Festivals smash 10:10 !

The 10:10 campaign and music industry greening specialists Julie’s Bicycle have persuaded the organisers of some of the biggest and best events of the festival season to set out on a mission to reduce their emissions by 10% every year. The first major music festival of the summer, the Isle of Wight (IoW), reported savings of 22% from 2009’s event. Initiatives included boosting generators with biodiesel and solar arrays, and a comprehensive carbon audit (including ticketholder travel surveys). IoW’s sustainability programme has been planned and implemented by Eco Action Partnership over the past four years. Juliet Ross-Kelly from Eco Action Partnership, said “It has been a real challenge to tackle such a big events carbon footprint and of course we have had to learn a lot on the job with a few bits of trial and error along the way but thanks to campaigns such as 10:10 we have really focused our efforts and have seen some great measurable results”.Lovebox, one of London’s landmark summer events, smashed the 10% target. Replacing diesel generators with solar arrays, hydrogen fuel cells, vegetable oil and even bicycle power organisers we able to reduce emissions from onsite energy use by a whopping 38% in 2010, despite almost doubling ticket sales. Andy Mead, director at Firefly Solar and Lovebox’s head of sustainability, said “Lovebox made great progress last year making significant reductions. In 2011 we hope to make further reductions by building on last year’s success.”A number of festivals calculated their emissions in 2010, implementing reduction strategies in the 2011 season. Festival Republic, set baseline carbon figures for four of their leading festivals in 2010; the greatest rock shows on the planet; the Reading & Leeds Festival, the critically applauded Latitude in Suffolk, and The Big Chill set in the beautiful rolling hills of Herefordshire. 2011 will see Festival Republic launch a range of innovative strategies tailored to each event – such as switching to cleaner sources of energy, initiatives to reduce water use, landfill waste, and increase recycling.Greener Festival Award winner T in the Park, Scotland’s biggest festival, is aiming to reduce waste to landfill by 50% and diesel usage by 10% through increasing biodiesel use and improving energy efficiencies. And sometimes the best things come in small packages and Lounge on the Farm, the smallest of the 10:10 festivals, is no exception. Only six years old, Lounge on the Farm have already won two awards for sustainability including the Greener Festival Award and another Greener Festival Award winner Bestival, the last big bash of the summer, went all out for 10:10 last year with a 10:10 stand providing festival-goers with solar and bicycle phone charging. 2011 looks set to be another bumper year for Bestivalwho hope to reach their 10% reduction through energy conservation and waste reduction."Music festivals are a staple of the British summer time - come rain or shine! Lovebox and Isle of Wight have proved that you can put on an amazing show AND cut carbon at the same time - smashing the10% target they set themselves in 2010. We can't wait to see the savings the other festivals clock up this year” said Angela Bryant, 10:10’s executive director. “The challenge of reducing impacts while growing the business is being tackled head on by this group of festivals, it’s not always comfortable to put the green brand to the test. This group of festivals are doing it for real” said Alison Tickell, director of Julie’s Bicycle.