Karl GuestLife Festival kicks off this Friday evening and will see thousands of festival-goers navigate their way to Belvedere House in Mullingar for the weekend. As most of us are probably well-aware by now, the setting of Belvedere House & Gardens is one of the many great spaces in Ireland where flora and fauna flourish, it’s a big plot of land with woodlands, lakes, follies and greenery that throughout the rest of the year is a big tourist attraction so both we and the festival’s promoters feel that it’s important that we do our best to try and keep it that way through sustainable camping.
LEAVE NO TRACE
Sustainable packing/camping is all about keeping nature safe from destruction. When festival season rolls around, tens of thousands of people all over the country set off with their food, beverages and all necessary equipment when going camping. However, when we do this, we are unintentionally damaging the environment and to avoid this, we must adopt methods that will help us camp/pack sustainably in order to keep the land safe, green and clean.
Ahead of the landmark weekend that is Life Festival, we’ve decided to share some information on sustainable camping and how we can all do our bit to look after the environment.
1. Leave No Trace
We know this seems like a rather obvious thing to say but unfortunately, there’s just not enough people trying to do this. It’s always going to be hard to leave NO trace, something will always get past us but we should all be trying our level best to at the very least, clear the space that we used as much as possible.
2. No Single Use Products
Single use products such as plastic and cardboard are some of the leading contributors to environmental damage in 2019. Plastic bottles, straws and packaging are huge threat to the world around us and avoiding them is a great way to camp sustainably. Paper straws and reusable cups/bottles are are a good alternative, throw out all unnecessary plastic/cardboard items before leaving for the festival.
3. Biodegradable Glitter
We’ve all been there, you’re at a festival and there’s random bits of glitter all over your body and in your tent, even if you haven’t used any yourself. Glitter sales rocket around the summer months with festival goers making up a huge portion of those sales so that they can use it for decoration & fashion purposes at festivals. Although glitter seems fun and innocent, it’s actually extremely harmful for the environment. There’s some companies such as The Glitter Bugs that specialise in biodegradable glitter that microbes will absorb once it’s in the natural environment, causing no harm to the world around it.
Check them out here
4. Sort & Recycle
Sort and recycle your rubbish. Bring a few rubbish bags and make sure that you sort your plastics, papers, cans and bottles so that you can take everything out for recycling. You can also reduce the amount of rubbish in the first place by bringing items and food that have less or no packaging whenever it’s possible.
5. Camping Gear
It is important to look for sustainable camping gear. Look for camping tents made with 100 percent recycled materials. This should include the tent, fly and floor. You want a tent that uses solvent-free polyurethane coating. And, it helps if it is made without toxic dyes… But most importantly, TAKE YOUR TENT HOME.
Life Festival takes places May 24-26 @ Belvedere House, Mullingar.
Pick up remaining tickets here… and pack sustainably!