Music festival announces sustainability campaign for upcoming edition

Boomtown Fair will open its 2022 festival with a renewed promise: To become a circular festival and net zero by 2025.

Following in the footsteps of the likes of Love Saves the Day, Boomtown is launching a dedicated sustainability campaign for this year’s edition.

It is part of organisers’ commitment to becoming a ‘circular festival’, which means they aim to run on renewable energy while minimising food and energy waste.

UK music festivals “are becoming increasingly popular and, as a consequence, the negative effects that festivals have on the environment have dramatically increased,” according to studies revealed by the University of Brighton.

However, there are actionable and concrete steps that both festival attendees and organisers can take to decrease its impact.

Research also suggests: “Reviewing every aspect of the festivals’ operations to ensure the most environmentally-friendly options are being utilised, for example, composting toilets, solar power and use of biofuel.”

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Boomtown organisers say: “Boomtown’s ongoing priority is to protect the environment from the impact of an event of its size, to raise awareness and inspire ongoing behavioural change amongst the public that attend Boomtown.”

On the festival’s ‘Green Mission’ page, they state: “We are working towards transforming Boomtown into a sustainable city that is run entirely on renewable energy, a circular economy city where organisers and citizens reject a throwaway society, where we leave minimal impact on the local environment, a city where the food we eat is good for the people and the planet and everyone is inspired to take immediate positive action.

“We’re aware of our environmental impact and understand that festivals can be carbon and waste intensive, but they can also provide the best testing ground for collaboration, creativity and innovation, with many exciting opportunities to reduce our impact.”

Boomtown Fair will open its 2022 festival with a renewed promise – photo: George Harrison

The sustainability of music festivals has also been discussed in the House of Commons. As a result, the report presented suggested that: “Every festival needs to move but this would be a time for a long-term low-carbon future.”

The unavoidable push for change has been met with actions. Boomtown Fair also plans on mobile pop-up systems to educate the public and open the discussion on how to be and do better.

Some of the actions Boomtown organisers are taking include:

• Switching fuel to hydrotreated vegetable oil to reduce emissions from fuel consumption by 90 per cent.
• In 2019, Boomtown eliminated the sale of single-use plastic bottles at the festival.
• The festival’s new main stage, Origin, is being built using with real plants and sustainable materials, a lot recycled from previous main stage, Lion’s Den.
• Every afternoon, festivalgoers can listen out for the mobile pop-up sound systems and eco-warriors to get involved in the big Boomtown tidy.
• The eco-warriors will be handing out free 2023 festival tickets and merchandise to the cleanest camps and those doing their best to keep the South Downs National Park clean and free from litter.
• In partnership with Tree Sisters, the Boomtown team have so far planted 100,000 trees around the world from Madagascar to Nepal.

The future of festivals lies both in the actions of attendees and organisers – how sustainable will it be?

Boomtown has committed to becoming a circular festival and net zero by 2025 – photo: Scott Salt

This piece of independent journalism is supported by Natwest and the Bristol24/7 public and business membership

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