Wacken Open Air takes place on green meadows and we want it to stay that way in the future! We therefore ask all guests to show consideration for the environment and to reduce the ecological footprint of the festival together with us. Furthermore, we want to ensure that everyone feels equally comfortable at Wacken Open Air.
For us, sustainability is a continuous process that is integrated into all workflows and departments in order to fully address the issue. Over the past few years, we have therefore intensively analysed the various areas in which we operate and have identified four focus topics on which our measures for more sustainability are aimed and on which we are working together with the entire crew: Ressource management, energy production, mobility and well-being. We are loud at work to make a change and want to grow and develop Green Wacken together with you.
On this page you will find an overview of the measures we have implemented so far and news for Wacken Open Air 2025.
The W:O:A has only become what it is today thanks to its community and at this point we would also like to involve you in the creation and improvement process of Green Wacken.
Your idea isn't there yet? Then send us an email to green@wacken.com!
Our #greenwacken campaign has been running since 2019. On the day of departure, you can post a picture of your tidy campsite on Instagram with the hashtag #greenwacken and the year. We will then raffle off great prizes among all environmentally conscious campers. Participation in the #greenwacken2025 campaign is possible from Saturday, 2 August 2025, at 08:00 to Tuesday, 4 August 2025, at 23:59. The conditions of the raffle can be viewed here before the start of the campaign.
We are giving away the following prizes at Wacken Open Air 2025:
1 x Powered plot ‘Graveyard’ in Residenz Evil incl. festival visit for 1 person
1 x Plot in Bauer Uwes Garten incl. 1 x Metal Mobile WC and festival visit for 1 person
2 x Tent without equipment in the Te.N.T. area incl. festival visit for 1 person
5 x Voucher worth €100 for our online shop + bag from our partner ReTent
5 x 100 m² in the Wacken Community Rainforest in Peru
5 x Sustainable merchandise package
5 x Voucher worth €100 for the online shop of our partner Voelkel + package of WACKEN Vitamin Shots (0.28l, 6 pcs.)
Every visitor receives a black trash bag for residual waste and a yellow trashbag for plastics at the wristband exchange at the Camping Plaza or at the bus station. Please use these bags to separate your waste accordingly. We also ask you to collect paper and cardboard separately. All waste can be disposed at the waste stations on the festival site.
From this year, a total of 20 so-called ballot bins will be hung up on the festival site, with which we would like to playfully encourage the smoking festival visitors among you to dispose their cigarette butts there and thus hopefully fewer cigarette butts will end up on the ground. The concept of the ballot bins is that you will be asked specific questions that you can vote on with your cigarette butt. Look forward to battles between plush cow and rubber duck or tent and camper. The ballot bins are a striking green colour and cannot be overlooked on the site.
After our site cleaning team completed its work, all sites were cleared using two large 6-metre magnets to collect any metallic objects left behind in 2024. This measure showed us once again how clean you leave the festival site and led to the decision that no annual area cleaning with the magnets is necessary. Accordingly, we will reassess in a few years whether this measure should be taken again.
In our opinion, leftover and unused food should not be thrown away. That is why we have set up collection points together with Foodsharing, where guests and food retailers can donate their leftover food. The food is then passed on to people in need and is not wasted.
Our colleagues from Foodsharing will also be walking around the camping areas throughout the festival and collecting leftover food from you.
This campaign will also be implemented together with all partners who offer food at the festival. They will also have the opportunity to hand in leftover food so that it does not go to waste.
After the festival is before the clean-up. As soon as the last of you have left the site, our gigantic site cleaning team starts the site clean-up mission. This is where all the items left behind are collected.
For the first time, all vegetarian and vegan dishes at the food stalls will be uniformly labelled. This allows visitors to recognise at a glance where meat-free and plant-based options are available. In addition, the festival app now offers a practical new filter function that can be used to display specific vendors with vegetarian and vegan options. A plant-based diet has a significantly smaller ecological footprint - it saves water, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and conserves valuable resources. With the expanded offer, we want to give all guests the opportunity to enjoy more consciously - without compromising on variety and flavour.
Access to clean drinking water is a human right and is particularly important on long and often warm festival days with lots of headbanging. That's why there are drinking water taps throughout the event site where you can get fresh water for free. In addition, you receive a foldable drinking bottle free of charge at the wristband exchange, which you can take with you onto the event site.
In the coming years, we will continue to gradually switch our merchandise range to sustainable materials. This includes, for example, switching to products made from organic cotton, where we will achieve a 25% share this year. You can find an overview of our sustainable merchandise items here.
NEW at Wacken Open Air 2025: Waste stations will be set up in all camping areas where you can separate and dispose of your waste according to cardboard and paper, lightweight packaging and plastics as well as residual waste. You can recognise waste stations by this sign on the site plan:
We go even further in the backstage area. All partners, service providers and employees are required to separate their waste in the designated containers (cardboard and paper, lightweight packaging and plastics, glass, food waste and residual waste).
As soon as you have left and our site cleaning team has collected the remaining waste from the areas, all waste containers are removed and the waste is separated again by machine and manually by our waste disposal partner. This allows all recyclable materials to be filtered out and either further processed or disposed of.
Donate your returnable bottles and cans to the Wacken Foundation!
For many years now, you have had the opportunity to donate your returnable bottles to the Wacken Foundation. This is possible in the labelled bins at the main entrances, at the collection station at U4 or at the volunteers on site. The volunteers will also drive around the camping areas and collect returnable bottles and cans. Please collect your returnable bottles and cans in transparent trash bags - you can get these free of charge at the following stations:
Collection station on U4
Wacken Foundation info stand on the camping plaza
Collection car that drives over the areas and collects returnable bottles and cans
collectors who walk around the areas and collect deposits
NEW 2025: Donate your returnable cups to Viva con Agua e.V.!
Water for all - all for water! After many years, we are delighted to finally welcome Viva con Agua back to the festival site. Their colleagues will be out and about in the event areas collecting returnable cups. You will recognise the colleagues from Viva con Agua by the fact that they will be walking around the site with rubbish bins. The donations will then be shared with the Wacken Foundation.
Together with the organisations Hanseatic Help, Engel in den Straßen and Metality, we collect tents, sleeping bags and sleeping mats that have been left behind on the day of departure. The organisations will then ensure that the items are passed on to people in need. There are also collection points at various locations on the site where you can drop off your camping equipment if you don't want to take it home with you.
With the constantly growing number of special camping offers, we want to ensure that tents and accommodation are reused at several festivals. A win-win situation - you don't have to worry about anything, nothing is left behind on the festival site and the accommodation can be used much more sustainably. You can find an overview of all our special camping offers here.
During the festival, trash mobiles will be permanently driving around the site. Together with Werkstätten Rendsburg-Fockbek we will collect full trash bags directly from you at the campsite. So if you see a trash mobile, it's the perfect opportunity to get rid of your trash! You can also get new trash bags free of charge at trash mobiles.
Water-saving vacuum toilets are an alternative to conventional toilets as we know them from home. These only require a fraction of the water of a normal toilet. We currently use these primarily backstage for the crew and artists, but there are also plenty of vacuum toilets available for guests at Residenz Evil.
Together with our partner Utopia Camping, we make it possible for guests of the Te.N.T. area to order sustainable camping equipment before the festival. Click here to order. The equipment can easily be picked up on site at the Utopia sales point.
In 2022, we used a 90 kW fuel cell with green hydrogen on the festival site for the first time to supply e-charging points for the crew. In 2023 and 2024, smaller fuel cells were used to supply the band distribution at the Camping Plaza.
In the Te.N.T. Area, we offer sleep boxes for hire where you can get all your electricity from a solar panel on the roof. You can find more information about the Te.N.T. Area here.
In 2024, floodlights on the Faster and Harder main stages will be replaced by energy-saving phosphor laser light sources. This will save approximately the annual energy consumption of a detached family home.
In 2024, the floodlights on the Faster and Harder main stages were replaced with energy-saving phosphor laser light sources. This saved approximately the annual energy consumption of a single-family home.
Every year we try to create clearer incentives for guests to travel by public transport. Probably the biggest incentive is the short distances to the campsites without a car directly at the event site. You don't even need a car here: you can lock up your valuables, get everything you need for your daily needs at the Farmers Market and even support the regional economy. But that's not all. If you're travelling by public transport, you'll have your own wristband exchange at the bus station.
In 2024, electric buses were used on the event site for the first time as shuttles for VIP guests, artists and press representatives. We will be using them again for the Wacken Open Air 2025.
In 2022 and 2023, hydrogen buses were used and tested on the site as shuttles for VIP guests, artists and press representatives. The tests have shown that the buses can also withstand the conditions on agricultural land and offer a safe alternative to conventional buses.
For a festival the size of Wacken Open Air, a huge fleet of vehicles is needed in the background to set up and dismantle everything.
Several electric cars are used on the site every year, offering the crew a sustainable alternative to conventional cars.
The electronically powered gator vehicles, which were used on the festival site last year, also offer a simple and practical alternative to cars. Unfortunately, our service providers will not be able to supply us with the electric gator vehicles this year.
In 2023, we have also expanded our in-house e-bike fleet from 12 to 42. This allows the festival crew to move around the festival site in a relaxed manner by bike.
For some years now, various pilots have also been carried out with construction machinery. For example, we are using two electric wheel loaders for the third year in a row and will also be using electric scissor lifts and electrically powered or hybrid telescopic work platforms on the festival site in 2025.
If you are travelling by bike, our bycicle parking offers a worthy home for your bike. The bicycle parking is located directly at the old bus station at the crossing from Wacken to Gribbohm. There you will also find the possibility to camp directly on area L - another advantage, as you are directly at the event site.
Since 2022, you have the option of offsetting your entire journey, and even more CO2 if you like, with a donation when you personalise your ticket. Together with Wilderness International, we have already protected an area in the Peruvian jungle that corresponds to the size of our infield and the Wacken Community Forest is growing. But even if you don't want to compensate, you can make a donation and receive a certificate with the exact coordinates of your protected forest area in return. Protect your piece of rainforest here.
In addition to the shuttle buses from Itzehoe train station, our travel partners offer a variety of options for sustainable group travel from many cities in Germany and countries in Europe and around the world. An overview of all travel partners can be found here.
Our shuttle buses, which will pick you up at the nearest train station in Itzehoe and take you with all your belongings to the festival site, offer another incentive to travel by public transport. From 2025, all ticket holders can use the shuttle buses free of charge throughout the entire festival week.
Our festival is named after its place of origin and without the local service providers, the W:O:A would not be what it is today. We know our roots and are grateful for every contract we can award to another regional service provider to give something back to the local heroes.
In 2024, our ‘Register and shine!’ campaign together with DKMS got 10 years old. 12,700 Wacken fans have already registered with DKMS through our campaign, 90 of whom were able to donate stem cells in 27 countries - what a great result. You can find more information about our campaign with the DKMS here.
In collaboration with Krombacher, we have created the Growling Creatures - a band consisting of 7 endangered native animal species. At W:O:A 23, we created the loudest growl in the world with your help and made a big wave for the Growling Creatures. In 2024, the Growling Creatures made their first appearance on the main stage!
The aim of the campaign is to collect donations for NABU to protect endangered hemic animal species - 22,000€ have already been raised! You can find more information about the campaign here.
Access to clean drinking water is a human right and is particularly important on long and often warm festival days with lots of headbanging. That's why there are drinking water taps throughout the event site where you can get fresh water for free. In addition, you will receive a foldable drinking bottle free of charge at the wristband exchange, which you can take with you onto the event site.
A new retreat has been created for the crew's well-being. Here, employees can enjoy snacks (including vegetarian and vegan options) and drinks, play a game of PlayStation or simply just rest their legs.
Together with the organisations Hanseatic Help, Engel in den Straßen and Metality, we collect tents, sleeping bags and sleeping mats that have been left behind on the day of departure. The organisations will then ensure that the items are passed on to people in need. There are also collection points at various locations on the site where you can drop off your camping equipment if you don't want to take it home with you.
Every year there is a team of pastoral workers on site. So if you feel uncomfortable, disoriented or overwhelmed - feel free to approach these people, they have an open ear for everyone and will do their best to help you!
The Wacken Foundation is our in-house charitable foundation to support the metal and hard rock scene. Through events such as the Wacken Music Camp, young talents and bands are to be motivated and sustainably supported. You can find more information about the Wacken Foundation here.
At the Wacken Open Air there is the Wacken Foundation Camp, where various charitable organisations can present themselves. You will find the Wacken Foundation Camp on the Camping Plaza.
In our Wheels of Steel Area, guests with disabilities have the opportunity to experience the W:O:A without restrictions like any other guest. Here you can enjoy barrier-free showers, toilets and a wide range of services such as a wheelchair repair service, barrier-free shops, etc. All information about the Wheels of Steel Area and inclusion can be found here.
Metal runs through our veins! As an Official W:O:A Bloodsponsor, all Wacken fans in Germany and Tyrol can get a kind of bonus booklet from a participating blood donation service and receive a free W:O:A Bloodsponsor shirt after the 6th donation. This is our way of encouraging people to donate blood. You can find more information about the W:O:A blood donation here.
