At Elderflower Fields, our aim is to get more families outside to experience the beautiful and diverse natural world, so it’s incredibly important to us that we try to minimise any potential negative impact our activities and events have on the environment. Each year at Elderflower Fields we aim to make improvements in the sustainability of our festival and this page is intended to give you an overview of what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and how we hope to improve.
Bring a Bottle
None of our vendors or bars will be selling disposable plastic bottled water. We are lucky enough to have access to clean, drinking water at Stanford Hall, so it seems crazy for the festival to generate such a huge amount of plastic waste from water bottles. We are asking all festival goers and crew to bring their own re-usable water bottles, or if you prefer, to buy an Elderflower Fields aluminium water bottle from the info tent.
Free drinking water will be available at all bars and we are installing taps across the site to make it easier for you to refill.
Reusable Glasses & Cups
In 2016 at Elderflower Fields South, we introduced reusable glasses and now all drinks purchased in our bars will be poured in reusable plastic glasses.
You’ll be asked for a £1 deposit when you buy your first drink. This is to encourage you to return your glasses to ensure they can be reused. When you bring your glass back, you can either get a new drink, or your deposit back.
We estimate that in just one year, this saves over 20,000 disposable glasses going into the bins!
Our hot drinks vendors charge a cup levy on any disposable coffee cups they serve drinks in so you can save money on your cuppa when you bring your own.
Festival Waste
Ever wondered what happens after you drop your rubbish into one of the festival bins?
We no longer have separate bins for different types of recycling – instead, all waste goes into one bin type. This is collected over the course of the festival by our waste team, who move the bins once they’re full up to a big container which we keep in a back of house area. After the festival, this is taken to a Materials Recovery Facility where materials which can be recycled are separated out. They estimate that around 85% of our waste will get recycled this way. The remaining, non-recyclable, materials are then finely shredded and screened to remove any additional metals before being burned, in a fully automated and closely monitored process, to generate super-heated steam which drives high-pressure turbines which, in turn, drive a generator to produce up to 5 megawatts of green electricity.
We are continually looking for ways to reduce the amount of waste produced at the festival and to maximise how much is recycled. If you have any ideas or suggestions, we’d love to hear from you!
Travel Carbon Fund
Customer travel to Elderflower Fields has, by far, the biggest impact on the environment. We recognise that most of our customers are families and need to drive to the festival, but we are always looking for ways to lessen the impact that this has. Previously we have signed up to the Energy Revolution – a festival industry collaboration that turns your fossil-fuel travel miles into a direct investment in renewable energy. In 2018 however we tried a different approach by charging a flat fee for customers who choose to bring more than one car. The money generated from our “Second Vehicle” car park tickets will be invested in sustainability projects.
– Other Green Stuff –
Food & Drink
We have banned plastic straws from our bars. We ask all our vendors to minimise packaging and use compostable plates, cutlery and cups. We always try to work with local businesses and encourage them to source their ingredients and products locally, organically and fair-trade.
Transport
As a family festival, it’s not surprising that most of our customers drive to the festival. The impact of travel to the festival site is pretty much the biggest single generator of carbon emissions for Elderflower Fields. So in addition to the Energy Revolution carbon fund explained above, we also encourage car sharing amongst the crew and try to minimise the distance that our suppliers and equipment travel to get to the festival.
Power
We also use LED festoon lighting and low energy appliances where possible.
Materials
Wherever possible, materials which our activity providers use are sourced sustainably.
What’s Next?
Our primary aim for the future is to more closely measure the impact of our festival to help us plan where we can make the biggest differences in improving our sustainability. To this end, we have taken the Festival Vision 2025 Pledge:
We aim to achieve a 50% reduction in festival-related annual GHG emissions by 2025. As a participating festival, we will put measures in place to achieve this, such as:
- Reducing waste where possible and aiming for 50% (or more) recycling rates by 2025.
- Reducing reliance on fossil fuels where possible and aiming to reduce annual diesel consumption by 50% (or more) by 2025.
- Working with audiences, suppliers and artists to positively influence travel choices and reduce travel-related emissions.
- Working with the supply chain to improve accountability and the sustainability of food sourcing.
- Working together as an industry to share experiences (positive and negative) about changes we make, sharing best practice and working toward industry standards where appropriate.
- Measuring key impacts using credible methods in order to measure progress.
- Sharing information to enable (anonymous) annual reporting for the industry e.g. working with Powerful Thinking and other closely affiliated organisations such as Julie’s Bicycle and A Greener Festival.
