As part of a project started in school called ‘Using Resources’, the science department took a group of students to collect data about carbon footprint and recycling. They collected data to analyse the carbon footprint of festival goers, counted and calculated the impact of food vans attending and researched the use of recycling on site. The group concluded that although there is going to be an environmental impact to hosting a large festival, the organisers had tried their best to keep the carbon footprint as low as possible.

The data also showed that most festival goers were also aware of their carbon footprint and tried, where possible, to keep it low. The most popular answers to helping with this were: using the festival buses or car sharing, taking home camping equipment to use again in the future, using refillable drinking bottles and using as little amount of single use plastic as possible. The group counted lots of black and green bins and most festival goers were attempting to use the correct bin for their waste.

Finally the group analysed the food vans and concluded that, although there were over 100 vans, almost all of them were serving food in recyclable containers and there was a minimal amount of single use plastic drinks bottles for sale. When questioned, most had also only travelled within 50 miles to the festival and used off peak ferry travel.

The analysis is continuing in school with the students working towards designing a ‘Fantasy Carbon Neutral Festival’.

Mrs Smith.