Vision

The Danube Festival makes water feel like a work of art and celebrates everything it has to offer.

The Danube River carries 4.2 tons of plastic waste into Black Sea every day. By 2050 there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean. Every year, 100 tons of plastic are collected by #CuApeleCurate volunteers alone. These are just a few statistics that motivate us fight against water plastic pollution.

After numerous campaigns and projects, including clean-ups, setting up floating barriers to stop plastic and developing awareness campaigns, we decided to gather forces to create the first local edition of the Danube Festival. It will be a declaration of love, complete with music, workshops and movies, dedicated to the river that runs through many European hearts.

Between June 22nd and 25th, we will gather in Călărași, Romania to talk about what the river that unites us brings into our lives and to make a mutual commitment to a future with clean waters. There, we’ll join together with people from all of the Danube countries to learn how and why it is important to protect this vital waterway.

FOR THE PLANET

It’s time to prove that we can have fun in the middle of nature, without leaving a trace: separate waste collection, no single-use plastic and a big cleanup event on June 25th. The world as we imagine it, in a festival.

FOR DANUBE

It’s an opportunity to see the Danube with fresh eyes and appreciate its beauty: we discover places with ecotourism potential that we can transform with minimal and non-invasive interventions. The river is always there, but it can show us a new perspective every time.

FOR THE DANUBIAN COMMUNITIES

The Danube represents a cultural region and a public space that unites people from ten countries, which is why we want to bring the local and international community together with authorities to discover how we can support each other in the fight against plastic pollution and to create new opportunities for spending time with the river.

FOR AN ECO-FRIENDLY LIFESTYLE

The table at which authorities and local communities meet will be only served vegetarian dishes. Why? Because, in addition to talking about the pressure that the meat production industry exerts upon the planet, we want to show that there are equally tasty alternatives.

FOR ZERO WASTE

… or 100% love for the environment. We don’t encourage waste - we clean our plates and recycle them, we reuse our cups and bottles and upcycle the promotional banners.

FOR WATER

Water is movement, the Danube is movement. The Danube Festival puts the spotlight on the passion for nature-based sports. Discover a great variety of beach activities with us: kayaking, stand-up paddle, swimming, badminton and volleyball.

The Danube Festival is organized within the Clean Waters program, which is supported by Lidl Romania, by an international team formed by MaiMultVerde Association and H2Org, the initiator of CleanDanube project, with the support of Baden-Wuettemberg Foundation.

The MaiMultVerde Association started in 2008 on the belief that caring for people and nature should become a priority. Ever since, it has carried out a series of projects in the fields of: Afforestation, biodiversity protection, environmental education, alternative transportation, food waste prevention and combating water plastic pollution.

H2Org is a non-profit organization that develops projects for a plastic-free environment, with a focus on water. It develops educational programs, campaigns, research activities and initiatives for minimizing water pollution and for preventing new plastic accumulation.

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