STAYING GREEN AT READING AND LEEDS
We must tell the truth about the climate emergency: Climate change is happening now, our past actions are the cause, and our future actions can help to alter the outcome.
Will you join our call for action? Read below to see how you can get involved…
Get Rewarded For Being Green
Eco Camp
Building on the success of 2022’s first ever Eco Campsite, which was left absolutely spotless, we are expanding it this year!
Your campsite will have extra bonuses exclusive to the campers choosing to stay here, where everything that is brought in is taken away again, and the field is left as it was found.
The Reading Eco Campsite is at no additional cost and only requires pre-registration for every guest to sign up to the following principles:
- All guests agree to respect their fellow campers; Be inclusive and curious, talk about what is important to you, and enjoy the festival together.
- All guests agree to respect the environment, avoiding littering and protecting the natural environment – Separate your recyclable materials, use the toilets provided, and don’t cause excess waste.
- All guests agree to leave the campsite exactly as they found it; Everyone here has joined the call, take your tent home, and show the way forward.
What can you do?
Create Your Future. Stay in the Reading Eco Campsite in 2023.
BOOK YOUR READING ECO CAMP TICKET HERE.
You must hold a weekend event ticket (Weekend or Weekend with Early-Entry) in addition to this ticket.
Cup and Bottle Deposit Return Scheme
We have put a refundable deposit on every cup and bottle we sell in the arena, and the Co-op have a reverse vending machine at their store in the campsite.
What can you do?
Collect ten cups or bottles, and take them to our Return Points in the arena for some cold hard cash. Returning bottles to the Co-op reverse vending machine gives you the chance to win one of a selection of prizes each time!
Reducing Our Footprint Together
Packing Before You Leave
We have created this handy tent buying guide to help you buy a tent that will see you through many festivals to come. They are not single use items, each tent contains the equivalent plastic to two hundred and fifty plastic pint cups: Luckily our cups are paper, but that is worth thinking about.
Pink Moon offer pre-pitched tents or if you’re bringing your own tent we ask you to take it home, along with any other camping equipment.
Only bring what you can take home with you. When packing ready for the festival weekend, remember to pack wisely and only bring essential items. See our essential packing guide here.
What can you do?
Bring a reusable bottle or buy a branded one onsite, only pack what you need, use our tent buying guide, and take your tent home.
Travel
We have provided several many low-emission options for you to get to Reading Festival, to try and reduce the 80% of the event’s overall emissions that are contributed by travel to and from site.
What can you do?
Choose one of the options below!
Coach
Big Green Coach are back as official travel partner to Reading 2023 and this year, all services are carbon neutral! Book here.
Train
The nearest train station is Reading Train Station, a 15-20 minute walk from the festival site.
Car Sharing
If you are driving to the festival, sign up with GoCarShare HERE to save money on a parking pass, and park in the Priority Car Park for free.
For those who do travel by car, we donate £1 to Trees for Cities to fund local tree planting projects.
Power
We have committed to reducing our carbon emissions by 50% by 2030. Most of our on-site emissions come from how we power the festival.
In 2022, we powered 98% of the festival with HVO biofuel, a form of renewable fuel that reduces emissions between 75 – 90% compared to the regular fuel that powers events. We are also looking into how to make Reading Festival fully electric in future. Click here for more.
What can you do?
Use the onsite phone charging facilities in the knowledge that it is being powered by a significantly lower-emission fuel!
If you have any used batteries for torches etc, please take them home with you.
Plastic
Single use plastic sucks! That is why we have put the following in place to reduce it at Reading:
All our cups are paper, and we have had a deposit return scheme in place since 2007
We have Pepsi Max bars that avoid plastic bottles completely, serving your drink straight into a paper cup and offering refills
- All our soft drinks and bottled water are made from at least 50% recycled plastic.
- Plastic cutlery and straws have been banned since 2009, and only compostable food containers are allowed.
- Bulk condiment bottles must be used by vendors instead of single-use sachets.
What can you do?
Bring a reusable water bottle and follow our three bin system for Recyclable items (cans, plastic, cardboard), Compostable items (paper plates, wooden cutlery, food scraps), and anything else can go into bins for Not Recyclable items. Please use the bins provided for you.
Get Involved
Each year we organise a Green Team to engage with public and staff on environmental initiatives at the Festival.
Applications will open soon, please email gmessengers@festivalrepublic.com for further information in the meanwhile.
For more info on our green actions – see our ‘Staying Green’ guide HERE, our Festival Charter HERE and our Sustainability Report HERE.
Help us save the planet, one festival at a time!