One of the most traditional festivals in Brazil's South region, Oktoberfest has launched a sustainability-focused initiative. In addition to serving thousands of liters of draft beer, the event's 2018 edition will support the environment by transforming plastic cups used during the 19-day festival into bricks and furniture for community gardens.
Dubbed "Oktober Consciente" (Conscious Oktoberfest), the initiative was created by the Instituto Gigantes da Ecologia (IGE), a non-profit civil association based in Blumenau, Santa Catarina. The project aims to raise awareness and promote environmental best practices among attendees of what is considered one of the largest German festivals in the world.
To this end, four collection points have been set up throughout the event pavilion for attendees to discard their plastic cups. These will serve as raw material for Carbo Brasil—a partner in the initiative—to manufacture bricks, tables, and chairs for the Sustainable Community Garden Project, run by IGE in Blumenau schools. Additionally, for every 10 disposable cups returned to the collection points, visitors receive a reusable, eco-friendly cup to take home.
The Instituto Gigantes da Ecologia estimates that 50,000 disposable cups were collected during the first five days of Oktoberfest alone.
Training
In addition to providing materials to prepare the community garden spaces, the project will include teacher training and the development of a guidebook with instructions on how to build and cultivate them. IGE has already implemented a pilot project of this kind at the Hermann Hamann School in Blumenau.
Alongside Carbo Brasil, other project partners include the Blumenau Secretariat of Tourism and Leisure (SECTUR), the Santa Catarina Environment Institute (IMA), and the Municipal Environmental Foundation (FAEMA). Oktoberfest runs through tomorrow, October 21, in Blumenau, Santa Catarina.
Via Haus
This article was written by HAUS. The translation is powered by AI.
