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Australia's love affair with outdoor music festivals could sour unless punters and organisers clean up their acts, environment groups say.
As the peak festival touring season heats up, fans are being urged to think about their carbon footprint and cough up some extra money to pay to offset their carbon emissions.
Australian music festivals now attract hundreds of thousands of patrons and contribute to more than 100,000 tonnes of carbon emissions each year, non-profit environment group Greening Australia says.
Several optional carbon offset programmes have been established this year by Greening Australia and ticketing company Green Tix to combat the effects of music festivals.
Green Tix director Doug Meckler said 13 music festivals had signed up for the scheme, including six in Victoria, three in Tasmania, two in Western Australia and one each in NSW and the ACT.
"While the music industry has always had a strong voice in actively promoting social change, most recently demonstrated through Live Earth, we are taking this concept a step further," Mr Meckler said.
More than 30 per cent of participating patrons had chosen to pay an extra $2 voluntary carbon offset fee, he said. Festival-goers will be able to buy a "tree per ticket," to ensure a tree is planted for each ticket purchased.
Rob Gell, Greening Australia's vice-president, said one music festival event contributed up to 700 tonnes of CO2 emissions and concert-goers contributed a further 1500 tonnes by travelling to and from the event.
"It is critical that the industry adopts a new approach to staging festivals that is sustainable both for the environment and for the enjoyment of patrons," Mr Gell said.
- AAP
