Glastonbury To Ban Plastic Bottles On Site in 2019

Andrew Allcock – Glastonbury 2017

When one of the most iconic festivals of the world returns in 2019, visitors won’t be allowed any plastic bottles on site.

Glastonbury has been encouraging its guests to leave plastic bottles at home and instead refill stainless steel bottles at the several hundred taps on the festival grounds. Festivalgoers could purchase such bottles or cups on site, too.

Now, festival organizer Emily Eavis told the UK Mirror, “our big mission for next year is banning plastic bottles. We’re in the middle of it at the moment.”

Vendors selling at the event are already using re-usable or compostable flatware and plates. The festival’s green policies can be viewed on its website. They encourage festivalgoers to take home what they bring, which includes tents.

Glastonbury published numbers that exemplify the vast amount of waste that is recycled after each edition. In 2014, the most current numbers available, 54 percent or 983 tons of the waste generated on site was recycled, which included 114 tons of composted organic waste, 400 tons of chipped wood, 23 tons of glass, 85 tons of cans and plastic bottles, 41 tons of cardboard, 162 tons of scrap metal, 11.2 tons of clothing, tents, sleeping bags, 0.264 tons of batteries, three tons of dense plastic, 0.25 tons plastic sheets.

It cost the festival £780,000 ($1.1 million) to dispose of all the rubbish. “That’s £780,000 less to Water Aid, Greenpeace or Oxfam – the main recipients of any profits made by Glastonbury. With £780,000, Water Aid can enable 52,000 people to access to safe water, improve hygiene and sanitation,” the policies state. Organizers point out the contribution of some 1,300 volunteers that work for a ticket or their respective charities.

Apart from the fact that it will be plastic-bottle free, not many details are available regarding the next Glastonbury in 2019, only rumors. The festival’s father Michael Eavis said at this year’s NME Awards that the lineup would include “two or three that have never played.”

Speaking of awards. Glatonbury picked up its 12th Pollstar Live! Award for International Festival of the Year. at this year’s ceremony. Head here to find out what Michael Eavis had to say about the win.

The festival announced its 2018 fallow year in 2016, giving somebody else the opportunity to plan a large-scale event this year. That somebody turned out to be the BBC, which is now hosting not just one, but four events over the same weekend in Swansea, Wales, Perth, Scotland, Belfast, Northern Ireland and Coventry, England.