It’s incredibly important to us that we try to minimise any negative impact our activities and events have on the environment. Each year at Elderflower Fields we make improvements in sustainability. This is a brief overview of what we’re doing and how we hope to improve.
Bring a Bottle
None of our vendors or bars sell single-use plastic. Clean, safe mains drinking water at our home of Pippingford Park is available across the festival site. All attendees must bring their own water bottles. Free drinking water is available at all bars and we have installed more taps across the site to make it easier to refill.
Reusable Glasses & Cups
Since 2016 we have worked with Green Goblet, who are passionate about eliminating plastic waste from the event industry and supply reusable cups for festival guests. There is a small charge for the cup with the first drinks and guests are encouraged to arrive with bar cups if you already own them. Re-use your cups all weekend (the bars will swap for clean cups when you order drinks), then return to the bar before you leave.
Hot drinks vendors charge a cup levy on disposable coffee cups so you’ll save money on your cuppa when you bring your own. The festival general store stocks a limited number of reusable cups for sale, but please bring your camping cups for your morning coffee or nighttime cocoa.
Festival Waste
We have worked hard to increase the ratio of waste generated at Elderflower Fields that gets recycled and to reduce the total amount of waste generated overall. Thank you for your support. This year we are pleased to be partnering with Wynsdale Waste Management who are helping reduce cross-contamination whilst increasing source segregation, prepare materials for reuse, processing materials and waste for recycling/composting / anaerobic digestion (AD) and recovery. Any general waste that cannot be reprocessed is processed into Refuge Derived Fuel (RDF) which is supplied to the Energy from Waste market for energy recovery.
There is one thing which you can do to help us reduce waste – bring less stuff!… Decant food into reusable containers before you arrive. Eat from our food vendors – much easier than huddling around a camp stove, and dare we say it, more delicious too. Generally, avoid bringing anything single use or with excessive packaging. And please, please, please: don’t bring glass on to site. We do not have the facilities to recycle it and there is a real risk of broken glass injuring children or wildlife.
Travel Carbon Fund
Customer travel to Elderflower Fields has, by far, the biggest impact on the environment. It accounts for somewhere in the region of 80% of our CO2eq. We recognise that most of our customers are families and prefer to drive to the festival, but we are always looking for ways to lessen the impact that this has.
We are proud to partner with Onboard Earth – a live events industry response to the climate crisis. Onboard Earth is a community of events, festivals, suppliers, artists and music companies taking action to reduce travel impacts and invest in climate solutions. A movement directly investing 100% of all donations in generating clean renewable energy, replacing and balancing the impact of your travel to the festival. To donate simply enter your postcode when you purchase your tickets to work out the impact of your travel.
– Other Green Stuff –
Food & Drink
We were one of the first festivals to ban plastic straws (you would be amazed at how many we used to find around the site, even well after the festival!). We insist all vendors minimise packaging and use compostable plates, cutlery and cups. We always work with local businesses and encourage them to source their ingredients and products locally, organically, and fair trade.
We’re also working with local food projects to save any unwanted food and ingredients from going to waste.
Transport
As a family festival, it’s not surprising many of our customers drive to the festival. The impact of travel is the biggest single generator of carbon emissions for Elderflower Fields. We encourage car sharing for guests and crew and try to minimise the distance suppliers and equipment travel. If you have a spare seat, join the Elderflower Fields friends Facebook group and offer it up or see if you can lift-share with friends.
Performers travel
Artists are invited with a maximum travel distance of 100 miles from the festival site and in 2025 at least 50% of our performers are Sussex based.
Power
Working with Pippingford Park estate, we have installed mains power across the site, minimising diesel-powered generators. We use LED festoon lighting and low-energy appliances where possible.
Materials
Wherever possible, materials our activity providers use are sourced sustainably. The Schools Without Walls team use a wide range of repurposed materials to create the art installations displayed on the trail. Schools taking part collect waste items such as cans, plastic bottles, packaging materials, scraps of fabric, and wood. We spread the message of the importance of ‘reduce, reduce and recycle’ highlight that you don’t always need expensive art supplies to be creative.
What’s Next?
Our primary aim for the future is to more closely measure the impact of our festival to help us plan where we can make the biggest difference in improving sustainability. We are part of the Festival Vision 2025 Pledge:
- We aim to achieve a 50% reduction in festival-related annual GHG emissions by 2025. As a participating festival, we will put measures in place to achieve this, such as:
- Reducing waste where possible and aiming for 50% (or more) recycling rates by 2025.
- Reducing reliance on fossil fuels where possible and aiming to reduce annual diesel consumption by 50% (or more) by 2025.
- Working with audiences, suppliers and artists to positively influence travel choices and reduce travel-related emissions.
- Working with the supply chain to improve accountability and the sustainability of food sourcing.
- Working together as an industry to share experiences (positive and negative) about changes we make, sharing best practice and working toward industry standards where appropriate.
- Measuring key impacts using credible methods in order to measure progress.
- Sharing information to enable (anonymous) annual reporting for the industry e.g. working with Powerful Thinking and other closely affiliated organisations such as Julie’s Bicycle and A Greener Festival.
RESEARCH
We have supported students from the University of Brighton to undertake environmental assessments at the festival as part of their dissertation work. The research which they undertook has helped to shape our planning to reduce our impact. This has been made possible through the support of the Green Growth Platform.