We are really fortunate at Greenbelt that our festival go-ers are a clean and tidy bunch who like to make sure they leave things as they found them (or even better). That’s why we are so happy to support this initiative from the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF).
Together with over 60 independent festivals across the UK we are issuing a call to retailers such as Argos and Tesco to stop marketing and selling ‘festival tents’ as single-use items, which result in almost 900 tonnes of plastic waste every year, urging festival-goers to ‘Take Your Tent Home’ and ‘Say No To Single Use’.
AIF members include some of the biggest and most well-known independent festivals in the country such as Shambala, Boomtown Fair, Boardmasters, Kendal Calling and End Of The Road. (and us!)
Each year, an estimated 250,000 tents are left at music festivals across the UK. Most aren’t collected by charities and can’t be recycled, meaning the vast majority end up in landfill.
The average tent weighs 3.5kg and is mostly made of plastic – the equivalent of 8,750 straws or 250-pint cups.
Major retailers have a history of selling cheap tents marketed specifically for festival-use.
Research by Comp-A-Tent, who have been researching festival waste and testing solutions since 2015, suggests that as many as 36% of tents left at festivals are bought from either Argos or Tesco.
So THANK YOU Greenbelters for making sure that we’re not having to ask YOU to do this, but that we can lead the way by showing others it’s possible to Leave No Trace.