Sustainability Latest News

Just Because It Is Going Cold?

Everyone knows about the North Pole and the South Pole, but a very similar area of the world could be called the Third Pole. Now, we know it is starting to get cold here in the UK, but it is pretty cold around this Third Pole, especially at height.

Global Warming has made a vast amount of difference to all three of these Poles and reminds us that we, as festival organisers, can help the drive to do something about it. How will the world ever reduce its carbon footprint and stop towards Global Warming? Read more here...

19 October 2022

You Left Your Tent Behind????

Throughout the rock and pop world there are a lot of conversations about tent waste, i.e., those little £25/30 tents you can buy on the high street, which some people take to festivals and at the end of the weekend just walk away and leave them behind. Tent waste has become a real scar on the landscape of the festival sustainability policy.

However, there are literally hundreds of festivals where tent waste is not a problem. I have to say from an AFO point of view that I have yet to find any members who have leftover tents on their sites. There are quite a lot of pictures of tent waste on sites in various articles in magazine. So, here's one that shows clean and tidy sites after festivals. Read more here...

19 October 2022

Sustainability.

Sustainability is without doubt the most important part of managing your festival. Once you have booked the artists, the equipment and sold the tickets, consider your sustainability right from the start and AFO would strongly recommend visiting the following websites for good guidance. Read more here...

6 October 2022

Event Buyers Live partners with Sustainability Experts for 2022 Event

Sustainability has always been a popular roundtable discussion at Event Buyers Live. It’s a key area of focus for live event organisers. Hence, this year’s industry event (November 28-30) will feature a workshop dedicated to sustainability.

The sustainability workshop will be led by isla, an action-driven body that seeks to accelerate the event industry’s adoption of sustainability measures. Working in collaboration with isla are The Bulb, ecolibrium, Vision: 2025, and A Greener Festival; together, the organisations will share vital knowledge and best practice that will help event professionals to either begin their sustainability journey or progress even further. Read more about this here...

30 September 2022

Single Use Plastic Cups

There is now no excuse at all for having single use plastic cups at your event.  Planning for 2023 might be assisted by reading the publication from City to Sea Campaign. The booklet is called Solutions on Tap and can be found on their website.

Solutions on Tap is a guide to reducing waste and introducing reusable cup schemes at festivals and events. The new guide for smaller medium sized events offers a practical and inspiring guide for organisers on how to avoid single use plastic. The industries 1million plastic cups are responsible for 100,000 tonnes of CO² emissions and 30,000 tonnes of waste that could be avoided. Read more about this here...

5 September 2022

‘‘WE MAKE TOMORROW’ A day for creativity, community and connection

We Make Tomorrow 2022 is an immersive summit inviting people to connect with projects, individuals, and ideas that are making change and leading on creative climate action. We Make Tomorrow will bring together climate justice innovators from around the UK and across the globe to share experiences, stories and performances. Join us to celebrate the tenacity, care, creativity and courage of climate leadership, and be inspired to reimagine the possibilities for a fairer future.

A month ahead of the COP 27 climate talks, this event will explore some of the alternative ways we could spend our time, be in our communities and care for our places. Artists and activists include Cecilia Vicuña, Gillian Burke, Ahdaf Soueif, Saleemul Huq, Nathan Thanki, Magid Magid, Fehinti Balogun, Eric Njuguna, Harpreet Kaur Paul, Emma Blake Morsi, Alistair Gentry - and many more. Read more about this here...

11 August 2022

A Greener Supplier Kitemark

A Greener Festival have announced A Greener Supplier Kitemark...

With sustainability high on the agenda of events, festivals and tours, the importance of finding trusted green suppliers has never been more important. To support this, AGF is launching A Greener Supplier kitemark. The new certification will help events, festivals and tours identify verified green suppliers more easily, reducing the time and overhead of having to undertake their own internal supplier assessments. For suppliers with the kitemark, it will demonstrate to clients the commitment and real action for sustainability, and reduce the effort required to demonstrate their green credentials to prospective customers.

10 August 2022

Cube Launches Sustainable Pop-Up Ticket Office Pods

Cube Modular has just launched a pop-up sustainable ticket office solution for events. The versatile aluminium frame and air-cell pods feature two customer facing ticketing windows and can be folded down and stacked for efficient transport.

The innovative pods made their debut last week hiring out event radios to visitors to the Formula 1 Grand Prix at Silverstone. Altogether nine ticketing pods were dotted around the circuit, one at each entrance, branded to advertise event radio hire. Cube also supplied 14 accommodation units for staff, each sleeping two people, on the same truck. Read more about it here...

5 August 2022

Sustainable Practises: A Fine Example from FolkEast

JMP, Folk East share their sustainability practices...

"In Suffolk we have a council backed organisation called the Suffolk Carbon Charter which is a great way to measure the progress we make each year. We were awarded the Silver Charter in 2014 and in 2018 we were promoted to Gold for showing an improvement each year. We set out from the start with FolkEast to have as lower carbon footprint as possible over many areas of the event. One of the areas we have done well in is using "local". Read more about this here...

18 July 2022

More Than Music Report

MORE THAN MUSIC is a comprehensive report from BetterNotStop. If you have ever thought “I want to do something about my festivals impact on climate change.” Then this is a report that you should read. AFO has been offering contact ,advice and information on the subject for many years and we now recommend this is worth half an hour of your time.

Andy Smith at BlueDot festival says “This is a thorough and Data driven report that shows festival organisers that there is strong reason for improving sustainability measures across the board.” Read more here...

18 July 2022

Bakers Basco creates awareness posters to support their national appeal campaign for the return of bread delivery baskets and dollies

Bakers Basco, the equipment recovery agency set up by the UK’s biggest bakeries has created a series of awareness posters to support their national campaign to alert the nation to the issue surrounding the mishandling and abuse of their daily bread supply equipment. These posters will be used as part of the company’s marketing campaign throughout the year at industry events covering sectors such as festivals, events, recycling, and waste management. Read more about it here...

7 July 2022