Reading 2009

At Reading Festival we aim to reduce the environmental impact of the festival and have put together ways of you can help us by doing your part, while still having an awesome festival.

One Water is our official bottled water supplier this year.  All 500ml One Water bottles sold at the festival will feature a special Festival Republic label and will have a 20p deposit charged. When you’ve finished, bring back the empty bottle to the refund points to get your 20p back. Only One Water sold on site will be refundable. Other plastic bottles should be placed in the recycling bins.

A big thanks to everyone who packed up their camping gear and took it back home with them last year. We also thank all those people that didn’t really want their gear anymore but took the time to pack it up and hand it in. Thousands of camping items such as tents, sleeping bags, camping mats, etc were donated and are making their way to community organisations and charity. We were overloaded with gear and it took our Green Messengers a lot of work to sort out everything, but we were so very happy with the result.

This Year

Every drink sold over the bars in a cup will have a 10p deposit on it. All cup carrying trays will also be subject to the 10p deposit. So if you buy a shot, wine, spirit mixer, or beer, and carry your cups in a tray, there’s a 10p deposit. Take every cup and carrying tray from the bars back to the refund points to get your 10p’s back.

There is also a 20p deposit on all One Water bottles sold on site which feature the Festival Republic logo.

Please think about taking your camping gear home rather trashing it or leaving it to end up as trash. Mountain ranges of wrecked tents hit the landfill last year. If you don’t want your gear to end up in landfill and you don’t want to take it home, the only option is for you to keep it undamaged, to pack it up and hand it in for onwards donation. We would prefer you to take it home and re-use it at your next festival.

If you want a clean body and a clear conscience we’ve got good news for you. Our friends at Ecover are providing environmentally sound shower gel to use. It’s biodegradable, leaving no harmful residues on the land or in the water after use. Please use the shower gel provided if you have not brought your own ecological version.

Reading Festival is managed in compliance with BS8901.

Read through the various items on the left hand menu bar for more info on what’s in store in 2009.

BUYING STUFF

Limiting the amount of STUFF you kit yourself out with to come camping at the festivals for the weekend, will really help to reduce the overall environmental impact...especially if you are going to throw out your STUFF after the event.

The more STUFF you buy, the bigger your carbon footprint. Your STUFF is mined, manufactured, distributed, retailed and makes its way to your house - transport along the way, power used at every stage. The less STUFF you buy, the smaller your footprint's gonna be.

Before you buy anything for the festival (or even in everyday life), please take the time to watch this 20min film The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard.

www.storyofstuff.com

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20 minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns.'

And when you decide to buy stuff, please think about taking it home with you and re-using it for the rest of the season. If you really don't need it, please PACK IT UP AND HAND IT IN!!!

We will have separate collection bays for:

* Tents, Sleeping Mats, Sleeping Bags
* Chairs
* General camping bits and pieces
* Wellies
* Clothes
* Unopened food

Look out for the collection points that will pop up on Monday morning on your way out of the campgrounds.

Every year, thousands of tents, sleeping bags and camping mats are left behind after the festival, along with things like wellies, radios, and clothes. Please pack up your gear and take it home, ready for your next festival weekend. Not only will you save money, you’re helping the environment by not wasting the resources and energy needed to make all that stuff over and again. If you take home your kit you’re also not giving fuel to those that are looking for abandoned gear to destroy in fires sending up toxic fumes into the air and up everyone’s nostrils!

If you really don’t want your camping gear, please pack it up and hand it into the Tent Donation points in the campgrounds. Donated gear will make their way to charitable and community organisations.

We will have separate collection bays for:

* Tents, Sleeping Mats, Sleeping Bags
* Chairs
* General camping bits and pieces
* Wellies
* Clothes
* Unopened food

Look out for the collection points that will pop up on Monday morning on your way out of the campgrounds.

We need you to take down your tents yourself and then hand them in to the donation points. It is impossible for us to take down all the tents left abandoned even if they are in perfect condition.

Tents left standing will go to landfill and damage our environment. So, don’t leave your tent. Pack it. Hand it in. Change lives!

YOUR CANS COUNT

It is estimated around 8 tonne of aluminium cans are at the festival after the party’s over. Much of this is left on the ground in the campgrounds. We want to let you know that YOUR CANS COUNT.

Bring back a bagful of cans to the Recycle Exchanges in the campgrounds, and we’ll give you a free can of beer. It’s that simple.

We’ll even give you the bag to collect the cans in. They’ll be handed out at wristband exchange when you enter the site, by our Green Messengers wandering the campgrounds, from your campsite manager’s caravan, and also from the Recycle Exchanges.

But how do YOUR CANS COUNT?

• For every tonne of aluminium cans recycled only 5% of energy is used than to make one from scratch. That’s a whopping 95% of energy reduced, just by sending cans for recycling.

• An aluminium can recycled could be back on the shelf as another can within six weeks.

• For every tonne of aluminium cans recycled, the aluminium can association of the UK, Alupro, will buy a fruit tree for projects in Malawi run by charity Ripple Africa.

The Litter Exchanges finish up on Sunday night so don’t forget to get your vouchers and redeem your beer before the bars shut…

In 2007 we introduced a highly successful way of drastically reducing the waste in the arena by having a 10p deposit on beer cups. In 2009 for the third year running the 10p deposit will be back and ensure just about every cup and tray will go for recycling rather than being left in the arena for you to wade through and then to end up in landfill. 

You’ll pay a 10p deposit when you buy your drinks in cups over the bars. There’s also a 10p deposit on the cardboard cup carrying trays. You’ll get back the 10p when you return your cups and trays to the refund points. Each year more than 90% of the cups have been returned. Just amazing – that’s more than 6 tonnes of cardboard which was diverted from landfill.

We’ve not tackled the problem of collecting biodegradable waste produced by the audience at the festival as yet. We have been working towards it over the past couple of years and think we are ready to give it a good go in 2009. 

So what does this mean?

When you buy food from the traders everything your food comes in is biodegradable. In the arena we will have bins and mobile Compost Crew to collect your food rubbish once you’re finished. By putting the hamburger plate or chip carton in the compost bin your helping in a big way.

First you won’t have to sit on someone’s old hot dog that’s been squished into the ground while you’re trying to enjoy your kebab.

Next, and we think it’s a pretty good reason, by collecting biodegradable rubbish separately and sending it for composting, we prevent it going to landfill. We estimate that around 70% of the rubbish coming out of the arena is compostable, so we really hope that we can collect it all up and make a massive dint in our landfill footprint.

Using plastic or polystyrene food packaging is not sustainable – they’re not only oil based but polystyrene can’t be efficiently recycled, and plastic containers that aren’t washed out can’t be recycled either.

Please make sure NO PLASTIC goes into the compost bins as otherwise the whole load may be rejected.

Last year we conducted a trial on collecting up broken chairs and sending them for metal recycling. We got about 4 tonne of metal, and this was collected by only 3 people on the pilot project!

We hope that not so many chairs are broken or left behind, but we are gearing up to try and collect up what is. If last year’s anything to go by, there could be about 40 tonne of metal chairs left stuck in the mud!

So it would be really good if you do happen to break your chair (by accident!) during the festival, rather than leave them hanging around your campsite and getting in the way, to bring them to the Recycle Exchanges where we can accept them into metal recycling. If you finish the festival and your chair is still good, and you don’t want to take it home, please bring it to one of the 30 Donation Points which will be up on Monday morning.

REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT

Do you know that the biggest CO2 impact on festivals is simply through the audience travelling to get there? In 2008 67% of people travelled by Bus or Train to get to Reading Festival. Fantastic! We want to try and increase that even more this year. We want to try and increase this number. Our shuttle buses from the train stations are really convenient. Leave your car at home and let the party start the moment you board the train!) 

Emissions: If you travel alone to the festival by car, you are emitting approximately TEN TIMES the amount of CO2 than if you travelled to the festival by bus and three and a half times as much as if you travelled by train.

_____________

Figures for these calculations were taken From DEFRA July 2007 Report: Passenger Transport Emissions Factors. http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/business/envrp/pdf/passenger-transport.pdf

Car Travel (average sized petrol car)
- 344 gram C02 per mile (1 passenger)
- 172 grams CO2 per passenger mile (2 passengers)
- 86 grams CO2 per passenger mile (4 passengers)

Train Travel (National Rail diesel trains – average passenger numbers per annum)
- 96.32 grams per passenger mile

Coach Travel (40 people per coach)
- 26.97 grams CO2 per passenger mile

If you have to come by car because the bus and train just won’t work for you, please try and fill up all the seats in your car. If you’re driving an average sized petrol car, having four people in it will bring your CO2 emissions per person to less than travelling by train!

So it really does make a difference if fill up all the seats.

Click here for the Liftshare website



Click here for the travel page

SAFETY FIRST

Please read this practical safety guide on liftsharing put together by A Greener Festival: www.agreenerfestival.com/Lift_Sharing.pdf

• Please note that all arrangements which you make are private arrangements between you and other sharers. The Festival does not arrange lift sharing or have any liability to or for lift sharers.
• Make sure you know the identity of the person or persons you are sharing with.
• Having a home telephone number is sensible precaution and make sure you leave details of the lift share, the driver and passenger's number(s) and home address if possible with friends and/or family.
• Take your mobile phone with you.
• If you are at all uncomfortable with any arrangements, or the condition of the vehicle being used, then make other plans.
• If a vehicle is not taxed it is possible the driver has no driving licence, no insurance and no MOT.
• Safety first: trust your instincts and use common sense.

Travelling by coach to the festival is by far the lowest impact way if you’re looking to reduce your carbon footprint. Train is the next best option in terms of CO2 emissions. It is the most convenient option for Reading Festival. The train station is almost on our doorstep and is a short walk or shuttle bus ride away.

Coming to the festival by coach or train will help to reduce congestion in the carparks and on the surrounding roads.

Find more at the RAIL AND BUS PLUS SCHEME and BY COACH sections on the Travel Page

HANDY TIPS FOR GREEN CAMPERS

The following are tips for you include:

• Minimise the amount of packaging on products purchased
• Avoid buying over-packaged goods and individual portion packs
• Buy durable products, returnable bottles and containers that can be re-filled 
• Look out for recycled goods and those packaged in recycled materials
• Cut down on packaging by buying your fruit and vegetables loose
• Buy fair-trade and organic food, drinks and products at stalls if possible
• Use re-sealable containers to keep your food fresh (this reduces the amount of plastic film and aluminium foil you throw away)
• Use rechargeable batteries
• Where you can, recycle what you cannot reuse
• Don't drop your litter. Use the bins and recycling units!
• Litter pickers are lovely! Please help them and make up for 'messy' times
• Don't leave rubbish or indeed your entire camping set behind!
• Say no to plastic bags if offered by market vendors. Bring your own re-useable cloth bag.
• Please please please don’t drop your cigarette butts. Every butt you throw on the ground has to be picked up by someone else. Use an empty film canister to collect your butts.
• Separate your waste at your campsite and bring your recycling to the appropriate bins.
• Use public transport and our shuttle bus service if possible, or look for a lift through Lift Share.
• If you must use your car, then please consider a Lift Share scheme. Making sure your tyres are properly inflated will mean that your car will run more efficiently and will reduce your carbon emissions. If you are in a queue to enter the site, please turn off your engine rather than idling the car.
• Use only phosphate free shampoo and soap in the showers and remember to take a short shower!
• Turn off taps & showers when finished.
• Live by the 'LEAVE NO TRACE' philosophy – take only photos, leave only footprints.

So you stocked up on 2 minute noodles and beans in a can and didn’t end up eating them? Rather than leave it to end up in the rubbish dump, we are having a FOOD DRIVE this year.

The Salvation Army will be setting up a FOOD DRIVE so please place any unwanted, unperishable food in packets, bottles, tins or cartons, in the donation bins. These will be at the Recycle Exchanges throughout the campsites during the show and there will be about 30 of them all over the site on Monday as you leave.

Remember that there are people out there who could really benefit from the food you don’t want, and we need your help to get it to them. If you leave it on the ground at your camp unfortunately it will go to waste and end up in landfill. So please play your part in helping make a Green Reading. Donations will be accepted at The Salvation Army marquee at the festival.

 

Festival Republic

Festival Republic aims to do as much as possible to reduce the impact our business and our festivals have on the environment. We strive to use innovative solutions to fundamental areas of impact such as energy, waste and transport. We also delve deeper into specific areas of our events, looking for ways to minimise impact, often including festival audiences in helping make these changes happen.

Apart from the immediate benefit in ‘going green’ we hope Festival Republic’s focus on sustainable practices will impact the industry through our suppliers and contractors.

Having the audience participate in our green initiatives may also lead to similar actions in their everyday lives. In fact, much of our audience already acts sustainably at home, and expects the same when attending our festivals and events.

Read the Festival Republic Sustainability Policy here.


Office

We choose 100% green energy in offices. Our energy supplier puts energy produced from wind, solar, biomass etc, onto the grid, which we in turn buy from them. This is not a ‘green levy’ where an additional fee is used to pay for community based green energy projects and development.

In stationery purchasing, the ‘green choice’ is always the first alternative to consider when ordering. We use Evolve copy paper as it is uses 100% Post Consumer Recycled Paper content. Not a blend of virgin and recycled, and not from off cuts in the paper manufacturing process. The paper we use has had a previous life in homes and offices. We think that’s the best way to go.

We have comprehensive recycling in the office; recycling paper, cardboard, cans, glass bottles and various plastics. We also have a cartridge recycling service.

We use a green cleaning company, with no harmful chemicals used in the cleaning of our offices, making for a safe workplace for our staff and the environment.

Recently Festival Republic moved offices and this gave us an excellent chance to consolidate files and archive. We ‘harvested’ hundreds of lever arch folders which were taken to a scrap store project for redistribution to community groups including pre-schools and child care centres. We also disposed of our electronic equipment safely, with our old monitors and computer equipment making their way into the recycling system.


Waste & Recycling

Each of the areas our festivals and events are held have different recycling and waste facilities. We work with our waste contractor for each show to develop the best solution for each event. This may include active recycling by festival goers (such as at Latitude Festival), incentive based recycling projects (such as our bag of rubbish for a can of beer campaign or 10p deposit/refunds on pint cups at Reading & Leeds Festivals).

We plan to continually improve our waste management aiming to maximise recycling rates and minimise volume of waste to landfill. Additionally options are evolving in the waste management industry, such as new energy from landfill sites opening which we hope to work with in coming years.


Energy
Powering our events has an environmental impact both through using up non-renewable resources, and through CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions. We are working on solutions such as biofuels, microgeneration (solar/wind) and other options such as reducing demand. Keep an eye out for these renewable energy sources onsite this year.