Photo by Sam Nichols
After six years of trying, and failing, to get festivalgoers to Leave No Trace™ Victoria's favourite doof (ed's note: is it a doof?) Rainbow Serpent has decided to ban nangs once and for all. The festival's stage area has been a nang no-go zone since 2012, but the organisers have this year decided to extend the ban to the entire festival, citing environmental concerns."It is just not cool to stumble on empty bulbs left on ground. In addition to being a safety hazard, NOS also increases amount of rubbish we accumulate for landfill," Rainbow Serpent said in a Facebook post. "The fact is patrons have ignored our pleas so we are unfortunately enforcing a complete NOS ban in 2018 and we will confiscate any bulbs or paraphernalia found without exception."Nitrous oxide chargers—also known as nangs or "hippy crack" according to the Daily Mail—are traditionally used for whipping cream; however, inventive partiers have long been inhaling them for the brief high the gas gives. (Apologies if we're telling you what you already know, but apparently some people are only just discovering that nangs are a thing.)The problem is that small, single-use nang canisters are really hard to recycle. While they are made from recyclable steel, the canister needs to be completely emptied of gas before it can be crushed and reused. "f you have just one unopened canister, it will actually cause an explosion," Amie Green, owner of Green Chief Recycling, told VICE. "So despite the material being very valuable, it poses too much of a risk."Rainbow Serpent will run from 26 Jan – 29 Jan in Lexton, Victoria.