SUSTAINABILITY
Nothing beats being out in the fields with all of you. Out in nature, a sunny day, green grass, blue skies, and the River Trent flowing by… Our home plays a massive part in bringing Bearded Theory to life each year, and we’re dedicated to minimising the environmental impact the festival has, both on our Derbyshire site and our planet. In order to reduce our carbon, we have introduced our own measures including:
HVO FUEL
We have adopted the use of HVO fuel to keep the music playing and the party going late into the night in a more sustainable way. HVO, or hydrotreated vegetable oil is a more sustainable alternative to regular diesel. Using HVO in this way reduces our CO2 emissions from generating electricity by 90%.
LOCAL WATER
We sustainably source our water locally from a Borehole to reduce the need for transportation onto our site, thus reducing the carbon footprint of making sure everyone stays nice and hydrated! Where mains water mainly comes from purified recycled wastewater, boreholes get their water straight from the ground – making it a 100% fresh and natural source.
REUSABLE CUPS
Once again, we will be using reusable cups on our bars at Bearded Theory to prevent waste from single use receptacles. The cup will cost £4 and is yours to keep all weekend and take home with you as a souvenir! Any cups that are returned to us or leftover, will be safely stored, cleaned and reused at our next festival.
RECYCLING POINTS
You’ll find plenty of recycling points throughout our site, please use them to help us minimise waste going to landfill and recycle as much as we can!
LIMITING SINGLE USE PLASTIC
We insist on the use of eco-friendly products across our food stalls and bars, with no polystyrene, glass or plastic allowed to be brought on site by traders. Instead, we prefer the use of paper and wooden products. Bearded Theory is aiming to be a plastic-free festival.
COMPOSTING TOILETS
The composting toilets found in our campsites provide a more sustainable way for you to… ahem, answer nature’s call. As these toilets don’t require any water or harsh chemicals to function, using these facilities instead of a regular Portaloo helps to save thousands of litres of water over the course of a festival weekend as well as relieving the need for sewage treatments. Eventually, the waste produced will become fully composted and is used in farming to make it a fully circular system.
8th Plate
We have teamed up with The National Caterers Association (NCASS) and their 8th Plate initiative this year to deliver leftover food from our wonderful traders at the festival to local foodbanks to ensure nothing goes to waste. Every day, one in eight people in the world go hungry. 8th Plate strives to feed that eighth person by working with event organisers to tackle the 400 tonnes of food that ends up in landfill each year in the UK from festivals. In 2018, 8th plate worked with 80 traders over 15 festivals and managed to save 12 tonnes of surplus food from ending up in the bin – creating the equivalent of over 28,000 meals and saving 48 tonnes of CO2 emissions. We’re excited to join in!
HOW CAN I HELP?
We are very conscious about reducing our impact where we can, however, we also know that one of the biggest contributors to the carbon footprint of an event like ours is audience travel, and that’s where you guys come in! We know a lot of you care about these issues as much as we do, so we’ve worked on introducing some opportunities for you to reduce your impact.
Balance Your Carbon
We have teamed up with Onboard: Earth to provide an opportunity for you to balance your carbon for your journey to Bearded Theory. It’s simple, just use their Travel Carbon Calculator, choosing Bearded Theory as your destination to calculate your suggested donation. Depending where you’re travelling from, it could be as little as a few pennies – well worth it to give something back to Planet Earth! You get to choose whether your contribution goes towards Renewable Energy or Tree Planting initiatives.
Travel By Train
Travelling by public transport is one of the most sustainable ways you can arrive at Bearded Theory. Using the train is a great option and to make things easier, we’ll be running a shuttle bus to help you go the full distance! This regular shuttle service will go from Tamworth Station between 11am and 5pm on Thursday to get you to the festival, with a returning service to Tamworth Station running between 7:30am and 12pm on Monday morning.
Travel By Coach
National Express will be running their coach service to Bearded Theory Festival this year. Travelling by coach is another great way to arrive at the party more sustainably. Just visit the National Express website, choose your pick up point and select Bearded Theory Festival as your destination, the coach service will drop you off and pick you up at our drop off/pick up point within the festival site, meaning you can disembark and get straight into the action!
Cycle To Bearded
Absolutely zero emissions from travelling?! It can be done – we’re inviting you to cycle to Bearded Theory this year to really limit the environmental impact your attendance has. We’re offering free secure cycling parking within the campsite, right next door to our security cabin. Plus, to show our gratitude for your individual commitment to event sustainability we’ll be providing “Dinner On Us” to anyone who cycles to the festival. You’ll get a meal token to enjoy some tasty food once you arrive, very thoroughly earned!
Circular Camping
Staying in a pre-pitched tent means that you can rock up, crack a drink, and start camping without the hassle of transporting your kit. Arrive to a clean, cosy tent, and then when Monday morning comes around you can cut and run guilt-free, leaving us to pack your tent away. With the option to travel light, you can make use of more sustainable transportation methods such as trains, coaches and even bicycles, meaning your festival experience has a smaller carbon impact.
PACK LIGHT
Limiting the amount you’re bringing to the festival means you’ll have less to carry and will be more able to use more sustainable methods of travelling. It also means you’ll be bringing less packaging that will become waste to the festival site, less waste means less landfill and less transportation to take things off-site. Please consider what you bring with you and ensure you take your rubbish away with you to keep the fields looking beautiful.
