UKC

This is an attempt to start a campaign to encourage festival goers at Rock Ness and Belladrum {The Highlands} to leave their tents, with all pegs and strings neatly packed, so that the charities that come after the event can collect them. Last year I met one charity, Blytheswood, who transport help to far off places in crisis, try and collect tents . Most were trashed and organisers scooped them into huge refuse lorries!!! Can this idea of mine work? Perhaps people who are good on other social networks linked to these two festivals, can spread the message. The festival culture can go on to help others . Recycle for those who have dreadful circumstances and for whom a tent is life saving in vicious conditions, and recycle to help other local charities!

In reply to MargieB:

Great idea, however it's unlikely to work. Festival goers tend to either buy really cheap tents with the intention of just walking away at the end, or they will have a decent tent (often a canvas bell tent) which they will take home.

I know this because i have worked on festivals for years, mostly Glastonbury.

In reply to Skip:

There was a newspaper report about this a couple of years ago. One enterprising festival organiser sickened by the waste collected all the discarded tents and donated them to charity. Off they went to where they were needed.

Within a short space of time it was realised why people had just walled away from them after only a few nights use. A few nights was all they were good for. Now they end up in land fill.

In reply to MargieB:

Might be worth reading this
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jul/07/festival-tents-landfill

a quote to summarise "The fact is that we need to dispel the myth that overseas aid charities are going to want a load of cheap tents from Asda because they don't"

In reply to MargieB: If I lived in a disaster zone and had a choice between cheap and leaking shelter or no shelter at all I don't think I would turn down an asda special.

In reply to Dax H:

I think your missing the point.

What is the point?

How is a 5 quid tent going to help in "vicious conditions" ? Most of them don't even stand up to the rain in T in the park! I know because I have been rained out of one of them before. The thing was a piece of crap and the material started to tear just by tentioning the guy ropes.

Maybe it would be better placed to stop supermarkets punting and wasting cheap tents at festival time and make them aware of the environmental side effects of their promotions. Force people to get decent tents which they will be likely to take home with them.

In reply to Milesy:


Totally agree. Part of the problem is the cheap, low grade festival camping offers promoted by supermarkets and some outdoor stores at this time of the year.

However i wouldn't want to take a decent tent to a big festival as a punter. There is very little space, with guy ropes often touching. It's almost inevitable that people will trip on your guys at some point.

In reply to MargieB:

I think it's a really nice idea Margie but I wonder about the quality of the tents, like others on this thread.

Alternatively the festival could provide tented accommodation for the festival goers just like the stuff people in real refugee camps have to live in for months or years at a time.

If there's limited air freight capacity (or funds) it doesn't make sense to ship a random mix of potentially damaged, incomplete, flimsy or mouldy tents that are too small for a family.

In reply to Milesy:

I think you may have mis-interpreted my post but if a festival goer were to do as the OP said then the charity would need to unpack and check that the tent was clean, dry, complete and not broken. Rectify any problems then process it through to the end user. All that costs money. As most festival tents cost less than £20 surely it would be cheaper to go to Tesco, Asda or Argos and buy new tents direct?

In reply to Skip:

In an ideal world.

In reply to elsewhere:

Covered in p*ss, sh*t, sick and semen, spilled drink, fag ends.

It does not seem a practical idea. I have always taken my own tent to festivals and always take it home again.

In reply to MargieB:

It's not a new idea, it was tried at glasto 6 years ago and other places too.

The problem is that for the most part the tents are absolutely useless, entirely unsuitable for relief work.

In reply to winhill: Thanks for the observations. Some collection of tents were for local community/children's groups so were useful but I can understand comments about poor quality tents for refugees. Wonder why Blytheswood were looking then ? Perhaps, hopefully... They are collecting at Belladrum this year.

In reply to winhill: Thanks for the observations. Some collection of tents were for local community/children's groups so were useful but I can understand comments about poor quality tents for refugees. Wonder why Blytheswood were looking then ? Perhaps, hopefully... They are collecting at Belladrum this year. Some people are hygenic....

In reply to MargieB:
Very interesting idea. Tesco seem to sell their most basic 2-4 person tents for around the £15-£20 mark so I wonder if a better model might be for a social enterprise to sell the tents at the point of entry (ie festival-goers would reserve and pick-up) for around £25 with £5 on each sale going to a 'tent-trust' that could then buy (fewer) premium tents for emergency shelter needs?

In reply to MargieB: Was talking about this in the pub last night and although you wouldn't be the right person to implement this an idea did come up that might work.

A lot if not most people? go to music festivals like Glastonbury for the ability to cross it off a bucket list. Glastonbury costs minimum £216 p/p for the 4 days.

So a tent manufacturer with 100 cheap but decent unsold tents could sponsor an area within the festival with its name for the price of selling the tents at cost or very close to it to a charity. The festival would then reserve these tents for a 'festival and accommodation' package. The cost would add £10/p/p/p/n so on a 2 man tent that would mean £80 which would pay for the original cost of the tent. There would be many people that would happily pay the extra for chance of a ticket. Look at how the London marathon reserves/sells? charity places as an example.

At the end of the festival the charity has 100 decent tents with only 4 nights use on the clock. Any damage would be charged to the occupants.

Tent manufacturer gets to rid itself of surplus stock and become the official tent supplier
Festival gets green points and saves on clear up and land fill Tax to dump the cheap tents
Charity get 100 decent and usable tents
A person/family in need gets a half decent shelter.

win, win, win, win as they say.

In reply to Antigua:

Might be a nice idea but from a skim read I don't think you have thought through costings or human psychology very clearly. Sounds like you had a good time in the pub though

In reply to Blue Straggler:
enlighten me

In reply to MargieB: Its sound a great idea if you can make it workable. just to hijack for a second - campers, top tip here, next time on a site, snoop around the binds and chances are you'll get as many discarded poles as you like, stock up your spare parts for free

In reply to blanchie14c:
You could fill several large trucks with the camping gear abandoned at the end of Glastonbury, it's a disgraceful shambles of a scene. There are a fair number of folks among the crew that go "tatting" early on the Monday morning. Occasionally you'll find a few worthwhile items, but most of it is trashed beyond reasonable repair time/costs.

The mentality is shocking. It's worse at Leeds Carling and Reading festivals, where the last night tradition is to burn camping gear. I've seen full gas canisters thrown on fires and people dragged out of their sleeping bags, the bag then being burned.

In recent years some supermarkets have sold "festival packages": cheap tent, one or two cheap sleeping bags, one or two cheap roll mats. This has IMO added to the throw away mentality.

In reply to Antigua:

well as just one example:

Would you pay £80 upfront (OK OK £40 each) for 4 days' hire of a small 2-man tent at a festival where tents will be pitched very close together and thus be at reasonable risk of being damaged by other people walking through the campsite and tripping on guy ropes etc. and STILL be willing to pay more for damage to the tent that's at least as likely to be caused by other people as by yourself?

I don't have the time or the heart to unravel the rest of your plan but I think it's just not workable and sounds like the kind of wishful thinking that people come out with down the pub or when stoned

In reply to MargieB:

difficult. the issue of sheltering refugees is locked down in issues ranging from health concerns to protectionism. random supplies of anything are kept out of the relief/response scene, often in the most startling ways as the supply systems are very streamlined. also, refugee camps are not the dumping ground of western novelties, what goes into them is usually specially designed. surprising as it sounds, theres usually not a shortage of funds for such things (tho there is for other stuff of course).

some ngos working at shoestring/micro levels may have a need for small tents for very short term use. but companies like vango have been into all that for years (selling way more they probably do to the festical/outdoor market). theres a group called shelterbox that off load kits containing them all over the globe
http://www.shelterbox.org/about.php?page=9

if anyhting could be recycled out of post-festival debris, id say plastic water bottles and blue tarps.

In reply to ice.solo: I will certainly be at Rock Ness, post festival, to recycle tents for our local needs. We are a thin rural population on South Loch Ness and collect for children who do a lot of outdoor activities here.Rock Ness is going up now, a fabulous event in a stunning location and with a good vibe- and it looks like camelot! Thanks to all.

In reply to MargieB:

Are the organisers expecting you? Which charity are you collecting for? Have you taken into account the various human 'detritus' that you might come into contact with? I think for the time and effort involved you'd maybe be better seeing if you could set up a stall at the event where people could drop off their tents at the end if they're in decent nick.

Have a display showing what you intend to achieve and a bucket where people can drop off cash donations. I did something similar at Belladrum last year (working for a charity) and it was a great PR exercise, we made a few hundred quid for the organisation too.

In reply to Toby S: Thanks for the advice. Been on before with permission and collection is not bad!There is a good attitude at Rock Ness, but all goods are thoroughly cleaned anyway, as they have gone to a South Loch Ness school before now, in which I'm involved.