FWRD

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We are working really hard on becoming financially self-sustaining but there are proving to be a few hurdles.

While sustainability is top of the planning agenda in the events industry it seems to be the first to slip down the financial agenda once money gets tight, this isn’t a finger-pointing exercise but more an observation. If it’s a choice between toilets or paying for eco-engagement we understand.

So while we develop ways to ensure our efforts don’t haemorrhage money out of our own pockets we are opening for donations for the first time.

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For further info on our efforts please click below

Free Shop – Our initial return rate was around 80% which was a good sustainability stat that also left us with enough unclaimed deposits to cover expenses. However, any engagement that is financially dependent on people not engaging (i.e. bringing items back) is poorly designed and in conflict with itself. This was highlighted in 2022 when 94% of items were returned and we lost money. With this in mind, we are trialling other ways to cover costs in 2023.

Reclamation – We can’t just turn up and magic away all the lazily abandoned items with a swoosh of a wand, it takes hours of planning, many helping hands and transport so 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. In 2022 we had our first invoice paid for this and hope to roll this out further in 2023 BUT unnamed large festival organisers have refused to engage, even when the price per tonne is lower than sending the same kit to be incinerated.

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