How Shi Fu Miz sets to make an environmental impact at this year’s event

We stand by our word when we say every region needs its own destination festival, and Hong Kong’s is Shi Fu Miz.

Returning for its sixth iteration, the festival heads to Hong Kong's Cheng Chau island on October 27-29, infusing the spirit of rave, wellbeing and a strong stance on sustainability, which we plan on diving deeper into.

As the festival moves to the 11-acre Sai Yuen Farm for a fresh experience centred around its five pillars — Lifestyle, Scenography, Wellbeing, Family, Sustainability and Ecology — organizers FuFu Creative and La Mamie's share with us their meticulous planning and curation for their event which this year takes an even more greener approach.

Before we get into the greener side of things, let’s look at this year’s line-up that promises several of the finest acts in electronic music to perform across the festival’s four stages.

The flyer below serves as a reminder of why Shi Fu Miz is the go-to destination for music enthusiasts seeking a boundary-pushing experience in an inclusive and free-spirited atmosphere, accompanied by top global beatmakers.

“We are proud of each and every one of these names on our programming; local talents, international acts and some of the finest regional DJs,” mention the organisers. However, there are several highlights that shouldn’t be missed, such as the legendary Octave One who are set to play live.

“The mythical label from Amsterdam, Rush Hour, is also something to see for sure! We also can say Mogwaa is bound to impress the crowd,” they add.

In addition to the acts, Shi Fu Miz provides an array of activities for all ages (kids under 12 can enter for free) — silent disco, live painting, yoga, roller disco, breathwork sessions, soundbaths, slacklining, tea ceremonies and more. Attendees will also get to privately access the beach from the festival grounds.

Imagine all that decked out with light and art installations throughout the venue.

Focusing on the Sustainability pillar, which organisers mention as “something super important from the very beginning”, the festival takes the extra steps in being aware of the environment by applying three sub-pillars — Waste, Inspiration and Food — in collaboration with Green Is The New Black, a lifestyle media platform focused on mainstreaming sustainability.

Let’s do the math; in a festival of 1,000 people, usually each festival goer purchases at least two water bottles at the event. By implementing a zero single use plastic policy, Shi Fu Miz will potentially be diverting 2,000 plastic bottles from going to landfills and the oceans.

Another initiative of theirs is the collecting of organic waste from festival goers and food vendors. Shi Fu Miz mention that ⅓ of food produced is being wasted worldwide — seeing food being dumped in the trash at festivals is also quite a common sight. “So, by collecting food waste, we will divert at least 10 kilos of food waste going to landfills.”

The organic waste will then be composted and turned into fertiliser by the Women's Association of Cheung Chau.

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Other efforts taken by the festival to strengthen its Sustainability pillar are providing biodegradable trash bags, toilets using groundwater instead of fresh water, collecting rainwater to water plants, using biodegradable glitter, handing out DIY pocket ashtrays, organising a beach clean-up and more.

Invited over to Shi Fu Miz to give a speech on eco-art is Bali-based “artivist and beach curator” Liina Klauss. You may be familiar with her creation ‘5000 Lost Soles’; an installation comprising over 5,000 flip-flops collected from Bali's west coast beaches and displayed at the Potato Head Beach Club in Seminyak, Bali.

“I want to show people a different perspective of what we consider rubbish. Everything we throw away comes back to us: via the air we breathe, the water we drink and the soil we grow crops and raise animals on,” says Klauss.

Read this next: One year on: Our Bali barriers have stopped almost 1 tonne of plastic from spilling out into the sea

Seeing as the event will be held on an actual farm (an ecological green farm, in fact), there will also be workshops on permaculture, how to live zero waste, and the festival will have a Solar Sound System; one of its stages will run entirely on solar energy or energy generated from bikes.

We can’t forget to mention another one of the festival’s collaborators, One Tree Planted — a dedicated organisation on a mission to rejuvenate Earth's green lungs while enlightening people about the critical role of trees. They are actively involved in reforestation campaigns across Africa, North America, Asia, and South America.

In a partnership with local reforestation allies in the Philippines during 2020 and 2021, Shi Fu Miz and One Tree Planted carefully selected and planted tree species with high survival rates. Now they come together again — for every Shi Fu Miz festival ticket sold, One Tree Planted plants a tree, contributing to the fight against climate change and the preservation of our environment.

Read this next: “The planet is our only dancefloor”: how dance music events are adapting to sustainability

FuFu Records — the label birthed by FuFu Creative — has also actively participated in this movement, linking music and environmental conservation even closer together. Via their '88 - Double Happiness' series which elevates the profiles of artists across Asia, FuFu Records has been actively contributing to this cause by donating 80% of their sales from each compilation to One Tree Planted's "$1 = 1 tree" initiative.

This led to the planting of 180 trees in the Philippines in April of 2021, plus 500 trees in Indonesia and 220 in Vietnam by August, demonstrating their commitment to making a positive environmental impact through music.

“We believe that partying and being green is possible. We also believe that as individuals, music lovers and even party animals, we all have a responsibility to positively impact ourselves, others and Mother Nature to make our planet greener,” mention Shi Fu Miz organisers.

“We have to do it also if we want to continue to organise crazy festivals in beautiful, natural, wild surroundings!”

Shi Fu Miz is headed to Sai Yuen Farm on Hong Kong’s Cheng Chau island on 27-29 October. Tickets available here.