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Tomorrowland faces fine of up to €2 million

Tomorrowland will be fined up to €2 million for committing an environmental offence, according to the local environmental department.

The Belgian festival, which wraps up on Sunday 28 July, will be penalised for using disposable cups – which have been banned at events in Flanders since June last year.

In 2023, the EDM festival successfully applied for an exemption from the law – which requires drinks to be served in reusable cups, or cans and PET bottles that are at least 95% recycled – because it still had disposable cups in stock.

Organisers did the same this year but from 2024 onwards, an exemption is only granted if an event can prove that reusable cups would not provide an environmental benefit in their case.

Flemish Environment minister Zuhal Demir reportedly refused to grant the exemption three times, saying the festival had not provided enough evidence.

“Tomorrowland is a fantastic festival that is also a small multinational. With a name like that, you should be a champion of good environmental policy,” Demir said last month.

“We are now waiting for the invoice”

Tomorrowland spokesperson Debby Wilmsen countered: “We were hoping to get another exemption because we had argued our case well. When that didn’t happen, it was too late to change our plans. We are now waiting for the invoice.”

The festival says it still had a stock of 3 million disposable cups to use. However, reusable cups were used in certain areas of festival such as Dreamville (the official camping ground), the VIP area and the neighbourhood drink area.

Once the 70,000-capacity festival concludes, the exact fine will be calculated based on “the severity of the offence, the frequency in which it occurs and the circumstances”.

The Public Prosecutor will decide whether the offence will be dealt with criminally, or whether the case will return to the hands of the department.

In addition to the administrative fine, an “asset deprivation” may also be requested, which will see the organisation repay the gross benefit obtained from the environmental offence. As this would come on top of the fine amount, it could see the total amount surpassing €2 million.

By next summer, Tomorrowland hopes to introduce reusable cups across the entire festival, as well as a more efficient deposit system to ensure people don’t take the cups home.

Other Flemish festivals, such as Rock Werchter, have successfully implemented a reusable cup system but organisers remain critical of the legislation. “The changeover has a huge impact, both logistically and financially. It costs us an extra €1 million,” Nele Bigaré of promoter Live Nation Belgium told VRT NWS earlier this week.

 


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