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Calls for tent deposit scheme to be introduced at music festivals

There are calls for festival-goers to be charged a deposit for pitching a tent. It comes from the...
Stephen McNeice
Stephen McNeice

09.08 28 Aug 2019


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Calls for tent deposit scheme...

Calls for tent deposit scheme to be introduced at music festivals

Stephen McNeice
Stephen McNeice

09.08 28 Aug 2019


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There are calls for festival-goers to be charged a deposit for pitching a tent.

It comes from the environmental group 'Clean up Britain' after a sea of rubbish was left behind at a number of events in the UK over the summer.

The Telegraph reports the group's proposing a £25 (€27.50) deposit on all camping tickets, which would be returned only if tents are taken home.

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The issue of tents being left at campsites has become one of the major concerns for those promoting green policies at summer festivals.

During last week's Reading & Leeds festival in the UK, one of the headline acts - Twenty One Pilots - also took the opportunity to urge festival-goers to take their tents home with them:

Ahead of Electric Picnic this weekend, there are suggestions that a tent deposit scheme could be introduced here.

Oisin Coghlan from Friends of the Earth believes it's a good idea.

Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, he observed: "I think it's an idea well worth looking at - in fact, we talked about something similar with the organisers of the Electric Picnic festival.

"They haven't taken it up yet, because I think they would regard it as an administrative burden."

Mr Coghlan also noted there was a precedent for deposits, explaining: "We demonstrated at the festival that the idea of a deposit and return scheme works, because as you may know they put a 20 cent deposit on plastic glasses.

"Now, it's a leap from glasses to tents... but when they did that a few years ago - and we were running the return stalls for them - it had a massive effect. What was just waste suddenly became a currency, so everyone picked up their plastic glasses, brought them back and got their money back."

Main image: File photo of tents at a music festival. Picture by: Ben Birchall/PA Archive/PA Images

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