OCTOBER | BIGGER PICTURE
Green fields
What : Shambala Festival Where : Northamptonshire When : 23-26 August Picture : Lindsay Melbourne
Shambala Festival ’ s latest initiatives help give it the edge for sustainability
The event featured artists including Grrrl , Thom Ashworth and Oh My God ! It ’ s the Church ., and sold out before a single act was announced .
Shambala is considered pioneering across Europe for it environmental practice . So far , it has reduced its carbon footprint by over 80 %, achieved 100 % renewable power and has become meat and fish free – to spark debate about the impact of industrial-scale food production on the environment .
Shambala is now well on the way to achieving its aim of being completely disposables free by 2020 . They banned single use drinks sauce sachets and started using reusable bar cups in 2015 . The audience are encouraged to bring their own reusable hot cups and those who don ’ t are charged a levy of 30p per cup . This goes towards dedicated infrastructure , and getting the disposable cups recycled with specialist facilities . Furthermore , Shambala does not sell or encourage plastic glitter and is now even using reusable cable ties .
In 2017 , the festival increased recycling by 25 % compared to 2016 . And only 9 % of that waste was sent to landfill . This was helped significantly by a wastedeposit scheme which was repeated in 2018 . An extra £ 10 deposit was taken from each group when festival goers purchased their ticket . It was then refunded when their bags of recycling had been brough to a central ‘ Exchange ’ and sorted by them correctly .
As part of this project , research was carried out on the “ non recyclable ” waste to see what was left and whether any of it could be reused . The project , in conjunction with Grist Environmental , revealed that 33 % of ‘ waste ’ in the black bags can be recycled and showed that nappies , material contaminated with food , and packaging were prominent in the waste that cannot be recycled .
As a result nappy bins were provided to family campers in 2018 . Also in 2018 steps were taken to address the waste that had been contaminated with food – ie the plates . It launched a first of its kind reusable plate service in association with ‘ Less Mess ’ ( www . leavelessmess . org ), Unpackaged and the Sustainable Restaurant Association ( SRA ).
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