Purton festival ditches single-use plastic

By Claire Dukes - 30 July 2019

Arts and Culture

From Happy Cups to Envriocups – a festival in Wiltshire is upping its a war on plastic this year.

Kate Robinson at Purton House Organics' refill station

The eco-warriors of Purton Farm Shop have taken more action on the war on plastics for this year’s Festival on the Farm.

This weekend (2 to 4 August) will see headliners The Wurzels head to Purton, on top of an array of local talent and welcome the introduction of the festival’s Happy Cups. Farm Manager and Festival organiser, Rowie Meers, said: “We can’t use glass on the Festival field because of safety issues for festival goers and for our animals afterwards.

“But, since David Attenborough highlighted the plight of our oceans we were determined to do our bit to reduce plastic.”

Punters will be charged £1 for their first cup and they can re-use it through the night or exchange it for fresh cups at the bar.  Then they can either take it home or return it in exchange for a raffle ticket to enter a Prize Draw for free Festival Tickets next year. The levy will cover the increased cost of hiring the cups and organisers hope that many will be returned so they can be washed by the supplier and used many times again at other events.  Research has shown that, although the re-useable cups are made of rigid plastic, if they are re-used more than 3 to 5 times there is a net benefit to the Environment over single-use plastic cups.  And, these sturdy attractive cups can be re-used many more times than that.

The Festival will also have stainless steel Envirocups on offer at £5 to buy and re-use throughout the weekend. Festival organiser Kate Robinson said: “Stainless steel can be recycled forever without losing quality so the Envirocup is a great sustainable option. 

“The metal cups will have our Festival logo so will also make a great souvenir.”

Festival on the Farm takes place this weekend from Friday 2 to Sunday 4 August headlined by The Wurzels and featuring many well known and up and coming local bands, as well as plenty of children’s activities, local food vans and trading stalls. 

Details and tickets (including Day Tickets) are available on line at www.festivalonthefarm.co.uk/ or from Purton Farm Shop via www.purtonhouseorganics.co.uk/farm-shop/

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