Access this month launches its first Sustainability Special Report supplement in association with Kambe Events. Here, we round up some of our favourite festivals that are pioneering green initiatives

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Innocent Unplugged Festival

Beverage company Innocent has hosted the first Innocent Unplugged festival, which was held in May just outside of London. Wi-Fi and 4G were banned from the green event, electricity was solar and pedal power generated, and compost toilets used.

“With one-in-four admitting to feeling pressured to keep up to date with their social channels, as a nation the pressure to be plugged in has never been more apparent,” says the brand’s CEO Douglas Lamont. “People are missing out on what is happening in front of them and are too distracted by technology to enjoy the moment.”

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Shambala

Winners of the UK Festivals A Greener Festival Award 2014, organisers tell us that having achieved 100% renewable power across the site, they are now focusing on initiatives to tackle campsite waste, with the ambitious aim of recycling 100% of materials that can be recycled.

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Arcadia

Arcadia has always sought to be as sustainable, organisers tell Access.

The focus is on creating large-scale spectacles, but wherever possible, organisers try to find sustainable ways to do that without limiting the experience. The Spider itself is built from recycled materials, and waste and carbon emissions are kept to a minimum. In partnership with Bristol2015, as part of the cities year as European Green Capital, they will be replacing fossil gas with biogas for their Bristol show in September.

Cambridge Folk Festival

In 2014, Cambridge Folk Festival achieved the ‘Outstanding’ category in the Greener Festival Awards.

The festival, organised by Cambridge City Council, has outlined a series of green strategies including using LED in place of CFL festoons on campsites and using predominantly energy supplied via the grid on a green tariff.

Elsewhere, the festival committed to send waste to a ISO 14001 accredited waste plant, which uses mechanical biological treatment to minimise any waste sent to landfill.

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Latitude Festival

Festival Republic continues its impressive record of commitment to environmental practice at Latitude festival with another year of using the Julies Bicycle Industry Green tool to measure its impacts.

In 2014 they used 13,600 litres of bio-diesel, measured their energy use across site leading to improvements, and re-used 250,000 cups rather than disposables. This year they continue to promote sustainable travel, and are giving campers waste kits on arrival.

Read Access‘ Sustainability Special Report here.

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