22-year-old Groningen student Tessa Hesseling has developed a biodegradable hemp wristband which comes with a special memento: a seed that can be sown after the festival.
Going to a festival nowadays is often synonymous with receiving a plastic wrist band. Hesseling, a student at the Minerva Academy of the Hanze University of Applied Sciences, decided to change all of that with the Plantjebandje. The wrist band, which is made of hemp, is biodegradable and offers festival visitors a lasting memory through the plant seeds that are in the band.
“Festival wristbands are more than just a ticket. Many festival visitors wear them as a lasting memory. When I searched for an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic, I was looking for material that will last for a while, which turned out to be hemp,” says Hesseling.
After the festival ends, visitors can use the seeds in the band to grow a plant as a living reminder of the festival. The Plantjebandje is likely to have strong appeal for festival organisers who are looking for more ways to make their events as sustainable and circular as possible.
The biodegradable wrist band will get a test run at the Paradigm electronic music festival in Groningen this weekend thanks to Innofest, an organisation that tests out innovations at ten festivals across The Netherlands.
