Festival - Thoughts

Festival Responsibility Time

Glastonbury is over, the clean up has begun, and the UK’s summer festival season has officially kicked off. Nearly every weekend from now until September, hundreds of thousands of people will flock to music festivals across the country - and every weekend, thousands of single-use tents will be left behind, destined for landfill. But it doesn’t have to be that way. A group of festival organisers are urging stores like Argos, Decathlon, Sports Direct and Amazon to stop advertising these tents as “festival tents” as if they’re single-use. It’s believed that using this tag line encourages people to use them once then leave them behind.  They’re cheap, easy to get hold of and too easy to leave behind.

250,000 tents are discarded at festivals in the UK every summer. The problem is so bad that Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis is urging festival-goers to bring tents that can be re-used for “a lifetime” to help cut down on plastic waste. Retailers know that by marketing them as “festival tents” they’re suggesting these tents only have a single use. But they do it anyway.

From getting supermarkets to replace plastic cotton buds with paper ones and persuading Walkers to start recycling their crisp packets, 38 Degrees has a history of taking on big companies and winning. Festivals are already starting to go plastic-free and putting a stop to thousands of tents being left behind is the next step; help 38 Degrees change the single use tent mindset- Sign the petition here.