Event Waste Diversion

We run volunteer-powered diversion operations to divert usable items and materials that otherwise get sent to incinerators or landfill

Yes, incineration is better than landfill. Much like throwing a bucket of water at an adult is better than throwing it at a child but wouldn’t it be better to find a use for it instead? One look at the waste hierarchy and the current industry standard shows that waste management isn’t really managing at all. The waste hierarchy states that reuse is much better than incineration for ‘free energy’, in real terms this is a chair being used again as a chair vs being incinerated to then maybe power a lightbulb for 3 seconds.

BUT… we are not the charity fairies!

We can’t just turn up and magic away all the lazily abandoned items with a swoosh of a wand, it takes hours of preparation, many helping hands and transport to find the usable items amongst the chaos of broken and unusable kit. It also takes time to plan so the more lead time we have the more effective we can be.

We are not only pushing for diversion to be acknowledged and funded as part of the waste management stream but for it to also be viewed as preferable to incineration and recycling. Recycling is great for plastic and cans but the items we divert are more complex, made of multiple material types and often difficult/impossible to recycle.

We strongly suggest that reclamation only happens at events where attendees are being engaged on sustainability topics and educated on why it’s important to take your tent home. This is because we know that clearing up after people isn’t the solution but is a response to current carelessness and the needs of society’s most vulnerable.

We also believe it important to avoid any press or publicity around post-event diversion efforts as, from our experience, it only makes the problem worse the following year as attendees can say ‘I told you it goes to charity’.

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Working with litter contractors

We liase with litter teams to ensure we work to help them get the job done, removing usable bulk items from their path to help them get to fine picking sooner.

Always looking for new potential in ‘waste’ materials

In the past we have helped facilitate the transformation of what was previously deemed waste into cycling paniers, banners, shade, fans, costumes and are always developing new possibilities.

Nationwide volunteers and charities

We have amazing volunteers up and down the country to help us gather and move items and know loads of incredible charities that can make use of the kit.

Full data and metrics

We weigh what we collect so that we can measure our impact and pass this info on to waste management and event organisers.

We are now looking for

New waste management companies to partner with.

New festival / organisers to help with sustainability.

New charities that can make use of items, materials and resources.

New volunteers to help us on the ground and afterwards to process gathered kit.

Get in touch with any questions or comments