Bristol’s biggest music festival Love Saves The Day, today launches its sustainability awareness campaign, ahead of its relocation to the iconic Ashton Court over the Queen’s Jubilee bank holiday weekend 2-3 June 2022.
This year, the festival will partner with Music Declares Emergency alongside other leading festivals, using the No Music on a Dead Planet pledge as a key communication point for artists and attendees.
The week will kick off with a dive into the history and ecosystems which exist at the new location of Ashton Court, a site once popular with free-festivals of old, which has not seen a music festival since 2008. With an aim to raise awareness of the beautiful new location and encourage attendees to respect and protect it. The team will be sharing ways the festival has taken steps to try to ensure that partying and caring for our planet go hand-in-hand, inviting attendees to think about waste, food consumption, water usage and their day-to-day choices.
With a city location, it is easy for attendees to use low-emission transport to get to site. Team Love, the organisers, have arranged a £2 return Love Bus from Bristol’s main train station, Temple Meads, which is carbon- balanced with ecolibrium and even takes attendees close to the after parties when the festival gates close. For those wanting a completely emission-free journey, the festival encourages walking or cycling to the site and has a bike lock park located at Ashton Court Mansion car park.
There are green options for travel for those commuting from outside Bristol, as the festival has partnered with Big Green Coach.
Other initiatives include banning single use plastic from the site, as part of Drastic on Plastic campaign, which includes glitter – attendees are encouraged to bring their own reusable water bottles to the festival, and there will be metal ones available to purchase.
When it comes to festival fashion choices, Love Saves the Day have recently launched their conscious fashion campaign, encouraging those attending to support local designers and buy sustainable festival outfits. Festival goers are encouraged to make their own, purchase second-hand (from thrift and charity shops) or even repurpose old outfits and clothes-swap with friends.
There are more veggie and vegan food traders this year, and compost toilets accounting for two thirds of toilets on the site. They are also introducing PEEQUAL this year, a safe and sustainable urinal for women. Made from recycled ocean plastic, it is a queue-busting gender equaliser and uses 98% less co2 than portable toilets- and was designed by University of Bristol graduates.
Pauline Bourdon, Sustainability Manager at Team Love, (organisers of Love Saves The Day) explains:
“The festival is our love letter to music, its communities, and the planet. We believe we have a responsibility to inspire awareness and changes in the local area, emphasising the duty of care towards future generations and communities, to make sure they can also experience the benefits of live music, arts, and culture for years to come.”
Organisers have also signed the Vision: 2025 Pledge – an event industry initiative that aims to inspire events to measure their environmental impacts and reduce them by 50% by the year 2025 and are aiming for Net Zero by 2030.
