How Green is Your Festival?

The summer festival season is nearly upon us and many happy campers, young and old alike, will be heading for the green festival fields. For some it is a holiday, for others a chance to meet up with friends and for others, including my son, a way to celebrate the end of exams.

By their very nature, being in the UK, festivals are a greener holiday alternative than flying abroad. But there are still many environmental implications to consider. Travel to and from festivals, particularly remote ones, is the cause of their biggest environmental impact. Glastonbury's Michael Eavis famously said that if a festival was to be green, it wouldn't happen, but then we would miss out on all the wonderful experiences they have to offer.

Ever helpful, I contacted a cross-section of festivals, big or small, famous or family orientated...and asked them what they were doing to reduce their environmental impact. Not all of them replied to my enquiries; those listed below are the ones that kindly took the time to help me.

My job was made considerably easier by finding this website: www.agreenerfestival.com. It is an amazing resource for festivals and festival-goers alike. It awards festivals a Greener Festival Award and is a good indicator of just how green your chosen festival is. Last year only 24 festivals were awarded this ‘Red Kite' mark award so having one is something to be proud of.

So what are festivals doing to make themselves green?

Buddhafield Festival

15th-19th July, nr Taunton

• The main stages, dance tent, performance areas and site lighting are all powered by Buddhafield solar-powered batteries.  The Undercurrents cinema is also solar-powered, or wind and bicycle-powered if the sun is shy!
• Locally sourced firewood to encourage people to cook over fires rather than use gas.
• Buddhafield Café won the 2008 Green Traders Award at Glastonbury. It provides organic food and has menus that use locally sourced food. Only guest vendors and cafés that have the same ideals are used at the festival.
• Compost loos are provided. The 'humanure' is composted down and used on land at Broadhembury.
• Volunteer recycling team on site and Mid-Devon Recycling process all the recyclable waste.
• China mugs and plates and proper cutlery are used in the Buddhafield Café, and most guest cafés do the same.
• No alcohol on site, so waste drink cans and bottles are not a huge problem.
• Shuttle minibus service runs between Taunton train station and the Festival. Liftsharing is encouraged through Freewheelers.
• Land & Permaculture area where people can attend talks and workshops on permaculture methods and land use.
• Debates, workshops and films on environmental issues.
• Hope to provide an experience for people that points to a quality of life that does not rely on high consumption of goods.

Glastonbury

24th-28th June, Worthy Farm, Glastonbury

• 2007 Greener Festival Award Winner.
• ‘Love the Farm, Leave no Trace' is the festival motto and they are working towards this with Greenpeace and agreenerfestival.com.
• Car share is encouraged: www.liftshare.com.
• 15,000 different coloured bins are available on site for recycling. Last year 50% of rubbish was recycled.
• Biodiesel fuels many generators and the Green Fields are powered by solar and wind energy.
• All festival goers are given a reusable unbleached cotton bag to store their purchases in.
• Biodegradable tent pegs are given to all tent dwellers. They break down in the soil after a few weeks and avoid injury to the farm's cows.
• All cutlery used by market stalls must be wood, not plastic and all cups and plates are made from a compostable material. An on-site wholesale market has been introduced along with Green Trader Awards. Traders are encouraged to use energy-saving light bulbs, and to use paper rather than plastic bags.
• On-site tractors are used, all capable of running on 100% biodiesel refined from used cooking oil sourced in the UK.
• Over 100 Green Police patrol for the duration of the festival.
• Wildlife sanctuaries have been created on the site to protect the many birds and animals over the Festival period.

Wychwood Music Festival

29th-31st May, Cheltenham Racecourse

• Working with Friends of the Earth.
• Every light bulb on site is low energy with day sensors (ie turn off if it is too light for them to be needed).
• Low sulphur diesel in all generators.
• Recycling bins throughout the site.
• Recycling bin bags handed out to festival goers as they arrive.
• 50% of rubbish recycled last year.
• Caterers do not use plastic or polystyrene cups/utensils and those that are local or use locally sourced produce are favoured.
• All tea, coffee, sugar and hot chocolate served on site are Fairtrade.

Big Session Festival

19th-21st June, De Montfort Hall and Gardens, Leicester

• 2007 Greener Festival Award Winner.
• Use a company called Complete Wasters who collect and recycle much of the festival waste such as plastic bottles, cardboard, paper and glass. 
• Compostable food waste and used vegetable oil are collected from food traders for recycling.
• Bars use compostable pint glasses, which Complete Wasters collect.
• They give out camera film canisters so that people can use them to stub out their cigarettes then hand in the canister.
• Different colour bins on site.
• Food traders use compostable cups and plates and also use sugar cubes or loose sugar to avoid hundreds of small pieces of paper floating around.
• Half of the power comes from the council's supply, which is on an eco-tariff (for carbon offsetting).
• All waste paper generated by the festival office is recycled. All paper used is recycled. All printed media are produced on at least 85% recycled paper and card.
• Free energy-efficient light bulbs are given away at the energy efficiency stall.
• Ben Challis from www.agreenerfestival.com commented: 'Big Session were one of only ten UK festivals awarded the prestigious Greener Festival Award in 2007 and won the public vote for the "Greenest Festival" at the UK Festival Awards last year.'

Croissant Neuf

14th-16th August, Usk, Monmouthshire

• All of the electricity on site is generated by solar panels and wind generators - literally all of it, from the PAs to the fairy lights in the toilets and lights above each gate and fire point. This saves over 1.5 tonnes of CO2. This is the only festival in the UK to achieve this.
• The LED lighting system in the Big Top uses less power than an average household TV.
• Everything that possibly can be, is recycled.
• All the food and drink on site is organic, as local as possible and fairly traded when possible.
• On-site experts give talks and run displays on renewable energy and sustainability.
• All caterers on site use renewable energy.
• For every car that travels to the site three trees will be planted on and around the site.

What you can do

It's all very well asking the festivals to be green but it will all amount to nothing if the festival goers (that's you!) don't make the effort as well. And as always, it's the little things you do that can really make the difference.

Travelling to the festival

If you can, use public transport. If that's not an option, try these websites for liftshare and share the cost as well as the CO2 emissions: www.liftshare.com or www.freewheelers.co.uk. Big Green Coach is a fabulous alternative. Find out if they go to your festival at www.biggreencoach.com. Individual festivals also run buses to and from stations - enquire to them directly.

When on site

Take your own re-useable cup, plate and utensils. Then take them home again! Consumer power still has an effect at festivals, so choose the Fairtrade and/or ethical alternatives. Take your own cotton bags on site and use them for your shopping. Use recycled loo paper and, if they are an option, use the compost toilets. If there is a choice, use the solar powered showers. I can vouch for these: www.spiralsun.co.uk - never has a hot shower felt so good!

Use biodegradable toothpaste, toiletries and washing up liquid to ensure the farmland is not polluted with nasty chemicals. Festivals provide different bins for different things so please make sure you use the correct ones.

And finally...

Festivals should be just what they say on the tin - a celebration. Of music, of the sun, of the environment, of just being alive! So whichever festival you choose, be green, stay safe and have a wonderful time!!

Jo

If you are attending a festival this summer and would like to write a review on its green policy or just tell us how much fun it was, we would love to hear from you.

photos (c) Salena Walker 2009

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