Environment

In 2009 we won a prestigious A Greener Festival Award for the second year running, for efforts in promoting environmentally friendly music festivals.

- Recycling at the The Co-operative Cambridge Folk Festival was introduced 14 years ago, to supplement our overall waste management and the Festival currently recycles paper, cardboard, cans, plastic, glass and waste oil at all sites.

- Please help us to keep the site tidy and recycle using the bins, skips, recycling bags and points provided. Please do not bring glass; no glass bottles are allowed in the arena.

- All campers will be given recycling bags on entry to the site. Bins will separate material into appropriate containers around the sites. Each toilet will be supplied with a waste paper bin to recycle paper hand towels. Please use all of these!

- Reports from our waste team are that customers were very responsive to the recycling bag scheme in 2009 and that the manned campsite waste station points worked very well with minimum contamination of waste being recycled.

- Recycling rates UP in 2009 to 18.4 tons of waste, compared to 14.09 tons in 2008

- Landfill rates DOWN in 2009 to 28.22 tones of waste, compared to 33.9 tons in 2008

- The bar is now generating zero landfill waste due to glass reuse and recycling all packaging.

- Our backstage artist/staff catering is also a zero landfill waste area thanks to the use of biodegradable cutlery and the recycling of all food scraps and packaging.

- Our recycling rate is now up to 65% so thank you to all our customers, traders and contractors who have helped with this achievement.

- The Co-operative Cambridge Folk Festival is committed to minimising its impact on the environment.

Preventing traffic congestion is essential for the future of the Festival. Unless you are disabled or have a trailer tent, you must drive straight to the car park. There will be no unauthorised unloading at or near Cherry Hinton Hall Campsite other than for disabled people and those with trailer tents. It is a 15 minute walk from the car park to Cherry Hinton Hall Campsite but a regular free shuttle bus service is provided. If there is no traffic congestion on the day, authorised drop off at Cherry Hinton Hall Campsite will be allowed to those with greater need eg customers with: large numbers of children; children under 5; an injury or illness; bulky or large amounts of musical instruments; large amounts of equipment; or customers who are elderly. Authorised drop off will be controlled by stewards at the car park only; you must still drive to the car park first.

- Use public transport or www.liftshare.com wherever possible.

- We provide free buses to and from Cambridge Railway Station and Bus Station on your arrival and departure. Free buses are also provided to and from the main site, car parks and Coldhams Common throughout the event.

- Trishaws will also be available to help take you to and from the car park to the main site.

- A limited number of bike racks will be available at Cherry Hinton Hall, accessible via Drop Off Gate 1. For your own safety, do not leave bikes in the bus turning area.

Our Environmental Impact

In 2009 we commissioned a report to measure the carbon footprint of the Festival. This measured staff transport, fuel use by caterers, electricity from mains supply, fuel used in diesel generators and transport for site set up.

- The majority of CO2 emissions came from the diesel and electricity used on site, followed by caterer cooking gas.

- 42% of staff travelling to the site each day walked, cycled or used public transport.

- Artist local transport emissions were kept low by using local accommodation and mini-bus transport to get artists to and from the site, rather than individual vehicles.

These are some of the measures we currently use to reduce our environmental impact:

- Staff are encouraged to ‘switch off’ where possible.

- Working closely with our on-site electricians to ensure non-essential lighting is switched off during the day and that low energy light bulbs are used where we can.

- Taps used by campers will automatically switch off to conserve water. Please help us conserve water at the Festival.

- Local waterways, land and the biodiversity of the area are protected from negative impacts and contamination by the provision of sufficient toilets, waste fluid collection, adequate site drainage and the safe disposal of chemicals.

- Trackway is used on highly trafficked pedestrian areas to protect the park ground. We pledge to put right any damage caused to the site as soon as possible after the event.

- For the third year running our bars will be using a system of reusing plastic pint glasses at our bars, which has had a major impact on the tidiness of the site and reduced the number of glasses that we waste. Half pint glasses were introduced in 2009 and these will be used again this year.

- Because we want to maintain a traditionally pulled pint, we have to use rigid plastic glasses and not cardboard ones. Before the introduction of this system we used around 40,000 plastic glasses, many of which ended up littering the site and were are hard to pick up once they became shattered and embedded in the ground.

- If customers are concerned that their glasses have become dirty, there will be machines to give them a quick wash, though we hope people will use this sparingly in order to save water, as it takes 1/4 pint of water to rinse each glass. We hope people will cooperative and not demand a clean glass every time they order a pint as that would rather defeat the objective. Age restrictions will apply when deposits are returned to ensure that children do not claim unattended glasses.

- All caterers and traders complete an Ethical Statement as part of the process to secure a stall. This is taken into account, together with other factors when deciding who should trade on site.

- Catering outlets must use biodegradable trays and wooden cutlery rather than plastic.

- All tea, coffee and hot chocolate sold on site is Fair Trade and all egg products are free-range.

- Caterers are not allowed to use generators, which can add to noise and pollution.

- We provide caterers with containers so we can recycle food waste, water and cooking oil and to prevent contamination of local land or waterways.

- Traders are not be allowed to provide plastic bags to customers. Reusable cloth bags will be for sale at the Festivals own merchandise stall.

- All major contractors are required to consider their own impact on the environment, which is part of their appointment process.

- We have asked our on-site electricians to use low energy light bulbs where possible and turn off emergency lighting during the day, where it is safe to do so.

- We follow Cambridge City Council’s ‘Buying Green’ guide where possible when procuring goods. Products from sustainable and/or recycled sources are used where available.

We are pleased to have a longstanding association with Friends of the Earth. FOE provides a team of 12 volunteers who assist with recycling each day. They also run a promotional stall to educate attendees on the benefits of recycling and to promote a variety of other environmental issues. As well as passes and stall space, the Festival gives a donation to FOE.