Reclaiming Our Future”!
What You Can do to #GREENYOURFIRE
To those participating in MTN Bushfire 2019, here are some ways you can Green Your Fire!
• Use our waste/recycling bins correctly, so that waste can be separated, sorted and sent for recycling quicker and more efficiently.
• Use reusable eco-friendly bags instead of plastic bags for your goods.
• Use MTN Bushfire’s Park n’ Ride shuttles, carpool or share rides to the festival to lessen your carbon footprint.
• Tap-Out to support a clean water programme by long-time festival beneficiary, BoMake Rural Projects. By contributing any amount of money remaining on your festival wristband after the festival, you will help BoMake Rural Projects provide clean water to some of Eswatini’s rural communities by building boreholes so that people don’t have to drink muddy river water. To date, over 20,000 people have access to clean water thanks to boMake’s WASH projects.
