SON Estrella Galicia Posidonia launched in 2017 bringing a brand new approach to the already exciting music festivals’ scene in Spain. The idea was to fuse two concepts together: the SON Estrella Galicia brand, which has supported emerging Spanish and international musicians since 2009; and environmental action, which connects the project to a cause that fights to preserve a highly valuable ecological ecosystem. Out of the union of those two principles, a singular event was born. Today, this festival not only employs a reduced impact scale, to ensure a harmonious and respectful relationship with the land where it is being held, but also enhances the narrative, the bonds of friendship and the experience of the participants.
With this aim in mind, and by gradually becoming a part of the local community, we have defined a strategy that includes many of the actions and initiatives that have brought us to where we are now, including zero waste (reduction), reuse (eco-design), or subsequent recycling.
The starting point has always been the commitment of SON Estrella Galicia Posidonia to nature. One of the goals actually features in the festival’s name that aims to promote and protect Posidonia, the seagrass responsible for the extraordinary turquoise color of the Formentera waters, generating a large part of the oxygen production in the Mediterranean and acting as an important carbon sink.
In addition to assigning part of its budget to organizations working to preserve Posidonia, the event’s other initiatives include tours and walks guided by local experts and specialists who have helped us over the years to understand the fragile balance between this beautiful natural ecosystem and the built-up areas of the island.
Since the organization’s origins, everything that has come has afterwards has been motivated by its desire to minimize its impact by defending responsible and sustainable tourism on an island whose primary economic generator is this. First of all, we have reduced the size of the event, making it balanced and proportionate to the scale of Formentera, and we are also committed to taking advantage of sunlight and contact with nature.
As part of this relationship, we made it our priority to involve local agents and companies in the event’s organization and production, people we could relate to and who shared the same environmental synergies. Together with our partners, we established a system that not only took advantage of resources by favouring a circular economy, but also met our goal of reducing waste as we adapted our event plan to the resources and transport that we already had in the range of equipment and facilities available to us at the location.
The last stage in our plan’s development was to raise awareness and train the entire staff —the members of the organization but also on site workers and customers— on the need to let go of some of those habits which had been picked up over time and which had led to a negative impact on the territory. We started by evaluating those activities that had the greatest effect on waste management and, considering that Estrella Galicia is one of the most important beer brands in Spain, we opted for glass containers and provided reusable tableware. Next, we made profound changes to one of the festival’s mainstays – gastronomy. We incorporated local catering and referred all culinary activity to establishments on the island already equipped with the necessary professional resources and that worked with reusable cutlery, crockery, table linen and so on.
Lastly, throughout these years, we have requested that all our suppliers and people involved actively collaborate and participate in this endeavour, insisting we are a responsible festival that manages food waste, reduces surpluses to a minimum and, in addition, fosters policies and measures taking full advantage of food.
"From the moment we decided to launch this festival in a place as unique and sensitive as the island of Formentera, we committed to fostering a pioneering and innovative event in terms of the environment and culture," said Victor Mantiñán, head of sponsorships at SON Estrella Galicia. "Achieving TRUE certification recognizes the work carried out over the years as it confirms and consolidates our strategy of implementing groundbreaking actions to the festival format. Each year, we have taken developments a step further and this recognition has not only validated our plan but it has also allowed us to learn and be inspired by new challenges for the future."
Learn more about the company and its festival. Access the project case study for more information about their certification process.