Founded by BLOND:ISH

Bye Bye Plastic

Bye Bye Plastic is the non-profit foundation created by BLOND:ISH (Vivie-Ann Bakos) to eliminate single-use plastics from the music and nightlife industry. What began as one artist’s refusal to accept plastic bottles in the DJ booth has grown into a global movement — with more than 1,500 DJs signed onto the Eco-Rider pledge and a formal presence across four continents.

Registered in the Netherlands as Stichting Bye Bye Plastic Foundation, the organisation holds Recognised Public Interest status and tax-deductible donation eligibility in over a dozen countries. It is not a marketing campaign or a temporary initiative. It is a registered non-profit with a team of environmental specialists, a legal framework, and a single, measurable goal: zero single-use plastic in the music industry.

Origin

The idea for Bye Bye Plastic came from something Vivie-Ann Bakos saw every night behind the DJ booth: plastic bottles, plastic cups, plastic straws — mountains of single-use waste generated by an industry that prides itself on togetherness and consciousness. Rather than look away, she acted. In 2019, she launched a grassroots campaign asking DJs to add a simple clause to their booking riders: no single-use plastic in the booth.

That idea — the Eco-Rider — spread faster than anyone anticipated. Within months, some of the biggest names in electronic music had signed on: Richie Hawtin, Pete Tong, Annie Mac, Honey Dijon, Ben Klock, Sven Vath, ANNA, Eats Everything, Patrick Topping, and Cassy — among more than 1,500 artists. By January 2020, the movement had formalised into a registered Dutch foundation, giving it the legal structure to partner with venues, festivals, and governments worldwide.

It was a pioneering act. No DJ had ever weaponised the booking rider — the legal document at the heart of every performance contract — as a tool for environmental change. BLOND:ISH was the first, and in doing so, she created a mechanism that any artist on earth could adopt for free.

Key Programmes

The Eco-Rider

The Eco-Rider is a sustainability clause that artists add to their booking contracts, requesting no plastic bottles, cups, or straws in the DJ booth and backstage areas. Launched in 2019 under the hashtag #PlasticFreeParty, it reached more than 1,500 signatories by the end of that year. Through a partnership with booking platform Gigwell, the Eco-Rider is now available to any artist or booking agent globally — built directly into the contracting workflow.

In October 2025, Bye Bye Plastic launched Eco-Rider 2.0 — an expanded sustainable touring toolkit that goes beyond the booth to address travel, hospitality, and backstage operations. It transformed the original pledge from a single request into a comprehensive framework for low-impact touring.

BioVinyl

Bye Bye Plastic has championed BioVinyl — a plant-based alternative to the traditional PVC used in vinyl record manufacturing. BLOND:ISH’s debut album Never Walk Alone (2025, Insomniac Records) was released on biodegradable PHA vinyl, making it one of the first major electronic music releases to use sustainable physical media. The initiative challenges the music industry’s reliance on petroleum-based products at every level — from the DJ booth to the pressing plant.

Biodegradable Alternatives

Beyond the booth and the studio, Bye Bye Plastic works with suppliers to bring plastic alternatives directly to events. A partnership with biodegradable cup manufacturer Happy has introduced compostable cups at events, replacing the standard plastic vessels that contribute to festival and nightclub waste. These are not symbolic gestures — they are scalable replacements tested in real-world event conditions.

Key Milestones

2019 — Eco-Rider launch. BLOND:ISH introduced the Eco-Rider pledge and the #PlasticFreeParty campaign. Over 1,500 DJs and artists signed within the first year, including Richie Hawtin, Pete Tong, Annie Mac, Honey Dijon, and Ben Klock. Bye Bye Plastic collaborated with the International Music Summit (IMS) in Ibiza for a beach cleanup in May 2019.

January 2020 — Foundation registered. The grassroots movement formalised into Stichting Bye Bye Plastic Foundation, a recognised public-interest organisation under Dutch law. This gave the initiative legal standing to receive tax-deductible donations in the Netherlands, the United States, Switzerland, South Africa, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovenia, and Chile.

January 2023 — Ibiza nightlife partnership. Bye Bye Plastic partnered with Ocio de Ibiza — the island’s nightlife industry association — to develop plastic reduction strategies across Ibiza’s clubs and events. This brought the initiative to the operational centre of global dance music.

2025 — Amsterdam Dance Event. The “Droppie x Bye Bye Plastic” event at ADE topped Google results for “sustainable ADE events,” establishing Bye Bye Plastic’s presence at the world’s largest electronic music conference.

October 2025 — Eco-Rider 2.0. An updated sustainable touring toolkit launched, expanding the original pledge into a comprehensive framework covering travel, hospitality, and backstage operations alongside the original booth-level plastic elimination.

Artist Supporters

Bye Bye Plastic’s strength lies in the artists who have put their names behind it. These are not social media endorsements — they are contractual commitments, written into the booking riders that govern every live performance. Notable Eco-Rider signatories include:

• Richie Hawtin — pioneering minimal techno artist and technology innovator
• Pete Tong — BBC Radio 1 broadcaster and global dance music authority
• Annie Mac — former BBC Radio 1 DJ and festival curator
• Honey Dijon — Chicago house music icon and fashion collaborator
• Ben Klock — Berghain resident and Berlin techno institution
• Sven Vath — Cocoon founder and Ibiza techno pioneer
• ANNA — Brazilian techno artist and Afterlife Records regular
• Eats Everything — Bristol-based DJ and bass house innovator
• Patrick Topping — Hot Creations artist and UK house music leader
• Cassy — Panorama Bar resident and deep house selector

These ten represent a fraction of the 1,500+ artists who have signed the Eco-Rider. The full list spans every corner of electronic music — from underground selectors to festival headliners.

The Mission

Bye Bye Plastic exists because the music industry has a plastic problem it has been unwilling to face. Every festival, every club night — including BLOND:ISH’s own Abracadabra events — every touring production generates single-use waste at industrial scale — bottles, cups, straws, wristbands, packaging, and promotional materials that end up in landfills and oceans. The industry that talks about peace, love, unity, and respect has been one of the worst offenders.

BLOND:ISH built Bye Bye Plastic on a simple conviction: artists have leverage. A headliner’s booking rider is not a suggestion — it is a contractual requirement. When 1,500 artists tell promoters “no plastic in the booth,” the economics shift. Venues invest in alternatives not because of regulation, but because the talent demands it. That is the mechanism Bye Bye Plastic engineered, and it is why the initiative has achieved adoption where government mandates and awareness campaigns have stalled.

The foundation allocates its resources accordingly: 65% to subsidising plastic-free operations at events, 20% to educational and awareness programmes, 10% to research and development of plastic alternatives, and 5% to social campaigns and activations. Every dollar is directed at making sustainable events the default, not the exception.

How to Support

Artists: Sign the Eco-Rider pledge at byebyeplastic.life and add it to your booking contracts. It takes five minutes and costs nothing.

Festivals and Venues: Partner with Bye Bye Plastic to audit your single-use plastic consumption and develop a transition plan. The foundation works directly with event operations teams to identify alternatives that scale.

Fans: Use the hashtag #PlasticFreeParty and choose events that commit to sustainability. Donations to the foundation are tax-deductible in over a dozen countries and can be made through the official website, including via cryptocurrency (Bitcoin and Ethereum).

Frequently Asked Questions

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Bye Bye Plastic is a project by BLOND:ISH alongside Abracadabra (immersive event series). Listen to the debut album Never Walk Alone on all platforms. For upcoming shows, visit Tour Dates. To learn more about the artist, read the BLOND:ISH biography. Read more about sustainability in the music industry on the NRG Zine.