Rhythm and Vines festivalgoers blamed for rubbish dumping in nearby forest

Sam Gibson and his 3-year-old son Rehua (pictured) discovered the rubbish in Makauri Bush when they went to pick mushrooms. Photo / Sam Gibson

By Samantha Gee of RNZ

Rhythm and Vines has sent crews to clean up rubbish believed to have been dumped by festivalgoers, in a cherished ngahere in Tairāwhiti.

Videos and a photo of the rubbish in Makauri Bush were posted on Instagram by local Sam Gibson, who found the rubbish with his son Rehua, when they went to pick mushrooms.

The forest is also known as Gray’s Bush and borders the festival.

Gibson told RNZ his young son could not understand why the rubbish was there.

“I had to answer some pretty big questions from my 3-year-old son, around why there were bottles and cans and rubbish and a lot of items that he didn’t recognise, all through the bush that we harvest kai from.

“There were just bottles and cans everywhere” and it “pretty much looked like going to the dump”, Gibson said.

He has been to the festival himself, and did not blame the event, more the individuals attending.

“It made us really disappointed that people could be in a beautiful place like the bush and decide that it was appropriate to discard the rubbish. And it was all cans and bottles, which they couldn’t have got from the festival, it was people pre-drinking. So in a way, it’s not on Rhythm and Vines, it’s on individuals,” Gibson said.

“I’ve been lots of times myself and I really support the festival ... However, it just blows my mind that people could turn up there and just trash the place,” he said.

Gibson blamed festivalgoers for the rubbish rather than the organisers who he said reacted speedily to clean up the area once they were informed about the trash. Photo / Sam Gibson

The festival was alerted to the Instagam posts this morning and sent crews there to clear the trash.

Gibson said the speedy response was “pretty incredible”.

“Every year they do clean up that bush ... However inevitably, the RnV clean-up crew can’t find all of the stashes of bottles and all of the rubbish.”

An RnV spokesman said: “Once notified of the Gray’s Bush rubbish, we sent crews over as a priority. We have invited Sam the Trap Man (Sam Gibson’s Instagram name) to catch up with our operations team to discuss ideas moving forward.”

Teams were also cleaning up the event site and other surrounding areas, the spokesman said.

“Reducing waste is a huge focus for the festival, as well as other festivals around New Zealand.”

The event was free of single-use plastics, and over 2700 festivalgoers were housed in tents available on site that would be reused for future years, he said.

All food vendors used compostable serving ware and cutlery.

The festival has around 20,000 attendees each year.