Leeds Festival boss Melvin Benn has asked for the thousands attending this weekend’s event to be responsible and take their tent home.
When this weekend’s event concludes on Monday there will be thousands of people making their way home from the Bramham Park site. Melvin Benn , managing director of Festival Republic, who oversee Leeds Festival and its sister event Reading Festival has spoken about the collective environmental responsibility for those who attend the event.
Melvin said: “I’ve been measuring the carbon footprint here at Leeds and at Reading since 2008. Ultimately, the festival is about band’s and teenagers mainly. We have the equivalent of 90,000 teenage bedrooms and some of them can be messy.
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“My plea and hope each year is more and more of them take their rubbish away and recycle or reuse where they can. They don’t leave it to be trashed, when that happens, that adds to the worry of climate destruction. Reusing things is just so important.”
This year, both Leeds and Reading events collaborated with Music Declares Emergency to launch the festival’s first ever eco campsite, where those attending can stay in a green campsite with the aim of leaving no trace of their attendance.
It was aimed at offering like-minded people who want to make a difference a place when camping at the festival. Melvin added: “It is more their future than my future and they know that. I don’t want them to be burdened by that, I want them to have the best time ever this weekend but remember to take their tent home.”
Festival Republic is also funding a new research project within Music Declares Emergency, with the aim to drive grid connections to UK festivals and begin the transition of the UK outdoor live sector to grid power. The intention is to reduce carbon emissions for the sector in relation to temporary power generation.
You can keep up to date with everything happening at Leeds Festival 2022 by visiting our live blog. You can post your highlights of the weekend by joining our Leeds Fest Facebook group.
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