St Kilda Festival 2026
How Clean Vibes supported Australia's largest free community festival
Australia's biggest free festival needed a partner that could match its scale
St Kilda Festival is held annually across the St Kilda foreshore and surrounding precincts, with multiple stages, food vendors, and family areas operating simultaneously.
It draws 400,000 people across two days - making it one of the most logistically demanding events on the Australian calendar. Clean Vibes were contracted by City of Port Phillip to provide cleaning and sustainable waste services for the 2026 event. This included cleaning of the entire event space, amenities, BOH areas, and the provision and servicing of bins and skips. Given the large scale of the event, there was real focus on developing an indepth schedule and Waste
Management Plan with all the logistics in line with the road closures and production plans.
This was our first year supporting St Kilda Festival. Every plan, process, and person on-site was built from the ground up in close collaboration with the council, production team, and waste partners.
Event at a Glance
- Client: City of Port Phillip
- Location: St Kilda, Melbourne
- Bump In: February 10 - 13th
- Event Days: February 14th & 15th, Saturday and Sunday
- Bump Out: February 16th - 17th
- Attendance: 400,000 patrons
- Staff: 185 team members on Sunday + 30 key personnel
The Challenge
Scale and Coordination
Large-scale public events generate enormous volumes of waste in concentrated bursts, under conditions that make logistics genuinely difficult. The St Kilda Festival presented several interconnected challenges from the outset.
Our Approach
A process built months in advance - and refined all the way to event day
Effective waste management isn't just about the day itself. It's the result of careful planning, strong relationships, and systems that are based off years of experience.
1. Months before - Collaboration with council
We worked alongside the City of Port Phillip through multiple iterations of the Waste Management Plan - conducting in-person site walkthroughs to determine the precise placement of waste compounds, taking road closures and existing infrastructure into account. Every decision was made with council specifications as the benchmark.
2. Weeks before - Rostering, supplier and logistics
As the event approaches, our operations team finalised staffing - scheduling 30 key personnel and 185 staff for the Sunday peak - alongside supplier confirmations, bin and equipment provisioning and sanitary facility planning. If there are any plan changes, we update all providers so everyone is on the same page.
3. Bump In - Prepping for a big weekend
This was integral to our success and one of the hardest parts of the event. In the days leading up to the festival, our team managed all incoming deliveries, liaised closely with site managers, and set up as much infrastructure as possible ahead of the gates opening. On Saturday night, we ran a dedicated night shift to stage and position all bins - moving efficiently and clearing out before the first patrons arrived.
4. Event Days - Proactive monitoring, waste sorting and vendor partnership
The cleaning operations at St Kilda Festival 2026 ran efficiently at a high standard. Staff were attentive in monitoring the site, promptly addressing any waste accumulation and ensuring that bins were regularly emptied to prevent overflow. Our team monitoring toilets performed regular checks and servicing to keep facilities in optimal conditions.
Zone supervisors introduced themselves to every food vendor and ran regular check ins on waste stream compliance. Colour-coded, clearly labelled FOH bins were distributed across both precincts, with Clean Vibes bin covers providing additional stream separation at point of capture.
Throughout the festival, waste was sorted to maximise recycling efforts. This involved separating recyclable materials and minimising general waste, significantly reducing the event's environmental footprint.
5. Post-Event - Site restoration
During bump out, cleaning staff conducted thorough final cleans of all restrooms, removing litter and waste to restore the site to its original condition. Additionally, the team took on the significant responsibility of collecting and dismantling all waste infrastructure in preparation for removal.
Our night crew deployed two road sweepers and conducted a full litter-pick of all event areas, including surrounding streets. We even pressure washed the streets so it would be looking even better than when we started!
Waste Management
Six streams, one mission: keep waste out of landfill
Clean Vibes provided comprehensive waste management services for the St Kilda Festival, focusing on sustainability and reducing the event's environmental impact. Our services included the provision of skips and bins throughout the festival site, clearly labeled FOH & BOH bin, regular emptying of these bins and waste sorting to improve recycling outcomes.
A dedicated team onsite to ensure that all waste was removed from the site and subsequently transported to appropriate recycling and waste facilities for responsible processing.
Our waste partner, Atlast's Planet Recovery program provided off-site sorting capabilities that ensured all skips were sorted to maximise diversion from landfill. This meant that co-mingled recycling waste was sorted into steel, aluminium, plastic and pallets/timber.
CDS bins were placed in high-traffic areas to capture eligible containers for return to VIC CDS.
80.70% Diversion
We achieved a diversion rate of 80.70% - across 17 tonnes collected from 400,000 festival-goers. It's a momentous result, and all credit goes to all the pre-planning and logistics that made it possible. When the groundwork is this solid, the numbers speak for themselves - and we're just getting started.
"Despite it being our first year supporting St Kilda Festival, the team delivered to a high standard throughout — from planning through to bump-out.
We received positive feedback from council for our constant communication and efforts on the ground. We look forward to building on this foundation and making St Kilda Festival cleaner and greener in years to come."
— Tristan Chan, Major Event Manager
★ TRUSTED BY COUNCILS ACROSS AUSTRALIA
We partner with local councils to deliver cleaning and sustainable waste services that meet your standards - from initial planning and waste management plans through to bump-out and post-event reporting. We build around your assets, your community, and your sustainability targets.
