Boomtown: Pictures show litter, tents and rubbish left behind at festival despite 70% drop in campsite waste

Boomtown was a graveyard of abandoned tents and other camping equipment after campers left the festival. Credit: Boris Dibnah
Boris Dibnah
Charlotte Carter15 August 2019

These pictures show the litter, tents and rubbish left behind at Boomtown festival, despite the event celebrating a three-quarters reduction in campsite waste.

Organisers of the event praised festivalgoers for helping to achieve what they said was a 70 per cent reduction of campsite waste from last year's event.

But several people took to social media to share photos, showing the campsite littered with tents and rubbish after the event had ended.

Some said the scenes suggested that the organisers' plea towards a greener event had fallen on deaf ears.

Boris Dibnah, who attended the event, said he cycled "all across the site" the day before the festival ended and was surprised at the amount of rubbish.

"I was just sad and disappointed when I went out. Especially the sadly ironic zero waste area and large sign about leaving stuff behind a sea of waste," he said.

"Really interested to see the full report and see how these figures are produced and how it does compare."

A spokesman for Refuge Centre, a salvage and awareness group, captured a video of the campsite mess, showing airbeds and tents strewn across the grass.

"This is not a Boomtown problem, it is a people problem," the post said

These images show the rubbish and waste left behind at Boomtown 

Another person commented: "If this is 70 per cent, does that mean that not a single tent was taken home last year?"

This year marked the eleventh year of the annual festival, based in Matterley Estate near Winchester, Hampshire.

It attracts more than 60,000 music fans and prides itself on its family friendly feel, arts and crafts workshop, diverse music line up and sustainability

The festival is now in its 11th year  
Chris Gorman/Big Ladder

The festival posted on Facebook that festivalgoers had achieved a "whopping 70 per cent" reduction in campsite waste compared to last year.

It said it showed a "huge shift in environmental awareness", adding: "It's the biggest change in one year our sustainability team have ever seen at a festival."

Organisers have encouraged festivalgoers to help make the event 'greener'

It website states they have a "Green Mission".

"Our main priority for this year is to focus fully on what we can do within the festival and our audience reach, we have been completely rethinking the event in every aspect to radically reduce the impact.

"For 2019 and beyond, we are putting the imminent environmental crisis front and centre of our messaging and deep into the fabric of our event planning and infrastructure," the website says.

It lists a number of schemes and ways festivalgoers can make Boomtown greener, including travelling greener and taking campsite waste home with them.

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