Reading Festival 2022 - say no to single-use plastics and take your tents home

REDUCING the impact on the environment is a key focus of this year’s Reading Festival.

The Council is joining forces with Festival Republic to urge festival goers to take action to care for the environment of our town and riverside.

The Council declared a climate emergency in 2019 and committed to a carbon-neutral Reading by 2030. It has also committed to do everything it can to become free of single-use plastics in the years to come.

Together with Festival Republic it is urging festival goers to:

•        Say no to ‘single-use’ plastics and take your tent home with you. Don’t forget the majority of abandoned tents end up in landfill.

•        Think about how you get here and get home – car share, catch a coach, catch a train and use the station shuttle bus provided 

•        Bring your own water bottle and refill it as much as you like at the taps provided

•        Make use of the refundable deposit for all bottles and cups, redeemable at refund points in the arena

•        Take some time to put the right waste in the right bin by making use of the ‘three bin’ system in operation (this means separating waste into either compost - food scraps, recycling - cans, paper, cardboard, plastic bottles or general waste/non-recycling).

Cllr Karen Rowland, Lead Councillor for Environmental Services and Community Safety, said: “People come to Reading Festival to have a good time, and we are delighted with the long relationship we have with Festival Republic and the positive notoriety and focus the festival brings our town. What we are not eager to see, is the negative notoriety that seems to follow after the event is held. We know that Festival Republic understands our concerns and we are pleased to see their continuing work and initiatives in encouraging their participants to think seriously about their impact on the environment while they are here. Ultimately, we want our visitors to the town to embrace our climate emergency goals as we do, and to play their part in achieving those aims along with us.

“We happily support the ways in which Festival Republic and the volunteers within our community seek to encourage that response. We will continue to scrutinise the situation, alongside working with the organisers, who are ultimately responsible for their own waste management policies, to ensure that everyone is minimising their impact on the environment.”

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