It is expected that 250,000 tents are abandoned at song fairs throughout the UK every year, amounting to 900 tonnes of plastic waste going into landfills. The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) released the Take Your Tent Home – Say No To Single-Use campaign earlier this year, which followed the Drastic on Plastic initiative in 2018. As with different campaigns, including Eco Action’s Love Your Tent and its #justtakeithome message, the goal is to reduce waste and remind festivalgoers that a tent is for existence, now not only for a weekend.
An inexpensive and greener opportunity for shopping for a tent is to borrow one. Peer-to-peer lending websites, which include Fat Llama, include listings for a variety of camping devices – currently, there are 4-man or woman tents for £2 an afternoon. Alternatively, supply a brand new domestic to a reduced show or refurbished tent from Vango’s Camping Recycled site. In it for the long haul? Plastic-loose, a hundred% cotton canvas bell tents, and tipis have higher breathability and, being more potent, have an extended lifespan. It’s funding – the 4-meter-high 100% herbal cotton canvas tent from Bell Tent Boutique is £379.99 – and a few still include a plastic groundsheet; however, after their final festival, it is still in years yet to come’s also going to decompose. And it’s going to do so faster than a person-made cloth tent.
Reel Tents has released a plastic-unfastened tent crafted from a water-proof paperboard, using 70% recycled fiber content material (one man or woman, £ seventy-five, two-person, launching soon). The creators say they had been examined “in awful climate situations, including snow, sleet, torrential rain, wind” and were “dry as a bone internal.” They are supposed for several uses before being absolutely recyclable and clean to transport (one-meter flat-packed). Even similarly, Dutch-business enterprise Karten is partnering with festivals around the sector to pre-pitch tents made from one hundred% recyclable cardboard. According to the internet site, these “will stay dry with some showers for sure.” They are best presently available to e-book at fairs outside the UK.
Down-filled products have long been rejected by way of ethically-minded purchasers. Although there are responsible down standards among a few doors clothing and system brands, these vary between producers, and there are nonetheless concerns about cruelty taking area. It is frequently tough to tell whether or not down has come from a live-plucked chook or one pressure-fed for foie gras. On the other hand, synthetic fillings are successfully plastics and petrochemical enterprise merchandise – so they aren’t environmentally sound. However, sound asleep baggage packed with recycled synthetics is a greener investment and simpler to clean than down after damp festival conditions. The North Face Aleutian range (Trekking, from £70) is made from 30% recycled materials, and Nordisk’s splendid-light-weight Oscar +10 Degrees sleeping bag (Wiggle, £one hundred eighty) has a hundred%-recycled synthetic filling crafted from plastic bottles.
Blankets can be as snug as a napping bag. The Tartan Blanket Company sells them from £28 and uses 70% recycled wool and 30% blended fibers (which means cloth that would otherwise grow in landfills). The exception is its one hundred% 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% growth in moist wipes found along the UK coastline inside the beyond a decade, and those have additionally been a factor in fatbergs – one among which, found in a sewer in Sidmouth in Devon in advance this 12 months, changed into longer than six double-decker buses. Of course, wet wipes were in no way destined for the lavatory, but even when they cross in the bin, as they break down, most launch microplastics, too. Made for infants but best for eco-warriors who want to clean up at gala’s, Happy Planet’s biodegradable perfume-loose wipes (Ethical Superstore, £1. Forty-four) comprise plant cellulose fibers, purified water, and apple extract and are a hundred%-free from polyester and plastic. The organization also donates 10% of its earnings to charities running to eliminate plastic pollution from oceans.
Simple Biodegradable Cleansing Wipes (Superdrug, £1.59) is crafted from smooth, sustainably sourced plant fibers and wood pulp. Or fruity Yes To’s wipes (£three. Ninety-nine) – which consist of soothing cucumber, rejuvenating grapefruit, and blemish-loose tomato – are cruelty-free, paraben-free, and crafted from compostable Forest Stewardship Council-approved fabrics.
