The Netherlands and Europe want to be fully circular by 2050. A huge challenge that requires the involvement of the entire society. We are already taking the first necessary steps, with the (ultimate) goal of a festival without residual waste. Nothing will go into the incinerator anymore.

Everything we use will then be reusable, or highly recycled or composted. This keeps materials in the loop and allows you to make something new out of them time and time again. Close those loops, power them with renewable energy, and the circular society slowly comes into view.

Within the Waste = Raw Material program, we are working towards 0 residual waste and 100% circular procurement. To achieve this, we introduced reusable tableware, removed the waste bins and replaced them with collection points, and post-separate all material flows into clean raw material flows in the raw materials street.

WHERE WE STAND

In 2025, our circular procurement reached 90%: second-hand, bio-based, or made from recycled materials. Our amount of residual waste per person went from 100 grams in 2023, to 50 grams in 2024, and to 80 grams of residual waste per visitor per day in 2025. To put that into perspective, the national average is 450 grams of residual waste per person per day.

CLEANER FLOWS, LESS SORTING WORK

The cleaner it comes in, the less sorting is needed afterwards, and the higher the quality of reuse. That is why a waste separation campaign is running this year aimed at our caterers: instructions at the festival itself, mailings before and after, better signing at the collection points, smaller bins, and help with setting things up.

Backstage, you won't find a single residual waste bin anymore. Everything goes 100% separated into the raw materials street. If a caterer or supplier has something that doesn't fit into any standard flow, shells for example, we put out a separate bin for it. Afterwards, we try to find the best possible processor for it.

THE RAW MATERIALS STREET 2.0

The raw materials street can be seen as the engine room of the circular economy. This year we are taking a next step. Students from the Solar Punk Hub are mapping all material flows, and together with Lab Vlieland, we are working on a new design and on standardization, so we can continue to improve ourselves and share the acquired knowledge more broadly.

Even the little ones are helping. At Jopie Kegel, children can crush and dismantle cans in every possible way. Preparing raw materials for recycling, and having a lot of fun at the same time.

BIO-BASED AND CIRCULAR MATERIALS

At the Construction Site of the Future, we are fully experimenting with bio-based alternatives to fossil building materials.

Last year, Studio Akeka built an entire entrance gate out of bamboo and proved that bio-based materials can also be applied in public spaces with structural and technical approval. A significant step towards scaling up use. This year, Akeka and Triomf are building the entire Ice Rink location with bamboo: stage, PA towers, and everything that goes with it. Bamboo grows fast, stores a lot of CO2, thrives on poor soil, and is incredibly strong. If we manage to scale up the use of bio-based materials, the benefits are huge.

All this knowledge and expertise gathered here is shared by ITGWO with the rest of the Wadden events through the Circular Wadden Festival Location project. This has been made possible with support from the Stimuleringsfonds Waddeneilanden from the region deal. In the course of 2026, ITGWO will publicly share a film, a knowledge document, a backstage tour, and the complete construction book of the bamboo stage for this.

The banner project also continues: bio-based banners and recycled PET banners with infographics are used on the festival grounds.