Old Town Festival
In early 2020, we got involved with the organisation of Old Town Festival. We were among those who had answered the call for help as there was a shortage of organisers. The festival attracts around 15,000 people each year, a nice community event bringing people together. Having attended in previous years, as with many other events, there is a lot of unnecessary waste. This would give us an opportunity to make changes towards a system of zero waste on a large scale.
The festival organisation was running a few months behind schedule. This meant that time for consideration and discussion was short. This was problematic given that we needed time to find out details of previous events and see what could be reasonably put in place. We carried out research and discussed options which took into account the short time frame to implement changes. We took that proposal to the committee who agreed to implement it.
The committee eventually agreed a stipulation for vendors to reduce waste, and to work with the Plastic Free Swindon team to do so. We had wanted to go further than this but there were concerns about the effects on businesses and maybe the festival. So, we made this compromise which would allow us to talk with vendors, find out issues and help them move them towards more sustainable practise. Smaller steps needed, it seemed.
Sadly our work with Old Town Festival for 2020 came to an end due to the coronavirus situation. Sadly the 2021 festival has also been cancelled due to perceived problems. We look forward to working with the committee for the 2022 festival. It will give us more time to explore options and implement changes. Our work so far has provided good experience and brought information to light.
Dealing with waste and positively changing culture has been succesfully implemented by progressive festivals such as the UK's greenest big festival, Shambala. We are keen to bring those changes to Swindon.
Watch this space for 2022!