We Can’t Cope with the Poo - Say Festival Leaders

We still don’t know what to do with your poo.

Portaloos at major festivals are being driven further and further, as local sewage treatment works can’t cope with the extra demand.

Glastonbury has 6,500 toilets, removed by 350 water tankers. Jane Healy, who oversees this sanitation challenge, says;

“The situation is getting worse – the local treatment works are at capacity, so we have to go further afield. That’s more miles by road by big tankers, which is undermining what we have to achieve.”

As Glastonbury kicks off the busy festival season next week, we discover that despite the poo problems, these pop-up cities have become an unexpected hotbed of sustainability.

A Greener Future (AGF) has been assessing festival impacts worldwide for 19 years.

The data shows that festivals aren’t just tackling their footprint, they’re shaping solutions that could transform thinking across the events sector and beyond.

• 70% of assessed festivals have now banned single-use plastics.

• 20% are offering fully vegetarian or vegan meals (up from 8% last year).

• Recycling rates have jumped to 49% (up from 38% in 2022).

• 15% are using compost toilets, reducing transport demand.

• 30% are connected to the mains for water, cutting out tankers.

• Some are exploring technology to turn urine into purified water for showers! 

As AGF CEO Claire O’Neill put it, festivals have “a much louder voice than many sectors that aren’t quite as exciting or as much a part of people’s lives.”

They’re using that platform to push for serious systems change, and will remain some of our best testing grounds for sustainable living.