It is estimated that 250,000 tents are abandoned at track gala’s across the UK every 12 months, amounting to 900 tonnes of plastic waste going into landfill. The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) launched the Take Your Tent Home – Say No To Single Use campaign earlier this yr, which observed the Drastic on Plastic initiative in 2018. As with different campaigns, inclusive of Eco Action’s Love Your Tent and its #justtakeithome message, the intention is to reduce waste and remind festivalgoers that a tent is for life, not only for a weekend.
A cheaper and greener opportunity to shopping for a tent is to borrow one. Peer-to-peer lending sites, such as Fat Llama, include listings for a ramification of tenting equipment – presently there are four-character tents from £2 a day. Alternatively, give a new domestic to a discounted display or refurbished tent from Vango’s Camping Recycled web page.
In it for the long haul? Plastic-unfastened, 100% cotton canvas bell tents, and tipis have better breathability and, being stronger, have an extended lifespan. It’s an investment – the 4-meter-excessive 100% natural cotton canvas tent from Bell Tent Boutique is £379. Ninety-nine – and a few nevertheless come with a plastic groundsheet however after their very last festival, in years to come, it’s going to additionally decompose. And it’ll do so faster than a person-made cloth tent.
Reel Tents has just released a plastic-loose tent crafted from waterproof paperboard, the usage of 70% recycled fiber content (one-person, £75, -man or woman, launching quickly). The creators say they have been tested “in bad climate situations together with snow, sleet, torrential rain, wind” and had been “dry as a bone internal”. They are supposed for numerous uses earlier than being completely recyclable and are relatively smooth to move (one-meter flat-packed).
Going even similarly, Dutch-company Karten is partnering with fairs around the arena to pre-pitch tents made from one hundred% recyclable cardboard. According to the website, those “will live to dry with a few showers for sure”. They are simplest currently to be had for fairs outside the UK.
Sleeping luggage and blankets
Down-crammed merchandise has long been rejected via ethically minded consumers. Although there are accountable down standards amongst some outside clothing and device brands, these range between manufacturers, and there are still concerns about cruelty taking place. It is regularly hard to tell whether or not down has come from a stay-plucked chicken or one force-fed for foie gras.
Synthetic fillings, however, are efficiently plastics and petrochemical industry merchandise – so aren’t environmentally sound. However, slumbering baggage full of recycled synthetics is greener funding and simpler to easy than down after damp competition conditions. The North Face Aleutian variety (Trekking, from £70) is made from 30% recycled materials and Nordisk’s great-lightweight Oscar +10 Degrees slumbering bag (Wiggle, £one hundred eighty) has a hundred%-recycled artificial filling crafted from plastic bottles.
Blankets may be as snug as a sleeping bag. The Tartan Blanket Company sells them from £28 and makes use of 70% recycled wool and 30% blended fibers (meaning fabric that would in any other case become in landfills). The exception is its 100% recycled wool Random Tartan blankets; everyone is created with off-reduce wool from the mills.
Wipes
The Marine Conservation Society says it has visible a 400% boom in moist wipes determined alongside the United Kingdom coastline inside the beyond a decade and these have additionally been an aspect in fatbergs – one of which, observed in a sewer in Sidmouth in Devon earlier this yr, became longer than six double-decker buses. Wet wipes have been by no means destined for the lavatory, however, even when they go in the bin, as they breakdown, maximum release microplastics, too.
Made for infants but best for eco-warriors who need to clean up at fairs, Happy Planet’s biodegradable perfume-loose wipes (Ethical Superstore, £1.44) are constructed from plant cellulose fibers, purified water, and apple extract, and are 100%-loose from polyester and plastic. The company also donates 10% of its profits to charities operating to eliminate plastic pollution from oceans.
Simple Biodegradable Cleansing Wipes (Superdrug, £1.59) are made from tender sustainably-sourced plant fibres and timber pulp. Or fruity Yes To’s wipes (£three.99) – which encompass soothing cucumber, rejuvenating grapefruit, and blemish-free tomato – are cruelty-loose, paraben-free, and crafted from compostable Forest Stewardship Council-approved fabrics.
Wellies
