Glastonbury and other festival goers are being urged to sleep in cardboard tents to help the environment and end ‘tent trash’.
Industry figures show that an estimated 250,000 tents made of polymer-based nylon or polyester are abandoned each year, creating fields of rubbish and contributing to 900 tonnes of waste.
The research, by packaging provider DS Smith, found that a fifth (18%) of adults thought that tents were the worst single-use plastic item for the environment. Despite this, 19% have never considered their environmental impact.
To tackle this problem, DS Smith has worked with new business EnviroTent a to create a 100% recyclable cardboard solution.
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According to its makers, the recyclable cardboard tent withstood four weeks outside in the winter; blocks out light and is quieter than its traditional counterpart.
It is also warmer when it is cold, cooler when it is hot – and when an EnviroTent reaches the end of its life, and the clean-up of the festival begins, they can easily recycled into something new, such as boxes.
Paul Clarke, managing director, UK and Ireland packaging division, DS Smith, said: “Festivals are at the heart of British summertime, but we’ve all seen the shocking images of their aftermath; abandoned polyester tents as far as the eye can see. Most people may not know that these are very hard to recycle and end up as litter, in landfill, and can lurk in the ground for up to 200 years.
“We are used to replacing plastic from supermarket shelves but in creating cardboard tents, we’re talking about something completely different – we shifted the way we thought about design in order to protect a person, not a product.
“When we met Tayla, we knew that cardboard could have a different and really important role to play in replacing plastic, and we are really excited for the difference we can make together so people can create less waste and have a guilt-free festival.”
EnviroTent founder Tayla Evans said: “The UK festival scene is amazing. But it’s also an annual source of single-use plastic pollution, and increasingly, that is something people feel rightly uncomfortable about.
“Festivals should be guilt-free and fun. I would love festival organisers to think really carefully about how we can help festival goers avoid tent trash.”
Earlier this month, Decathlon offered refunds on its most popular tents, so festival goers don’t abandon them, in a green initiative.
