EXCLUSIVE MEDIA RELEASE

LOVE YOUR TENT

AS TICKETS GO ON SALE FOR NEXT YEAR’S FESTIVAL SEASON THERE IS A BURNING ISSUE WHICH THE FESTIVAL COMMUNITY ARE DETERMINED TO TACKLE FOR 2012 AND THAT IS WASTE. MORE NOTABLY TENTS AND CAMPING EQUIPMENT LEFT BEHIND AT THE END OF EACH EVENT. “LOVE YOUR TENT” IS A NEW CAMPAIGN CREATED BY THE ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL DESIGNED TO BOND PEOPLE WITH THEIR PORTABLE HOMES AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO REUSE INSTEAD OF DISCARD.

There was an estimated 12,000 tents abandoned at this year’s Isle of Wight Festival, meaning one in six people decided to leave their belongings on site instead of packing everything up and taking it home with them. It took 485 man-hours to dismantle and stack all of the tents, most of which were land filled due to recycling facilities for tent components currently not existing.

The Isle of Wight was just one of 450 festivals which happened across the UK in 2011, none of which were immune to the problem of discarded tents thus making it one of the biggest environmental issues facing festival organisers today.


As a response Eco Action Partnership, sustainability consultants to the Isle of Wight Festival, created LOVE YOUR TENT and teamed up with A Greener Festival and ReTent to publicise the issue and create some solutions for change for the whole of the festival community.


“It’s alarming how readily people just walk away from the campsite leaving everything behind without a thought of how it will be disposed of, which is at best thought provoking and at worst an environmental disaster. We decided to go public with the statistics estimated from this year’s Isle of Wight Festival in the hope it would shock people into making the effort next year to take everything home with them, but we know this alone won’t have the impact needed. It has become such an endemic part of festival culture that it will need a cohesive approach that connects retail, festival organisers and festival audiences in order for change to happen” comments Juliet Ross-Kelly from Eco Action Partnership.


Claire O’Neill from A Greener Festival adds: "We assess festivals all over the world every year, and it is sad to say that the UK audience are the worst at leaving their belongings behind. We really hope that this campaign will help people to realise that their camping equipment isn't disposable, it's no use in disaster zones, and it generally ends up in landfill after an extensive clean-up mission. This is not only environmentally detrimental and wasteful - but the money spent on cleaning up after the audience could be far better spent on entertaining them."


The problem is actually more complex than you think as many factors can contribute to people making the decision to leave their tent and camping equipment at a festival site.


ReTent is a service that is offered to festivals which encourages festival-goers to see more value in their tent by branding it with a stamp of festival attendance and promoting tent re-use through online social networks. From research carried out by ReTent in 2011 the audience at Scottish Festivals stated how much their tent cost them in the first place (many retailers sell them now for as little as £8-10); as well as a misconception that they are doing some good by leaving their tents because charities send them to overseas trouble spots, were all reasons for abandoning their tents. Mix those with the fatigue after a weekend of partying and possibly wet weather and you can start to see how this problem has become an accepted part of festival culture.


To date LOVE YOUR TENT has been given the full support of the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), a not for profit organisation set up by Rob da Bank (Bestival) and Ben Turner (Graphite Media) to help the needs of its members within the music festival sector and to create a culture of openness between festivals as they tackle common challenges. Current members include Bestival, WOMAD, Secret Garden Party, Summer Sundae Weekender, End of the Road and Shambala.


Sofia Hagberg from End of the Road Festival comments: “At End of the Road we put a lot of emphasis on making as many elements of our festival as sustainable as possible, and if we can work with our audience on initiatives such as "Love Your Tent" then together we can make a real difference.  It's a great campaign”.


Geoff Ellis from T in the Park has also given full support to the campaign and expressed his enthusiasm: “The Love Your Tent campaign is really important for festivals across the UK. I took a walk through the campsite after T in the Park this year and was shocked at the amount of tents left behind. Unless these are dismantled and left at recycle points, they just end up going to landfill. Our Citizen T campaign was introduced in 2010 and has encouraged a number of the audience to take their tents home, but there’s still much more work to be done"


LOVE YOUR TENT is currently working hard to lobby retailers such as Millets and Halfords to come on board and show their commitment to the environment and responsibility for the lifespan of the tents they sell.


-Ends-

Editor’s Notes:


1.You can find out more on each of the partners at:

www.ecoactionpartnership.com

www.agreenerfestival.com

www.facebook.com/ReTent


You can follow the campaign on www.facebook.com/LoveYourTent


2.This is the second campaign launched by the Isle of Wight Festival that has the potential to have far reaching positive effects. The first is their bee campaign, Let it Bee, which was launched in 2008 and has to date not only raised money to protect and support bee populations on the Isle of Wight but has also launched a bee reserve on the island called The Field of Hope. Findings from this incredible site have been staggering with over 100 types of bees and wasps discovered, some of which have rarely been seen in the UK before.  Green MEP Keith Taylor was quick to see the potential of this unique campaign and following publication of some commissioned research data he will be presenting the findings to the European Union as an example of best practice in monitoring and supporting bee populations. The campaign is currently looking for a satellite site on the South Coast to replicate conditions from the Field of Hope.



For further information, images or interview requests please contact:

Juliet Ross-Kelly at Eco Action Partnership

T: 020 3286 9382 or M: 07710 344 101



Please see footage from:

Isle of Wight Festival 2010

Glastonbury 2009

Isle of Wight Screen Message 2011

For further information please contact us.


Love Your Tent

award winning green event & pr consultancy