Year after year as I pack up my belongings after yet another fun filled weekend at a festival I hang my head in shame at the sheer amount of rubbish that is left at some of the UK’s biggest and best festivals. Last year at Latitude festival as we packed our bags it really hit home when I stood shielding my eyes from the suns glare looking at what I thought was some form of art installation but was actually a collection of all the camping chairs left behind by people that couldn’t be bothered to carry them the short distance to their car.

The chairs had been collected by teams of people recycling what they found at the festivals and would be sent on for re-use. I had never before seen such waste of perfectly good camping products and food & drink as at last years Latitude. With winds gusting round the site it was like something out of horror film with plastic bags rolling in the wind and children scavenging to see what they could find. So after attending the 2009 UK Festival Awards I was really pleased to meet the Better Festival Group and to find out about how we can all help make a little difference with the Big Tent Recycle at this years music festivals. I chatted with Zena Gardner to find out how we could get involved and am please to support their campaign. 

What is the Big Tent Recycle?

The Big Tent Recycle is our newest campaign that encourages festival-goers to either take their camping items home or pack them up and donate them to charity, helping to bring together an exciting project that serves to bring about change in underprivileged children’s lives, whilst concurrently addressing the issue of waste and sustainability at festivals.

Festival goers pack up and hand in their unwanted items to designated collection points on Sunday Night/Monday morning and on Monday morning a team of volunteers will sort and check items before they are passed onto local organisations and International Charities for re-use.

Where did the idea of the Big Tent Recycle come from?

I volunteered with Give Me Shelter @ Glastonbury 07, a similar campaign spearheaded by Global Hand.  I was amazed at just how much stuff we salvage at Glastonbury, and its really easy to underestimate just how much good quality stuff people leave behind.  The BIG Tent Recycle is supported by Global Hand and a lot of the items that we save from landfill will go to the organisations that they work with.

How many tents on average are left behind at the end of a festival?

It depends on the size of the festival but at the major ones thousands of reusable tents can be just abandoned.   Plus huge quantities of other reusable things, such as sleeping bags, air beds etc.

Which festivals will you be working with? Where will the collection points be?

We are speaking with a few festivals regarding this campaign, but nothing is confirmed yet.  We are hoping to get Download Festival on board by the end of the year.  We will aim to have as many collection / drop off points as possible, but these wont be set up until nearer the event.

How can people volunteer to help out with the tent collections on the festival sites?

People interested in volunteering for The Better Festival Group should go to the website and register their interest on the Get Involved page.  As soon as we have vacancies confirmed all those on the mailing list will receive a mail letting them know how to apply for a festival.

How much of the left over camping equipment can be recycled?

Up to 75% of left over camping equipment can be re-used or recycled.  That’s a lot of gear diverted from landfill and a big step towards saving our planet!

What’s the best thing you’ve found left on a festival campsite that you’ve been able to reuse?

You can pick up some really awesome tents at festivals.  I have seen 12 man tents in mint condition just left standing on a Monday morning!  I also managed to get a brand new gazebo still in its sealed box J

What other campaigns does Better Festival Group have running?

The BIG Tent Recycle is a Green Campaign aimed at larger festivals.  For smaller festivals that don’t suffer from huge amounts of re-usable equipment left on Monday, we have The Green Campaign, which aims to increase and implement recycling initiatives and incentives at events, and through our Green Team we promote these throughout the weekend, just to remind everyone that we all have our part to play in making our events greener. 

The BFG also still promote our initial Love Not Riots campaign, that promotes safer behaviour at festivals.  We are also running a petition to get the mark up on touted tickets capped which people can sign by going to the BFG website and clicking the tout petition link. 

We also have a just for fun petition to get Shaggy to play at Reading and Leeds 2010 - http://www.petitiononline.com/shaggy10/petition.html

Which festivals have you been to in 2009 and which do you plan to attend in 2010?

I attended Download as a punter this year, it was great, I love Download J  The BFG were present this year at Sonisphere, Bloodstock, Reading and Leeds in varying capacities. 

Hopefully next year The BFG will be at Sonisphere, Bloodstock, Download, 2000Trees and a few more that I cant mention at the moment.

What’s your best festival memory?

I can’t pick a best festival memory.  Festivals are filled with so many memories, its impossible to pick!  My best early memory was meeting a couple of the guys from Goldie Lookin Chain at Reading, they were so sweet and funny!  It was also quite a highlight when I got to meet Steven Lynch, I think he is great!

Majority of my best memories though are of the friends I have made through going to and working at festivals.  Some of my best friends are people that I wouldn’t have met if it hadn’t been for festivals and what I do.

What’s your top tips for a greener experience at festivals?

The need to be green has been growing for some time and its inevitable that events such as festivals will soon be under even more pressure to tackle their environmental damage.  Events need to pass down some of that green responsibility to its attendees, by providing more opportunities and initiatives for people to be greener.  If an event has recycling opportunities, attendees need to use them as much as possible.  We as attendees needs to keep our “areas” clean and tidy, if its reusable then take it home and reuse it, if you really don’t want to take it home donate it.  Don’t just ditch it!  Everyone needs to accept their part in making our events more environmentally friendly.