Festivals have often come under fire for the incredible amount of waste left behind as the party-goers head home. One festival, Boomtown in Hampshire, has partnered with an organic recycling organisation, Eco Sustainable Solutions, to tackle the issue.
Having committed to becoming a circular festival with net zero scope 1 & 2 GHG emissions by 2025, Boomtown’s organisers are working towards transforming Boomtown into a sustainable city that’s run entirely on renewable energy. Organisers are looking to adopt a circular economy that rejects a throwaway society and has minimal impact on the local environment which includes limiting the amount of waste going to landfill.
The food waste from the festival this year was transported to Eco’s anaerobic digestion plant near Dorchester where it was turned into biogas and converted into renewable energy. Tristan Dampney, Marketing Manager at Eco, comments: ‘From processing Boomtown’s food waste we’ve generated enough clean electricity to power 30 homes for a day. We’d really like to help more events across the Southwest to be greener and more sustainable. Dorset could become a hub of sustainable events and festivals, imagine the food waste from the Bournemouth Air Show, and how much energy we could produce with that!’
Boomtown organisers comment: ‘The work Eco’s done is really amazing and it all helps us to fulfil our green deal circular festival pledge that we signed in 2019 to become a certified green festival. The amount of food waste Eco has turned into energy is wonderful and we hope this partnership sets the bar for other festivals to follow suit and go green.’
Eco wants to make the Southwest greener one step at a time, as Tristan continues: ‘Recycling and repurposing waste is a huge factor to events becoming greener. It’s much more than just rubbish to our team here at Eco, we see it as potential for completely sustainable green power.’
Eco is looking to support other events and festivals with their waste recycling needs. Visit their website for more information: www.thisiseco.co.uk
