This summer’s Big Chill Festival will be the greenest yet in their 13-year history through the implementation of simple yet innovative schemes to reduce the event’s carbon impact.
As part of their ‘Leave No Trace’ initiative, organisers of August’s three-day event have just announced plans to charge £5 for car parking, with the revenue raised used to subsidise coach travel to the event and a free shuttle bus from the nearest station.
A spokesperson for the festival explained: “We’ve been told that approximately 90% of the carbon footprint of an event such as The Big Chill is generated by transport to and from the event. We are taking some steps to reduce emissions caused by the festival, and the first step is to encourage travel by public transport.”
Revellers heading to Herefordshire for the festival will be now be able to travel directly to the site in one of several exclusive National Express coaches. Those traveling by coach will be afforded an opportunity to start the party early with most of the buses installed with Big Chill favourites on their sound-systems.
In other CO2 reducing measures, cyclists will be encouraged to brave the elements and ride to the event, safe in the knowledge that secure bike storage will be provided free of charge. In addition, those traveling by car are advised to visit the soon to be launched liftshare forum at www.bigchill.net to ensure that cars coming onto the site are packed with punters, thus cutting down on both petrol use and the amount of vehicles on the roads around the festival.
The event’s green credentials don’t just stop at travel though. All festival flyers and programmes will be printed on paper from sustainable sources using environmentally-friendly ink and there will also be a daily delivery to the site of local food produce, from which stall holders will be encouraged to buy their ingredients.
The festival’s organisers are also currently researching whether the event’s production can be run from bio-diesel generators, whilst exploring other alternative energy sources such as installing a wind turbine. Whether these energy saving initiatives will be in place by the time of the event remains to be seen but The Big Chill is certainly setting the precedent for all of the summer’s numerous festivals.
The Big Chill is set to take place at Eastnor Castle Deer Park in the Malvern Hills between Friday 3rd and Sunday 6th August.
Click here for line-up information and booking details
