The Recycling Habits of UK Festival Attendees

While the UK’s summer weather is never predictable, there are a few staples that always make an appearance during this time of year. British summertime has plenty to offer from ice cream vans to temporary barbeques and beer gardens. However, attending music festivals is the ultimate way to spend the season.

Listening to incredible live music for days with like-minded people is something everyone should experience at least once, with many people buying tickets every year. Unfortunately, though, festivals come with a lot of baggage — 25,800 tonnes of annual waste!

In recent years, many festivals have implemented sustainable policies to lower their carbon footprint and reduce waste. Yet, there’s still a long way to go and of course, the attendees are a part of the problem.

To discover whether the recycling habits of festivalgoers have changed, Better Waste Solutions have conducted a brand-new study. Continue reading to find out the results.

Do attendees still leave their tents?

One of the largest contributors to festival waste is abandoned tents. After a long weekend of partying, it’s no surprise that many don’t feel like dismantling their tent and carrying it home.

Exacerbating this problem is the common misconception that all abandoned tents are recycled or donated but sadly, they’re usually sent to landfill instead. Many festival tents are bought cheaply and made of unrecyclable materials that don’t survive the weekend.

According to the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), the average tent weighs 3.5kg and is mostly made of plastic — the equivalent of 8,750 straws or 250 pint cups. AIF has also previously predicted that 250,000 tents are abandoned annually at UK music festivals.

However, times seem to be changing. Since 2019, over 99% of all tents and camping equipment have been taken home after Glastonbury which is a huge accomplishment.

In the Better Waste Solutions survey, 81% of respondents claimed to take their tent home to reuse after a festival, while only 5% said they leave it on the grounds.

Alcohol is the most common item left behind.

As well as tents, there are many items that attendees often leave at the end of festivals. In a GiffGaff survey last year, 58% of people said they had left, lost or broken something at a festival. The most commonly abandoned item was alcohol, with camping chairs, portable chargers and mobile phones found too. Although, 89% of respondents said they wanted to be more responsible.

To minimise waste, many festivals advise attendees to pack essential items only and take everything home after the event.

According to the Better Waste Solutions survey, many are taking this advice on board, as more than half said they dispose of their unwanted belongings at home after a festival. Whereas, 18% said they throw their items in available recycling bins at the festival, 21% opted for the general waste bins, and just 10% left them on the festival grounds.

Glitter or litter?

Statement makeup is a must for many festival-goers, and for a while, glitter was a big part of the festival aesthetic. However, glitter’s environmental impact has since come to light and dimmed the sparkle.

Five years ago, more than 60 independent festivals vowed to ban glitter by 2021. This ban only prohibited festival vendors from using non-biodegradable glitter, though, while attendees are still only encouraged to either use an eco-friendly option or no glitter at all.

Most glitter is made of aluminium and plastic — including the same plastic type used to make water bottles. Due to the small size of glitter particles, they’re considered microplastics which are a major cause of ocean, air, and soil pollution.

Biodegradable glitter — made using plant-based fibres — is becoming popular but even some of these alternatives contain a small layer of the plastic, styrene acrylate. Of those surveyed, 12% opt for biodegradable options but 10% still use traditional plastic glitter.

However, the increased awareness does seem to have impacted revellers as 74% said they choose not to wear glitter at festivals. And in June 2023, Pinterest searches for “glitter makeup” decreased by 36% compared to the year prior.

It’s time to face the wet wipes

Wet wipes aren’t especially kind to your skin or the planet, but they’re an extremely convenient way to freshen up at festivals. When you’re running on last night’s cider and the shower queues are long, using wet wipes is the quickest and easiest way to get clean (ish).

This year, Glastonbury advised attendees against bringing disposable wipes in their ‘What not to bring’ list and suggested a washcloth and soap instead. However, in the brand-new survey, only 13% said they didn’t use wet wipes at festivals.

If using these products, correctly disposing of them can minimise their environmental damage. Recent reports stated that 90% of wet wipes sold contain artificial materials such as polyester. The plastic in wet wipes doesn’t break down and over time the wipes stick together, causing sewage pipe blockage.

The UK government recently reannounced plans to ban plastic wet wipes next year to help improve water quality. Several retail chains, including Boots, have already stopped selling plastic wet wipes opting for biodegradable alternatives instead.

Beauty brand Conserving Beauty released the first ever dissolvable make-up wipes in 2022, which instantly dissolve in water without leaving behind micro-plastic or waste. A small percentage of respondents said they use dissolvable wipes at festivals.

All wet wipes are non-recyclable and should be placed in general waste bins — including biodegradable options. Nearly two-thirds of respondents claimed to throw them away correctly, while 10% said they recycled their wet wipes at festivals, and a small percentage confessed to dropping them on the floor.

A third of attendees recycle cups

The Refill Guide For Events report estimated that over 100 million single-use plastic cups are used every year at UK festivals and live events, with most incinerated or sent to landfill.

In 2020, it was found that three-quarters of music festivals used reusable cups which was up from half of festivals in 2015. The UK’s largest festival, Glastonbury, provides recycled stainless steel pint cups for £5 which can be refunded at the end of the event. Many festivals advise bringing reusable bottles too — which 18% of survey respondents opt to do.

Unfortunately, many festivals still use disposable cups and while plastic and paper cups can sometimes be recycled, the advice at festivals isn’t always clear. The online waste policies for Download Festival and Leeds & Reading Festival state that plastic bottles, aluminium cans and clean and dry cardboard go in the recycling bins but there’s no mention of cups.

Instead, these festivals and many more point you towards a deposit scheme encouraging attendees to return used cups to the bar. Although less than 1% chose this option in the survey, more than a quarter said they gave their used cups to thrifty attendees collecting them for the deposit reward. But for those who aren’t taking advantage of this scheme, where are they leaving their cups?

The most common response, chosen by 35%, was to throw used cups into recycling bins if available. While 10% said they put the cups in general waste bins and 11% admitted they dropped them on the floor.

Fast fashion going out of style

Festivals are the perfect place to experiment with bold and colourful looks. Unfortunately, though, festival outfits have previously been dominated by fast fashion. Cheap clothing is often made from synthetic materials that can take up to 200 years to break down in landfill.

On average, there are 69,000 monthly online searches for “festival outfits”, but fewer people seem interested in buying new.

The fast-fashion brand, Boohoo, has seen a dramatic decrease in organic search traffic to the site’s festival page. On 26 June 2022, it reached 49,951 compared to just 20,929 a year later.

Alongside this decreased interest in fast fashion, preloved clothing’s popularity has grown. At the time of writing, there are 22,247 results listed for “festival outfit” on the resale platform, Depop. Buying secondhand clothing allows attendees to express their fashion sustainably while giving old clothes new life.

In the Better Waste Solutions survey, nearly a fifth of respondents said they buy new clothes for festivals but they re-wear them. Whereas, less than 5% said they either threw away, recycled or donated their new festival clothes.

Many people are also likely just looking online for inspiration. Of those surveyed, just over 50% said they don’t buy new clothes specifically for festivals. Whereas, 27% said they sometimes re-wear their outfits — wearing a mixture of old and new clothes for the occasion.

Cigarette litter is still a problem

According to Keep Britain Tidy, cigarette butts are the most littered item in Britain. While small, this type of waste is extremely harmful to the environment. Cigarette butts are made of cellulose acetate — a man-made plastic — and contain hundreds of toxic chemicals.

A study published last year found that those littering cigarette butts were most likely people who believed butts were biodegradable and not harmful to the environment. Unfortunately, this belief is misguided as when disposed of incorrectly, cigarette butts can have deadly effects on the oceans, pollute the air and cause health problems for unsuspecting people.

There are recycling services that accept cigarettes but the most widespread disposal form available is general waste bins. However, in the Better Waste survey, more people said they dropped cigarette butts on the ground (21%) than those who place them in general waste bins (12%) at festivals. But the good news is that most people (67%) choose not to smoke cigarettes at festivals at all.

However, the decline in smokers might partly be down to more people using e-cigarettes. In 2022, Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) reported that 8.3% of adult Brits vaped, equating to 4.3 million people.

When not recycled correctly, vapes can seep dangerous metals, battery acid, and nicotine into the atmosphere. Despite this, around 1.3 million single-use vapes are thrown away each week in the UK, according to recycling group Material Focus. While vapes have previously been prevalent at festivals, this year Glastonbury asked attendees not to bring e-cigarettes.

The results from this survey show there are still improvements needed to encourage festival-goers to recycle — with dropping disposable cups and cigarette butts on the floor still present. However, there was also an encouraging number of respondents choosing to follow the sustainability advice by taking their belongings home and avoiding harmful items.

Methodology:

A survey was conducted in June 2023 that collected responses from 164 participants.