The Tomorrowland music festival will challenge the fine and "asset deprivation" it received from the Department of the Environment, the organisation announced on Friday. It concerns a total sum of €727,000.
Tomorrowland received the sanction – split into a fine and a capital benefit deduction – last month for not working with reusable cups last summer, as required by law. The festival said it wanted to use up its existing stock of disposable cups first and claimed there were practical problems with reusable cups. This year, however, the festival will switch over completely.
Now, Tomorrowland is appealing the sanction because it believes "that the requested exception was wrongly refused. We are convinced that our arguments are well-founded but were not assessed objectively".
The organisation points out that "an independent study firm has shown that banning the stock of recyclable cups does not provide any demonstrable environmental benefit. Additionally, at the time of our derogation request, there was no market available that could guarantee a reliable and operationally secure supply of reusable cups and associated services."
This position was also confirmed by the relevant minister, who stated in parliament that such capacity is now available.
Tomorrowland also considers the imposed benefit deprivation of over €700,000 "disproportionate". That amount is determined based on a calculation that nullifies the financial benefit from not applying the legislation to create a level playing field between festivals.
