The big, fat Indian wedding and for that matter all festivals, fairs, parties and cultural events leave behind a heap of debris that add to the environmental challenge. The trail generally includes plastic cutlery and other non biodegradable garbage, wasteful energy, sullied water and unused food. Add to this irresponsible disposal, you have a case for an extra large carbon footprint.

To keep its commitment to reduce green house gas emissions by 25 per cent over the next few years, last week Mahindra turned its well known flagship outreach cultural weekend in Mumbai, the Mahindra Blues Festival 2017, into a green event. Taking the exercise to its logical conclusion it applied for recognition as a Yale certified Platinum green event.

What was it that went into making what may perhaps be the first event in the country to earn such a certification? “As a company we promote sustainability as a personal endeavour. So, we decided to apply this to our festival as well,” says Anirban Ghosh, Mahindra's Chief Sustainability Officer.

Ghosh shared the concept with Jay Shah, Vice President Cultural Outreach, who was “most enthusiastic to lead an event that was green”. Though the Blues Festival has been an annual event for the past seven years, this time round the organisers contacted Yale University which is known for its event sustainability certificate. Mahindra was provided with a check list of the dos and don'ts and following them to the dot did the trick.

So along with the two days of “guitar-rippin” and “soul-trippin” action at the iconic Mehboob Studio, a whole lot of carbon footprint reducing steps were put in place.

“First and foremost we tried to get as many people as possible to cycle to the event and provided appropriate cycle stands,” says Ghosh. With the use of pre event tweets and of course Facebook they communicated to the audience the special parking available. To manage the waste generated at the event, Mahindra partnered with voluntary organisation Sampurn(e)arth Environmental Solutions Pvt. Ltd. who was mandated to collect the waste from the venue and use environmentally friendly techniques like recycling and composting to dispose it off. The idea was to put in place a zero waste system wherein biodegradable wet waste and non- biodegradable recyclable waste (dry waste excluding biomedical and hazardous waste) are managed efficiently.

To make it all actually happen bins with clear segregation sinage were placed in strategic locations. Dry waste such as paper, plastic, cardboard, metal, glass was packed off to recycling centers while biodegradable waste lined compost pits.

“We also communicated the green message in the intervals between bands performing and placed menu cards and tent cards with words like, 'you are using compostable plates and glasses', 'Thank you for using the correct waste bin, it is helping MBF to be a green event'' and donated leftover food to relevant organisations,” explains Shah.

Green practices were engrained in the processes itself, like minimum stationery usage and ensuring only recycled or recyclable products at the venue. Added to this was electronic announcements, no handout bills at the gates, booking tickets online and communicating the green initiative to audiences.

So along with the line-up of Supersonic Blues Machine featuring Billy F. gibbons & Eric Gales, Quinn Sullivan, Janiva Magness, Shemekia Copeland and Graine Duffy Band and home-grown talent, it was a climate friendly weekend for Mahindra.

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