NEW STUDY HIGHLIGHTS FESTIVAL WASTE
Love Your Tent aims to change attitudes towards festival waste
Festival organisers are in the spotlight this week following the release of a survey highlighting the damage caused by music festival waste. It revealed that campsites contribute to a whopping 86% of total festival waste, of which 71% causes lasting damage to local plant life.
The study, the first of its kind, was conducted by environmentalist group Love Your Tent along with Buckingham New University, who are now asking festivals to sign up to a year-on-year 10% campsite waste reduction agreement. Love Your Tent founder Juliet Ross-Kelly said that by implementing the project the group was “leading a change that will help to protect festival culture for future generations”.
The data, taken from 1200 people over a number of countries where festival culture is on the rise, showed that although 86% of respondents recognised that festival waste has a serious impact on the environment, 60% had previously discarded tents, and a further 35% said they would never change their behaviour.
As more and more electronic music festivals pop up or expand to include on-site accommodation, dance lovers throughout the UK and the rest of Europe will need to be careful about how they affect their surroundings. Otherwise the great opportunities of the festival explosion may be short-lived.
Founded in 2012, Love Your Tent is a waste campaign group designed to address the huge quantities of tents and rubbish being left behind at events by attendees. Aiming to encourage festival-goers to change their attitudes towards cleaning up after themselves and respect the environment, Love Your Tent hopes to protect festival culture in the future through sustainability.
Check out what Love Your Tent got up to last year below or keep up to date on their website here
