Today, we are all talking about festivals, naturally. Half the staff have come back as red as crustaceans from Glastonbury! Whether you went or stayed at home, the aftermath of Glastonbury is probably still ringing in your ears. It seems either you went there and watched Beyoncé, or you didn’t go and wavered between saying ‘blimey- look at that mud!’ smugly- and feeling miserable.
Packing up a tent - only for the brave.
What you should do if you’re going next year is get the right tent sorted.
Ever trudged away from the best weekend ever- only to look behind you? Well, if you do look behind you, you will no doubt see a sea of 2 berth, cheap and no longer cheerful tents. As well as furniture, inflatables, other things we won’t mention, but mostly tents. These are all left for the festival owners to deal with and most end up as landfill fodder.
"We're behind you..."
if you leave your tent your contributing to a massive ‘landfill debt’ of thousands of tents, so we have some ideas on how to keep your mind clear and you eco footprint green and clean when it comes to saying goodbye to the festival season.
Buy a bigger tent
Buying a £30 cheap tent every year for 10 years works out at £300. This is without being able to use the tent in-between the festival seasons. However if you buy a larger family tent on offer from GO Outdoors (naturally!) for £100 this will works out at just £10 per year over the same period! Plus you have more opportunity to use it and you will want to pack it away.
Glastonbury organisers themselves say:”‘A tent is for life not just for a festival’, we want people to not just buy the cheapest tent, spend a little extra and buy yourself a tent that is going to last you a lifetime of camping experiences rather than just a festival or summer. Pack up your tent and take it home.”
Buy a smaller tent and recycle it
If you are intent on leaving your tent, make sure it’s one of our cheaper ones that can be easily disposed of and don’t just leave it on site. Loads of festivals run schemes where you can leave your tent and have them recycled. The organisers of Leeds and reading say “Not only will you save money, you’re helping the environment by not wasting the resources and energy needed to make all that stuff over and again. “
You can hand these in at Tent Donation points in the campgrounds. Donated gear will make their way to charitable and community organisations. But make sure you’re actually handing it in as tents left standing will go to the landfill. Leads and Reading even have separate collection bays for all those extras like chairs, and even wellies!
Whatever size you’ve got – pack it away
It’s not hard. I promise. You can even pack it away damp and dry it at home if it’s miserable out. (Just do it in the next day or two before mould ad leftover crumbs attack it, making it inhabitable for the future.) Our tent buying guide has all you need to know about packing it away, so you can use it year after year.
Hope you’ve enjoyed the festival season- and if you’re going next year, don’t forget to keep it green!
Elaine
