How To: Be a Less Wasteful Festival Goer
I have to admit, I am no longer a frequent festival attendee. I love live music and I love street food. Maybe at the ripe old age of 32 I'm just feeling a bit out of place... That said, the few I have been to recently were lots of fun. It is always joyful to see people in a good mood, listening to great tunes and enjoying the freedom of being away from the daily grind. Can't say I am a fan of the unpredictable British weather that seems to want to ruin summer festival season, but I'll take the good with the bad.
However, at one of the bigger events that I attended, I had a bit of a moment. I was quite overwhelmed by the level of consumerism. Yeh, I know, I sound like I've gone full wacko- consumerism is around us every day, all the time- but I think I had forgotten to expect it at a festival.
Festivals (particularly those with an emphasis on food) are, I imagine, a holy land for selling people crap you don't need. The overt advertising, the over consumption, the waste! I started to panic. Watching free samples being distributed en masse in those little plastic cups made me desperately seek alcohol (probably another of their clever marketing tricks! Can't get them with the free samples, it's ok- she'll feel the need to spend money on booze soon enough!)
Entering a festival, it is easy to see that they are a potential haven for wasteful attitudes. It's almost like the fences are saying, "It's ok to go wild. Leave all responsibility at the door: your waste will be contained and festival staff will clean up after you".
Alas, festivals don't exist on some carefree cloud where plastic simply disappears into biodegradable fairy dust and everything is made from sustainably produced, palm oil free unicorn poop.
So how do we avoid the pitfalls of festivals while not getting so bogged down in it all that we forget to have a good time? The key is to get organised. Check this list off for a start. It's mainly concerning daytime attendees. One day, when I get around to pitching a tent in a field again, I'll update with some ideas for multi-day ticket holders.
Your Beverage Cup: Regular festival cups are typically single use plastic. Considering there are as many as 85 million punters in the UK attending festivals per year, and it is very likely that each of them are using at least one of these cups for their festival beverage, that is 85 million plastic items going to landfill.
Solution: Find yourself a festival cup. This is different to a 'Keep Cup' style reusable cup. Festival cups are light weight and open which makes them perfect for festival drinks, ie beer, wine and cocktails. Obviously they can be used for other types of cold drinks too.
The cups are usually made out of stainless steel so they aren't ideal for hot drinks. If you think you are likely to have a hot drink then you might want to bring a Keep Cup type and just use that for both hot and cold to avoid doubling up. (I have some Enviro Cups that I bought from one of the Moseley Festivals. They use recycled steel and are made in Brum. Big tick from me!*)
Some festival beverage tents now offer returnable cups. For a deposit, you can rent yourself a cup for the day. It is hard to know this before you go, but if you find yourself without a cup, have a bit of a scout around to see if anyone offers this service.
Drink Bottle: For water I mean. Different festivals have different rules about bringing water in as it might be disguising alcohol (gasp!). They should all, however let you bring in an empty bottle. Have it filled first and then empty if they question it. Every festival I have been to this year has let me in with a full bottle of water. They should offer, somewhere on the grounds, free tap water to fill your bottle with. There is no need to buy water in a plastic bottle anymore. Even at festivals. (Edit 2019 to say: Yay to Glasto who have said no to SUP water bottles this year!)
Straws: I tend to drink wine at festivals so I don't often use a straw anyway. But I always have my trusty steel straw with me just in case. If you are a smoothie or cocktail drinker, you will definitely want to pack your own straw.
Cutlery: Wooden cutlery is offered at a lot of food stalls these days. Plus most fest food is hand friendly. But you don't want to miss out on that coconut curry buddha bowl because they only have plastic forks. BYO. Preferably wooden as you might be questioned about the steak knife hiding in your bag...
Containers: I find this the most tricky one. A BYO container can be a bit bulky for a festival. If you have a stainless steel one that you are happy to carry around, this would be a good shout. I have tended to opt for food trucks offering produce in card trays. My way isn't the best if there is no compost bin for them to go in though.
If it is the type of festival where samples of food are given out, see if the sample can be given straight into your container or hand.
Clothing: This is really getting into bulky territory now, but I feel that having a good idea of the weather forecast helps with reducing wasteful panic buys at festivals. Unless we are in the middle of a heat wave like the one that hit earlier this year, I would always bring a raincoat to a British festival. Don't buy one of those flimsy sheets. They will never last more than one use.
Decoration: I'm talking about on-body decoration. I'm talking really, mainly about glitter. Glitter- the herpes of the craft world. At the risk of you all hating me, I'm going to say a hard 'no' to glitter. The current craze of glittering everything... I don't really understand. But I'm not here to judge what others receive joy from. I'm here to say that glitter ain't great for the environment. It is so tiny and just comes straight off your body or your face or your hair and falls straight on the floor. Or down the drain. Tiny bits of plastic.
"But there is biodegradable glitter now!" I hear you say. Ok, yes there is. And if you have read up on the company making the glitter to check that they are genuine and that they have completed research into the time and ease of these glitters breaking down in natural ecosystems and that research has come back to conclusively show that they break down in a short time, to completely organic materials; then cool. You wear that glitter. But if that glitter is being offered at the festival by glitter reps who can't answer the time/ease question, I would be wary to believe that that biodegradable glitter is anything more than a greenwashing gimmick. Yep- feel free to call me a party pooper. But glitter is not low impact. It is certainly not zero waste. Instead, make some body decor out of flowers and leaves. It might sound hippy but take a look on Insta or Pinterest for some inspired ideas.
Balloons: Same as above really. To further ruin any reputation for being fun, I'm gonna give balloons a hard 'no' too. They might not be as abundant at festivals as they are at other parties, but balloons blow. Right into nature. They aren't going to be contained by those fences. Give them a miss.
Hygiene: A reusable cloth with liquid soap sprayed on it and dried out. Just add water and you have got yourself a wet wipe.
Generally, you are less wasteful if you are bringing your own reusable versions of what is offered to you for free. Simples. If you are thinking about it all beforehand and come prepared, all you have left to do is enjoy the party! If you do end up creating some waste- please dispose responsibly. It isn’t anyone else’s job to clean up after you. Even at a festival. If the bins are full- take your rubbish with you and dispose of correctly at home.
Got something to add or comment on from my list? Please do! I'm sure there are other great ideas out there and I am always happy to be educated on better options.
*I haven’t been paid or asked to sponsor any company. I only offer genuine opinions of products I’ve tried and tested and purchased with my own money.
