Image source, Pauline Bourdon
Ms Bourdon said the festival could go ahead in “harmony” with nature
Bristol’s biggest music festival has launched a new sustainability campaign, banning single-use plastic and glitter.
Love Saves The Day, being held at its new site at Ashton Court on 2 and 3 June, will also have compost toilets, women’s urinals and eco-travel options.
The event, expected to attract 50,000 fans, plans to cut its environmental impact by 50 per cent by 2025.
Sustainability manager Pauline Bourdon said they wanted people to have “empathy and identity” with the site.
A report by Vision 2025, a network of 500 outdoor events and businesses, found the UK festival industry creates around 25,800 tonnes of waste and uses 7m litres of fuel per year.
Loves Saves the Day has partnered with Music Declares Emergency alongside other leading festivals, which is calling for urgent climate action through its No Music On a Dead Planet campaign.
Image source, Team Love
Team Love says it is working closely with the team behind Ashton Court to ensure all practices “respect the site”
Ms Bourdon said the festival was focusing on its direct environmental impact but also the social impact of its actions.
She said when people “connect together and have a moment of collective joy”, and are able to “share thoughts and see different ways of behaving with food and waste, that can translate into society”.
The festival will this year have the UK’s first women’s urinal onsite. Ms Bourdon said the announcement about the women’s urinal known as the Peequal, invented by two Bristol University graduates, was “really well received”.
She said it was really important people did not urinate in public “anywhere” onsite.
“People think it’s because of sanitation but it damages the soil and the ecosystem,” she added.
Image source, Heritage Images/Getty
Ashton Court sits on the western edge of Bristol
A third of the toilets at the event will be compost toilets. There will also be more vegetarian and vegan food available, a bike lock park and carbon-balanced buses and coaches to the site to encourage low-emission travel.
No plastic water bottles will be available to buy on site, with attendees encouraged to bring their own water bottle and refill it.
“We are also strongly advising our audience not to wear any glitter, even biodegradable glitter,” said Ms Bourdon.
She said this is because it still contains a tiny percentage of microplastic which could impact the environment, including a small pond in the area.
Image source, Team Love
People will be able to fill water bottles on site or buy a reusable one
The changes mean a lot of back-of-house training “to understand what sustainability means”.
Ms Bourdon said the festival crew were ensuring every aspect of the build was as sustainable as possible, reusing wood and parts of former sets and minimising waste.
The festival has also created artist guidelines with tips for performers on ways to reduce their impact while touring.
Image source, Team Love
The festival is minimising artist “riders” and instead offering them food from their catering tent
The festival has been communicating its eco-message with its young audience through social media in the lead up to Thursday’s event.
“It’s about reinforcing different behaviours we want to happen onsite and helping them to have a sense of empathy and identity with the ecosystems onsite,” said Ms Bourdon.
Image source, Julian Preece
This is the first year the festival has been held at Ashton Court
What does Pauline Bourdon suggest festival attendees can do to be greener?
- Take a train, bus, bike or carshare to the festival
- Take a refillable water bottle and cup for drinks
- Don’t waste water – turn off any taps on site
- Try to eat more vegetarian or vegan food at the festival
- Don’t waste food – only order what you know you will eat
- Don’t urinate in public anywhere on site
- Make sure you use the correct recycling bins
- Choose sustainable fashion – second-hand, local designers or even make your own
- Avoid glitter and instead use face paint or make-up
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