News

Bestival is EnvironMENTAL!

• 23rd Jun 2010

It won't come as much of a surprise to anyone to find out that we care about the environment at Bestival, you only have to have a quick look around our stunning Robin Hill Country Park site to know that it's worth looking after. So we were massively proud to be the recipient of an 'Outstanding' Greener Festival Award in 2009, one of only 13 festivals worldwide to achieve this top level award. Not content to rest on our laurels, this year we are pulling out all the stops to make Bestival an even greener and more environmentally friendly event than it already is. As part of our green masterplan we have signed up to the 10:10 campaign making a firm commitment to reduce our carbon footprint by 10% in 2010.

10:10 is an ambitious project to unite every sector of society behind one simple idea: cutting our emissions by 10% in 2010. We think it's a fantastic campaign to get involved with, which is why we've signed up to it and you can too. It's quick and easy to do, just click here.
Bestival, with the support of environment specialists Julie's Bicycle – link – set a carbon output benchmark in 2009 and we are already putting in place measures to reduce this by 10% at this year's event by reducing carbon emissions from onsite energy use, waste and water consumption.

There are lots of amazing initiatives happening across the site which include the Plugged In Bandstand stage which will be totally solar-powered once again this year, all with help from our green-minded friends at Southern Electric. What's more, the whole surrounding area, (previously called The Village), will become our version of Tomorrow's World – envisaging an inspired, sustainable, green and fun future. Plus all the other power generators in the Tomorrow's World area, that power the WI Tent, Farmer's Market and Sushi Yurt will be run on local Wight Made Biodiesel – made from the 1,600 litres of used cooking oil collected from the all the food stalls at Bestival 2009.

Over half the waste at Bestival 2009 was recycled which was great but with your help we want to do much better this year, so we have been putting a lot of work into redesigning our campsites to make it easier for our waste teams and, crucially, you to get waste into the correct bins so it can be recycled properly. We also REALLY need you all to take your tents etc home with you. Tents are tricky devils to recycle due to their mixture of components… and even worse, once they get mixed up with items that could have been recycled they often make the whole jumbled lot utterly unrecyclable which means it all gets sent to landfill, which is a big fat no-no. So if you're reading this and you usually leave stuff behind, please please don't. And we'll be there in the campsites on Monday morning to remind you 😉

If you're going to Glasto this weekend please check out their Please Take It Home campaign – link

Lots of you will be pleased to hear that there will be even more composting toilets at Bestival this year too. Not only are they cleaner and less stinky, they also don't need water or nasty chemicals to work.

One big area where we are looking to reduce our carbon footprint is Travel. Coach or Train are easily the best ways of getting to Bestival. And they are also the cheapest. Southern Vectis are offering some great value door-to-door Coach Travel packages. Their coaches will pick you up from 25 towns and cities in the UK and take you direct to the Bestival site (& back), including ferry travel – so no changes and no extra travel costs. Head over to link for more info and to book. And South West Trains operate fast services to Portsmouth Harbour and Southampton to connect with the ferries to the island…simple. We've also created a new onsite bus and coach station, so those of you that do come by public transport will have a much shorter distance to walk with all your stuff.

If you really must drive, please check out our Car Sharing service – link – and fill your car up with people, thus splitting the carbon emissions between more people.

As well as all this, the Bestival Green Team – our troupe of top-hat-sporting eco-minded volunteers – will return for their 4th year. They will be handing out recycling bags and free cigarette butt bins to help you to do your bit to Keep Bestival Tidy.

And We Are What We Do, the social movement behind the 'I'm not a Plastic Bag' shopper and Historypin, will unleash their latest creation onto Bestival this summer: A massive, fantastical, trash-guzzling creature, with a penchant for recyclable waste. Part monster, part foodie snob, he will be roaming the festival munching cigarette butts, paper plates, plastic cups and tin cans out of the hands of festival partiers. And as a sign of his appreciation he will be leaving his bitemark on anyone that feeds him their trash. Bestival are not responsible for any limbs lost.

We are in the process of finalising even more environmental initiatives for this year's Bestival… watch this space! In the meantime, please sign up to 10:10 yourself; and then get your work, school, friends, parents et al to do the same – link – we need to work together to achieve a 10% cut in the UK's carbon emissions starting in 2010.