How to Rave Sustainably: The Complete Eco-Raver Guide

📝 Make a budget: think about how much you are willing to spend on your outfits

🪩 Browse Raveival: the rave wear resale marketplace with almost 2,000 pre-loved listings
— all for a fraction of retail

💞 Shop your friends’ closets, or host a rave wear swap: learn how to throw a rave wear swap here.

♻️ Upcycle resources that are available to you: bring new life to a pre-loved garment by:

• Tie-dying with natural dyes, bleach dying
• Intentional distressing
• Slit weaving
• Cutting & holding the piece together with safety pins
• Adding patches (check out @tigers_toe for rave patches)

Raveival’s Founder, Captain Jack, upcycling resources to make his festival fashion.

🧳 Luggage: find secondhand luggage at your local thrift store, on Facebook Marketplace, or Unclaimed Baggage

🚗 Travel: the biggest source of carbon emissions from attending music festivals, accounting for 41% of a festival-goer’s total carbon footprint (source)

• Taking public transit releases the fewest emissions, and you can spend quality time with your friends on the way. Google & Apple Maps’ have public transport route generators.
  • Buses: FlixBus Greyhound, Megabus 🚎
  • Trains: Amtrack 🚞
• Festival Shuttles 🚌
• Uber/Lyft Green 🚙
• Flying: filter Google Flights by Less emissions only ✈️

🏨 Hotels: find hotels with sustainability certifications here

💻 Low waste websites: Bite Toothpaste (toothpaste bits, oral care), The Earthling Co. (skin, body, hair), Zerra & Co (makeup, skin care), Zero Waste Store (hair, beauty), 11 zero-waste makeup brands

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🪥 Bamboo toothbrushes

🧻 Bamboo paper products: toilet paper, paper towels, napkins (Grove)

🧼 Bar soap

🤳 Deodorant: plastic-free (Native)

🙉 Earplugs: compostable (GOB), reusable (Wook Plugs)

✨ Glitter: Natural Earth Paint

💄Lipstick: refillable lipstick tubes (Lisa Eldridge)

🧽 Makeup removers: Bamboo Cotton Rounds

🪒 Reusable razors: Henson Shaving

🧣 Scarf braids: watch video tutorial here

💆‍♀️ Shampoo & conditioner bars: The Earthling Co.

🧴 Sheer sunscreen: reef-friendly (Blue Lizard)

📸 Disposable cameras

🥶 Emergency thermal blankets: read our blog Are Space Blankets Bad for the Environment? to learn why

🌟 Glow sticks

🎈 Single-use party decorations

📿 Beads: made from wood or recycled plastic

🎀 Functional gifts: earplugs, hair ties

🫶 Thrifted trinkets: check your local thrift shop

💃 Zero-waste gifts: a painted rock, an affirmation note, little crystals (New Moon Beginnings), teach a dance move, teach a life lesson

🎀 Use reusable zip ties.

🧸 Check your local thrift store for secondhand plushies.

♻️ Upcycle a cardboard box to make the base for a sign.

🏠 Store it and reuse the same totem every festival. The most sustainable totem is the one you don’t have to remake.

• Rent your camping gear or borrow from a friend. Did you know an average-sized tent contains the equivalent plastic of about 8,750 plastic straws?
  • Camping gear rental & resale websites:
    • Lower Gear (rental)
    • R.E.I. (rental)
    • Outdoors Geek (rental)
    • XScape Pod (rental)
    • GearTrade (resale)
• Donate usable gear: donate to Salvation Army, Goodwill or other local charities and homeless shelters. Mail-in usable gear to the Eugene Gear Collective at 2107 Birchwood Ave, Eugene, OR 97401. Learn more here.

• Water bottles
• Cups, bowls, plates
• Utensils
• Food storage: tupperware, silicone bags (Stasher), beeswax wraps (Bee’s Wraps)

Tie-dye an old bedsheet with natural dyes, such as:

• Yellow: turmeric powder (2 tablespoons per 3 cups of water) or orange/onion skins.`
• Pink/orange: beet skins
• Purple/blue: red cabbage (boil, then add a pinch of baking soda to shift the purple to blue) or blueberries

🍎 Choose organic: organic means the plant was grown without the use of toxic and synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, genetic engineering, antibiotics, or synthetic growth hormones

🌱 Choose plant-based: find planet-friendly meal ideas at wowitsveggie.com or support a plant-based food vendor at a festival

🥑 Shop local: check out the USDA Farmers Market directory

🙅‍♀️ Skip the packaging: buy fruits and veggies that are not packaged in plastic

Why its important: Landfills pollute the water, soil, and air. This leads to the communities living near landfills developing higher rates of cancer and childhood asthma.

1. Review how to sort waste with your camp 👩‍🏫
2. Use separate bags for landfill, recycling, and compost (if available) 🗑️
   • Compost: Food scraps, soiled paper products (napkins, paper towels, paper plates)
   • Recycle: Clean paper/cardboard, plastic, cans, glass (which is often banned from festival campgrounds)
   • Landfill: Everything else

Spend five minutes before you leave your campsite picking up “micro-trash” like bottle caps, zip ties & earplugs.

Music festival take place on Indigenous land 🌅 Find out what Indigenous Land your festival belongs to with Native Land Digital 🗺️

🫧 Wash and care for your rave wear by fabric type. Read our rave wear clothing care guide.

💵 List your pre-loved festival fashion on Raveival. For selling tips & tricks, check out our guide How to Sell Rave and Festival Clothes Online: A Complete Seller’s Guide.

🌱 Read our guide: What is Sustainable Rave Wear vs. What is Not?

🌈 The Queer Owned & Operated Festival Business Directory is your one-stop-shop for finding and supporting small, Queer-owned businesses in the festival and rave space.