Bio-glitter and reusable water bottles - Love Saves the Day’s new sustainability campaign

Bristol’s biggest music festival Love Saves The Day has launched its new sustainability awareness campaign, ahead of its relocation to the iconic Ashton Court over the Queen’s Jubilee bank holiday weekend on 2nd-3rd June.

It’s not just about love saving the day anymore and is, instead, about focusing on how Love Saves Tomorrow with the popular music festival.

So, what’s different from normal? This year, the festival will partner with Music Declares Emergency alongside other leading festivals, using the No Music on a Dead Planet pledge as a key communication point for artists and attendees.

The festival organisers aim to raise awareness of the beautiful new Ashton Court location and encourage attendees to respect and protect it. Across the coming week, the team will be sharing ways the festival has taken steps to try to ensure that partying and caring for our planet go hand-in-hand, inviting attendees to think about waste, food consumption, water usage, and their day-to-day choices.

Ban single-use plastics

Despite it being a big part of many people’s festival experience, one big part of this is to encourage festival-goers to banish the glitter or, at least, opt for bio-glitter and something that is not derived from plastic.

Similarly, the festival is encouraging attendees to bring their own reusable water bottles, all as a part of their Drastic on Plastic initiative to ban single-use plastics from the site.

Greener travel

So, what else does the new sustainability campaign focus on? With its city location, Love Saves the Day is raising awareness of how easy it is for attendees to use low-emission transport to get to the site.

Team Love, the organisers, has arranged a £2 return Love Bus from Temple Meads, which is carbon-balanced with ecolibrium and even takes attendees close to the after parties when the festival gates close.

For those wanting a completely emission-free journey, the festival encourages walking or cycling to the site and has a bike lock park located at Ashton Court Mansion car park. There are also green options for travel for those commuting from outside Bristol as well, as the festival has partnered with Big Green Coach.

Festival fashion

With festival fashion a big part of people getting in the mood for the event, Love Saves the Day have recently launched its conscious fashion campaign, encouraging those attending to support local designers and buy sustainable festival outfits.

In true Bristol style, festival-goers are encouraged to make their own, purchase second-hand (from thrift and charity shops) or even repurpose old outfits and clothes swap with friends.

Other green initiatives

Loves Saves the Day is using the campaign to show just how much there is to think about when it comes to making a sustainable event. Leaving no stone unturned, this year’s festival will see more veggie and vegan food traders than ever before, and compost toilets are accounting for two-thirds of the toilets on the site.

They are also introducing PEEQUAL this year, a safe and sustainable urinal for women. Made from recycled ocean plastic, it is a queue-busting gender equaliser and uses 98% less co2 than portable toilets. Even better, it was designed by University of Bristol graduates, as well.

Pauline Bourdon, Sustainability Manager at Team Love, (organisers of Love Saves The Day) explains: “The festival is our love letter to music, its communities, and the planet. We believe we have a responsibility to inspire awareness and changes in the local area, emphasising the duty of care towards future generations and communities, to make sure they can also experience the benefits of live music, arts, and culture for years to come.”

To follow through with their vision of becoming a leader in sustainable festival events, the organisers have also signed the Vision: 2025 Pledge. This event industry initiative aims to inspire events to measure their environmental impacts and reduce them by 50% by the year 2025 and are aiming for Net Zero by 2030.