A leading environmental charity has praised a growing Kent festival for breaking the “usual festival litter frenzy”.
Keep Britain Tidy applauded Chickenstock after just a single bag’s worth of litter was picked up off the floor after four days of camping and partying at Stockbury, near Sittingbourne.
Chickenstock founder Moya Taylor says the fact that so little waste was dropped on the campsite and arena by the 3,400 people who attended is a “testament to our lovely customers”.
Although this is on a much smaller scale to many festivals, Chickenstock’s waste management over the annual event, which took place from Thursday, July 31 to Sunday, August 3, is refreshing to see.
Moya, who started the festival with her wife Beth Taylor in 2018 in their back garden, says it has been the best year in terms of the rubbish left. But even the worst year only saw 30 bags of waste left behind.
“It has never been terrible”, the 52-year-old said, “but it has definitely been the best year in that sense.
“We give everyone a black sack and a recycling sack on entry, and also have litter pickers who clean up during the festival.
“Because there is no rubbish around when people arrive, they do not think it is okay to drop it.
“But it is also a testament to our lovely customers. It is a family-friendly event, and that does make a difference as well.”
Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, chief executive of national environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, said: “I can’t tell you how chuffed we were to find out Chickenstock had cracked the usual festival litter frenzy.
“A staggering amount of litter is traditionally left behind at festivals so it’s incredibly encouraging to hear how the organisers of Chickenstock gave out recycling bags and black sacks to attendees and their efforts to try to keep litter to a minimum were so well rewarded.
“We applaud their initiative and hope that the organisers of other festivals take a leaf out of their book and prioritise the prevention of litter. We need to have our fun without it costing the earth.”
The clean hayfield after the camping and partying is a far cry from that of other festivals, which are notorious for the amount of waste left behind.
For example, after Glastonbury – Britain’s biggest festival – around 2,000 tonnes of rubbish is left, which takes three weeks to clean up.
Moya and Beth have witnessed their festival grow from large garden parties to now thousands of people attending.
This year’s event had 37 musical acts perform as well as food stalls and bars.
It even saw a family from the San Francisco Bay area of California glamping in the field during their 18-day tour of the UK.
“It just keeps growing and growing,” Moya said, “and a lot of people have already pre-ordered their tickets for next year.
“We’ve even got our first Chickenstock wedding, where two people who met at our festival are getting married next year.
“They’re getting married on July 30 and then coming to the festival straight after for their mini-moon.”
