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Glastonbury bans single-use plastic bottles from festival site
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 28 February 2019
Glastonbury Festival has announced that it is banning the sale of drinks in disposable plastic bottles at this year’s event. It will also not provide drinks in plastic bottles backstage.
“Our partners Greenpeace estimate that, globally, up to 12.7 million tonnes of plastic end up in our oceans each year”, says the festival in a statement. “Greenpeace advise that by far the best way to avoid plastic pollution is to reduce plastic usage. With more than one million plastic bottles sold at Glastonbury 2017, we feel that stopping their sale is the only way forward”.
Recognising that drinking water is important, festival organisers note that there are numerous taps on site connected to the local mains water supply. This year there will also be an increase in WaterAid kiosks, where reusable drinking water bottles can be refilled, as well as free drinking water at all bars on site. The sale of drinking water in aluminium cans will also be permitted – organisers noting that 45 million tonnes of aluminium cans were recycled by its own on-site recycling centre in 2017.
“It’s paramount for our planet that we all reduce our plastic consumption”, says Glastonbury’s Emily Eavis. “Together, we’ll be able to prevent over a million single-use plastic bottles from being used at this year’s festival. I really hope that everyone – from ticket-holder to headliner – will leave Worthy Farm this year knowing that even small, everyday changes can make a real difference. It’s now or never”.
A Glastonbury branded reusable steel water bottle is now on sale via the festival’s website. Proceeds from sales of these will go to WaterAid and sustainability charity The Raw Foundation.
