Effective waste management at a festival is essential whether you run a big weekend music event, summer fair, local beer festival, sports event, food festival, or even a Christmas market. Attendees, stall holders, and just the fun of the festival create waste of many types and amounts. It all requires efficient storage, removal, and disposal.
At Divert, we can help with festival waste management, so your event runs smoothly. This includes providing free bins for everything from food waste to glass recycling – you only pay for collection. All festival waste is diverted away from landfill and recycled where possible for a positive environmental impact that helps your festival stay green.
Find out more about festival waste management and our services or get a free quote today for help at your event – call 0333 444 0118 or contact us online.
UK festival waste statistics
These festival waste statistics in the UK highlight the volume of rubbish such events produce and why sustainable management is so important. It’s estimated that only around 20% of festival waste is recycled despite lots of the rubbish generated being recyclable. Here are some more shocking festival waste statistics for the UK:
- UK festivals generate around 23,500 tonnes of waste every year
- Litter left at festivals could fill around 8,000 wheelie bins
- Campers leave behind 250,000 tents after UK festivals annually
- Festival attendees produce an average of 2kg of waste per day
- More than two-thirds of festival waste end up in landfill sites
- 400 tonnes of waste food is binned at UK festivals each year – similar to one million meals
- 3 million food containers are also thrown away at festivals across the UK every year
- Every year £10 million is spent on festival waste management
Festival waste removal services
Arrange festival waste removal for your event with Divert. We’ve helped various festivals of different types, sizes, and locations manage their rubbish efficiently and sustainably. This experience and expertise mean we can help with efficient planning and waste management for your festival to ensure everything runs smoothly.
To start we can assess your site and help determine the best number, sizes, and types of bins to use for your festival. This helps ensure as much waste as possible is separated properly when it’s produced with different bins for general waste, dry mixed recycling, and waste food. It also ensures compliance with Simpler Recycling regulations where relevant.
We can provide free bins with no delivery or bin hire costs to help save money on festival waste management too – you only pay for collections. Experts can advise on where to put all the bins your festival needs, such as in areas with high footfall and good accessibility.
Then we’ll schedule festival waste removal on a frequency that’s suitable. This aims to prevent any bins from overflowing and keep your site clean and clear. Removals can be organised at convenient times where possible to avoid disruptions to your event and attendees.
All waste is removed by licensed waste carriers and transported to appropriate waste management facilities for disposal away from landfill. You’ll receive a free waste transfer note for peace of mind that your festival waste management operates safely, legally, and as sustainably as possible.
Festival bins
It’s important to have a range of festival waste bins across your site to help separate materials at the source. This should encourage attendees to dispose of rubbish appropriately and ensure as much as possible is recycled where appropriate. Festival bins for waste food, dry mixed recycling, general waste, and sanitary waste in the toilets are essential.
Stallholders also require bins for their rubbish, such as waste created during food preparation and packaging waste. We can provide a wide range of festival recycling bins for all such materials and in various sizes. Examples of suitable festival bins include:
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240 litre wheelie bins
Ideal festival bins with two wheels like you have at home for glass or food waste.
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660 litre wheelie bins
Four-wheel bins that are easy to move across your festival site for general waste and mixed recycling.
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1100 litre wheelie bins
Big bins suitable for festivals that can hold greater volumes of general waste or recycling.
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Sanitary waste bins
Sanitary waste bins suitable for the toilets and other facilities at your festival.
How to reduce festival waste
There’s plenty of advice available for how festival goers can reduce their waste and environmental impact. However, festival organisers can also play an important part in helping reduce waste in the first place and ensure as much as possible is recycled or reused rather than going to landfill.
These are a few ideas for ways to reduce festival waste at your event:
- Avoid single-use plastic – one of the biggest types of festival waste is single-use plastic items like cups, cutlery, bottles, plates, and even ponchos. Ban single-use plastic and switch to sustainable options like compostable cups and cutlery or aluminium cans for drinks being sold rather than plastic bottles.
- Put up clear signs for bins – install signs directing attendees towards bins so they dispose of waste appropriately. Use a clear colour coding scheme for the signs or bins to help them separate recyclables and other rubbish so that as much as possible is disposed of properly. This should reduce contamination too.
- Place bins in convenient places – strategically put bins in areas that have high footfall or are in areas where rubbish will likely be created. Good examples are having bins near food stalls and toilets, as well as any entrances and exits to your festival.
- Offer a return incentive – to minimise contamination or attendees throwing recyclable and compostable cups in the wrong bin you could put an incentive in place to return them. This is often done via a small refund (such as 10p back for every cup returned). Alternatively, some festivals add a higher charge or deposit for reusable cups but if attendees return them they receive this back.
- Donate leftovers – waste is inevitable no matter what you do but donating items and leftovers to charities and community groups helps it go to a good cause rather than landfill. Encourage food leftovers to be donated to food banks, charities, or animal shelters, while tent and camping gear can also go to youth groups, Scouts, Guides, and other organisations.
Get rid of festival waste with Divert
Find out how we can help with your festival waste today. Speak to one of our friendly experts or fill in the form below with a few details and we’ll be in touch. Get a free quote for festival waste management today – call 0333 444 0118 or contact us online.
