8:14am Wednesday 24th June 2009
By Telegraph & Argus
Wellies? Check. Wind-up torch and wetwipes? Check. Multiple plastic bags filled with all your stuff? Check.
As you take on the great outdoors and enjoy the summer’s music festivals, starting with Glastonbury this weekend, and Leeds Festival coming up in August, beware of turning into a one-person waste machine.
Many festivals have already introduced greener services to encourage us not to poison half of rural England with our chemical waste. Compostable loos, eco-shower gels and organic kitchens are becoming the norm.
The trend started a few years ago and has taken off, explains Ben Challis, who founded charity A Greener Festival (agreenerfestival.com).
With his team, Challis audits festivals, judging their carbon footprint, their waste and recycling facilities and their environmental impact.
“In the last two years we’ve seen a significant rise in audience awareness of green issues, particularly their own carbon footprint,” he explains.
“As a result organisers are really experimenting with how green they can go – like investing in hydrogen cell-fuelled stages and discounted coach rides to the destination.”
But it’s definitely a case of audiences leading the organisers, says Katrina Larkin, co-founder of the ethical and AGF-award-winning Big Chill Festival.
“It’s not that organisers are more keen to be green themselves, they’ve just realised the audience aren’t going to put up with anything else.”
Larkin’s own festival pioneered the “Leave No Trace” idea a few years ago.
But unfortunately, as Challis explains, festivals are limited by the technology and infrastructure available to them.
“There are only so many train tickets available, only so much you can power with a wind turbine,” he says. “The real key to festivals being green is in getting audience members to reduce their transport emissions, as they’re the biggest culprit in a festival’s carbon output.”
Partying hard and partying green go hand in hand this year. So check out this year’s greener festivals and get dancing!
Eco-Friendly Festivals:
JULY 16-19
Green-minded music festival 2000 Trees (twothousandtreesfestival.co.uk) is a favourite among indie-music lovers and won an AGF award last year. British Sea Power are headlining this Cotswolds festival which is run entirely on biodiesel. The festival recycled 78 per cent of its waste last year, uses biodegradable and reusable food and drink containers and asks only UK-based bands to be in its line-up to reduce CO2 emissions.
AUGUST 6-9
Set to be one of the best festivals this year, the 15-year-old Big Chill (bigchill.net) will have a birthday to remember with acts from Lindstrom, Amadou And Mariam, Friendly Fires and Basement Jaxx. With solar panels to charge your mobile and organic, locally-sourced food to eat, be sure you get a ticket that includes a coach ride – the festival’s cheap incentive to cut its carbon emissions.
AUGUST 14-16
Leicester’s Summer Sundae Weekender (summersundae.com) is continuing the green pledge this year with compostable food and drink containers, camera film canisters handed out as ashtrays, and energy-saving lightbulb donations.
AUGUST 27-30
The king of the rock festivals, Leeds Festival (leedsfestival.com), are stocking their showers with eco-friendly Ecover shower gel and asking everyone else to leave their own products at home – if they’re not green. Cup and water bottle deposits, liftshares and chair recycling are also part of the 2009 line-up, which also includes Arctic Monkeys, Radiohead, Kings Of Leon and Menston lads, Kaiser Chiefs.
SEPTEMBER 11-13
With Bat for Lashes, MGMT, Massive Attack, Kraftwerk and Soulwax in the line- up, the Isle of Wight’s Bestival (bestival.net) is sure to be where the party is this year. After an amazing sell-out last year, organisers are encouraging lift-shares for those driving and wetsuits for those swimming across the Channel.
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