Recycling Rocks - The Green Festival Guide
Eco Festivals
There are many eco festivals around, most towns and cities have some sort of small local eco festival. Eco festivals generally are about raising awareness on environmental issues, selling eco products, and promoting recycling. It also includes festivals who are attempting to be more environmentally friendly.
The Big Green Gathering
The Big Green Gathering shall be having a gap year in 2010.
The Big Green Gathering (BGG) is Europe’s biggest and original festival. The Big Green Gathering is a 5 day camping event.
The Big Green Gathering is for people who care about health, the environment, sustainability, our children's future and life in general. It is a celebration of our natural world and our place within it. As such it is a place for enjoyment, learning and fun. Unhealthy activities are not encouraged. The only things taken in excess should be love, peace, joy, and friendship.
- Entertainment and education for sustainability -
Music, Dance, Crafts, Food and Farming, Healing, Earth Energies, Permaculture, Markets, Tipis, Fairground, Campaigns, Sustainable Homes and much more - powered by the Sun, the Wind and the People.
They also list some other upcoming green festivals.
http://www.big-green-gathering.com/index.php?pageid=1
Croissant Neuf Summer Party
The Croissant Neuf Summer Party is an intimate solar powered weekend of brilliant music, cabaret, food and family fun hosted by the legendary Croissant Neuf. This lovely new festival offers something for the whole family.
Croissant Neuf aim to make their festival the greenest by taking many actions including everything from LED lighting to planting 3 trees for every car which enters the festival.
http://www.partyneuf.co.uk/
The Square Festival
The Square Festival shall be having a gap year in 2010.
The Square Festival do their bit to protect the environment. Check out their guide to keeping it green at the following link.
http://www.thesquarefestival.com/environment
Download
Recycling really does rock at Download festival.
Download aim to be greener this year and are running many initiatives such as money back for plastic cups returned for recycling, a free can of beer for each bag of empty cans for recycling and prize draws for VIP tickets for Download 2011 for people handing in tents or other waste for recycling at the end of the festival, rather than dumping or burning!
The Download website features an article from 2009 about Download’s greener side.
http://www.downloadfestival.co.uk/news/article.aspx?AID=f632fb69-7277-430e-8f56-7e0042961151
The BBC did a feature previously on the eco efforts of Download, which included pedal bike-powered mobile charging stations, recycling stations, green toilets and a lift share scheme to name but a few.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/derby/content/articles/2007/06/04/download_green_2007_feature.shtml.
Glastonbury
Love the Farm, Leave No Trace.
http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/information/green-glastonbury/
The aim of organiser and farm owner Michael Eavis is to encourage festival goers to travel by public transport, aiming to get 40,000 people travelling to Glastonbury by coach and train this year – nearly a third of all Festival goers. Great new initiatives on recycling and more efficient ways of powering the festival activities are also being brought in this year.
The Green police will again be out in force at the Glastonbury Festival and their message is still the same: Use the toilets provided, Use the bins provided, and Use the Cigarette 'BUTT BINS'. Prompting festival goers to keep the festival clean and save the environment.
In the lead up and during the festival organisers will be using a fleet of New Holland tractors, all capable of running on 100% biodiesel refined from used cooking oil sourced in the UK. These will be used during the festival to keep the site clean.
Glastonbury have a Green Policy set up, which can be found at the following link: http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/information/green-glastonbury/our-green-policies
Shambala Festival
Awarded the 'Most Sustainable Event in the UK (2008)' Award.
Shambala recycle almost all waste, have invested in compost loos, use solar, wind & biodiesel, and carefully select traders and suppliers.
Anyone who buy tickets must sign up to a declaration to get involved, reduce rubbish, look after each other, buy local and help reduce their carbon footprint.
Each attendee will be handed two bags to separate their recyclables from their non-recyclables. Shambala staff will also provide information on recycling and waste management tips.
Vendors must use only biodegradable packaging made from corn starch, which will then be composted at local plants. Battery collections will also be available and this year everything Shambala makes, such as décor, sculptures and furniture will be kept and stored for the following year.
Network Recycling UK will be helping Shambala to maintain their ‘Most Sustainable’ status.
Shambala will be using biodiesel, wind & solar for 100% of site power in 2010!
http://www.shambalafestival.org/
The Big Tent Festival
Scotland’s biggest eco-festival.
WWF Scotland will be working with The Big Tent Festival this year, sponsoring this years Earth Action Talks, with a great line-up of speakers and workshops on climate change, localisation, environmental justice and biodiversity.
http://bigtentfestival.co.uk/
Tent Pegs
A few years ago Glastonbury featured the first biodegradable tent pegs. The tent pegs were the creation of Michael Eavis (Event Organiser and farmer of Glastonbury) and Millets outdoor store. The tent pegs have been made up to replace the usual metal pegs, which were found to have a negative affect on the environment, when left in fields they ended up being chopped up by machinery – leaving sharp pieces of metal in the fields on which animals graze. The biodegradable pegs are made from natural materials derived from wheat and potatoes. The pegs can be left in the ground; they break down by microbes in soil and will have disintegrated within a few weeks.
To find out more about the tent pegs visit http://www.millets.co.uk/product/096213.html.
The pegs can be purchased at Sky Blue Leisure (http://www.skyblueleisure.co.uk/acatalog/potato_starch_pegs_6_inch.html) and Ethical Superstore (http://www.ethicalsuperstore.com/products/greenstake/biodegradable-tent-pegs---pack-of-10/).
Tents
Why not hire a tent from MyHab http://www.myhab.com/ - they hire out cardboard tents which are made mostly from ultra-tough recycled plastic and water-proof cardboard - ensuring your green credentials remain intact while you and your kit stay safe and dry.
If you take your own tent and you no longer want it, or it is worn out, either take it back home to re-use or put in a textile recycling bank, or donate through the festival. Most festivals now donate left over tents to charities to house people in Africa. Tents which are left and thrown away end up going to landfill, causing further damage to the environment.
Global Hand's Give Me Shelter project runs this scheme http://www.globalhand.org/givemeshelter. Give Me Shelter is a campaign to encourage festival-goers to donate their tents and other camping items to charity.
The same applies with unwanted wellies. At last years’ Glastonbury, Frip Ethique, a unique partnership between ECT Recycling and Oxfam worked together to recycle left over equipment, along with wellies. The wellies are sorted then sent to Africa. For more information see Glastonbury’s news article on this http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/news.aspx?id=2325.
Litter
Please take litter home with you or use the recycling banks at the festivals.
Travel and Transport
Try to get to the festival by public transport, such as trains. Check http://www.nationalrail.co.uk to see details on journeys, times and prices.
If you must travel by car try car sharing.
Freewheelers
The aim of Freewheelers is to reduce pollution by reducing car usage. By linking drivers and passengers to share the cost of travel it also saves you money.
http://www.freewheelers.com
Liftshare also run the same type of scheme.
http://www.liftshare.com/
Kit
Eco Kits are available, providing all those little necessities to help you through the festival.
Ethical Superstore have their version of what is needed to survive those summer festivals.
http://www.ethicalsuperstore.com/products/ethicalsuperstore-select/summer-festival-survival-kit/
Some other useful information can be found on our Camping factsheet. http://www.wasteconnect.co.uk/page.aspx?ID=337127b7-b63a-439c-b1c9-a2750c7c2766
Extra Information
A-Z of the perfect eco festival
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/climatewatch/article.html?in_article_id=167987&in_page_id=59
The Guardian online have some interesting articles on recent years festivals and the environmental efforts they made.
http://music.guardian.co.uk/festivals/glastonbury2008/story/0,,2284501,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/jun/17/ethicalliving.lifeandhealth
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/21/ethicalliving.festivals
A Greener Festival is a website containing news, and information on every aspect of the impact different elements of festivals have on the environment.
http://www.agreenerfestival.com/
Be Green and HAVE FUN!!