The waste produced as a result of UK festivals

I am Drew, an Apprentice Waste Prevention Officer for the Council. As we are approaching summer and the season of festivals and live music, I started looking into the waste produced because of popular festivals and concerts. I had never associated waste with activities before but since starting this role, everything now relates to waste.

In recent years, Reading has seen an abundance of waste left on their pitches including people abandoning tents and the plastic packaging that comes with easy efficient food that can be eaten on the go. In 2024, the organisers of Reading Festival had said 702 tonnes of waste was produced at the 3-day festival, though this is a slight improvement from the 780 tonnes produced the previous year, these tonnages are still significantly worrying for the impact they are posing on the environment.

However, monitoring and governing what individuals bring into festivals is the hardest and the most significant factor contributing to the waste accumulated at festivals. Resource Futures created a report that concluded a project they conducted to understand in a better light the waste management at UK festivals and focusing directly on what materials enter sites and how these materials are managed.

As a result of the report, UK festivals were found to be responsible for an excess of 20,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions and generate more than 23,500 tonnes of waste each year, with 68% of waste going directly to landfill. The report also stated there is a widespread lack of bin labelling and signage for separating waste at festivals which lead to contamination. The short time timescale venues hosting festivals have for setting up onsite facilities was also found as being considerably short and ultimately, impacts the management of waste once the festival begins. The effect of this instils behaviours that discourage sorting and separating and leads to contamination which decreases the effectiveness of the end disposal.

This waste includes single use plastics, wood, tents and camping equipment and microplastic pollution from glitter and toiletries. All being extremely difficult to recycle or dispose of.

For waste management to improve, reduction of items needs to be tackled first and with festivals growing and increasing in attendees this only means the waste will continue to increase. The most common materials found in UK festival waste streams are plastic and cardboard/paper from dinner and drinks being served and the items food are being served in are not currently being considered for return schemes due to the difficulty of washing for those who work at the festivals.

A big problem with waste at festivals is the lack of accountability those who attend have and with a growing population at these events it is increasingly harder to govern those who disregard the environment and makes it easier for people to leave bulky items such as tents at the venue because finding the individual who left it will be near enough impossible.

The negativity around the waste and recycling that is lacking across all UK festivals is outweighed by the positive impacts. The increasing popularity and the many tickets sold for festivals also need to be reviewed, if the number of attendees is a problem for managing the environment in which the festivals are happening in then this needs to significantly decrease to regain control.

Moving forward, festivals and concert providers can work towards sustainability by ensuring there are bin separations for different materials and enforcing that those who are disposing of items in bins put them in the correct bins to ensure the recyclability rate improves and the recovery of materials also improve. Festivals can also promote renting tents and camping equipment for those who stay overnight to encourage a reuse culture amongst attendees and to move away from a disposable society. Festivals can also promote return schemes with incentives on money back or discounts.

Some festivals, though not all have recycling measures in place which needs to be acknowledged more and given appreciation to encourage more organisers to follow suit. Latitude festival have an onsite recycling facility where workers separate waste streams to ensure no wrong waste is placed in the wrong stream at the end of the process.

Music festivals and live music events are popular and events that should be acknowledged for their positive impact on income and social interactions. Taylor Swift provided significant donations to local food banks when her tour arrived in the UK in 2024, and the popularity of her UK tour boosted the economy by almost £1 billion.

Some individual artists and bands have already adapted their ways when they tour. Coldplay have wanted to cut down their emissions and done so by using electric vehicles, avoiding unnecessary air travel and had kinetic energy produced from concert goers dancing and cycling and power their shows by solar panels. Coldplay also got rid of all single-use plastic at their concerts and work with all the venues they attend to make sure there is an efficient recycling programme in place prior to the concert beginning.

Live music is something that should always be enjoyed, but the enjoyment is costing the environment where there is no accountability. Moving forward, we need to see more incentives and adaptations to those who manage, host and attend these events.