Climate change requires urgent action – we can no longer ignore the damaging effects we’re contributing to our planet! The recent IPCC Report on Global Warming highlights the risks and irreversible losses that would take place at 2 degrees or more warming. At a warming of 2 degrees virtually all coral reefs will be lost, sea levels will rise effecting low level coastal regions and huge numbers of animals and plants will become extinct, we will exhaust our natural resources and will need 1.7 Earths to keep up with our current demand of consumption.

However instead of worrying about the future, we can start making it better if we work together!

Since 2016 Download has participated in Creative Green Certification. This is an external assessment by Julie’s Bicycle– a charity who support the creative industries to act on climate change – to measure our understanding, commitment and improvement towards environmental sustainability.  In 2018 we achieved an awesome four out of five stars for a second year in a row! See our key achievements below and read the full report. We could not have done any of this without your help, so a huge thank you to the environmentally conscious Download community who participated in our initiatives

We’ve made it easy for you to have the best time at Download while reducing your environmental impact. See what you can do below;

Travelling to the festival makes up 80% of the total carbon emissions generated (source: The Show Must Go On Report, 2015). You could travel by lower carbon forms of travel such as coach, train with direct shuttle buses to the festival or carshare to help reduce this. See our travel page for all options

As part of our ongoing commitment to reduce Download’s greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2025 we have been working hard to phase out single use plastic at Download by 2021.

The world has seen the impacts of plastic pollution on our oceans – turtles eating plastic, seabirds feeding plastic to chicks and now studies show microplastics in UK rivers which are not only a source of life for otters, freshwater fish and birds like kingfishers but there is growing concern they are becoming plastic waterways pumping pollution through our towns and villages and into our oceans.

Here’s what we’ve put in place to work towards eliminating single use plastic at the festival. We’re asking Downloaders to please work with us and dispose of what plastic is on site responsibly:

• Please minimise the single use plastic you bring! We encourage you to bring empty sports or metal refillable bottles of any size to refill at the water points inside the arena for free. Plus, you can bring any under 500ml sealed or empty plastic water bottles to refill, these must be sealed and untampered with.
• Plastic cutlery will not be allowed in the main arena
• You are welcome to bring your own refillable bottle to Download to refill at the arena water stations, they are also available for sale in the merch stalls
• All our water bottles will be made from recycled plastic, which supports the UK recycling industry
• All trader soft drinks will be served from cans and decanted into paper cups in the arena
• All bottled alcoholic drinks will be decanted into cups so we can manage the plastic disposal responsibly
• We use reusable cups at the arena bars with a £2 deposit
• All paper cups and bottles in the arena have a 10p deposit included in the price which you can redeem at the refund points in the arena (minimum 10 for £1)
• In the campsite any bottles bought in the Co-op Supermarket can be redeemed for 10p in the Co-op’s instore reverse vending machine
• We have banned single use plastic cutlery and serveware since 2016

We run a three-bin system at the festival, which means bin station in the campsite and village will be formed by 3 bins:

COMPOST
When you buy food from the traders, everything your food comes in is compostable so plates, cutlery and napkins can be placed in the compost bins along with the food scraps. Please make sure NO PLASTIC goes into the compost.

RECYCLE
Plastic bottles, aluminium cans, newspapers, magazines and clean and dry cardboard (no used greasy pizza boxes as these do not recycle).

GENERAL WASTE
There should be minimal left over that goes into General Waste.

Only bring what you can take home with you!  When packing ready for the festival weekend, remember to pack wisely and only bring essential items.

Ready To Rock offer pre-pitched tents or if you’re bringing your own tent we ask you to take it home, along with any other camping equipment.

If you have any broken  tents chairs, gazebos, empty batteries, unopened tins of food after the festival, please take them to the Recycling Points.

The reality is the majority of abandoned tents end up in landfill because it is impossible to recycle or reuse them all.

Say no to single use, reuse your tent!  Buy a durable tent that you can use again eacy year, it will save you money in the long run.

If you are an environmentally friendly rocker come and stay in the Eco-Campsite, back for the second year in a row, where zero tents were left behind last year!  \m/

Visit our Campsite Info page for more information.

Want to gain valuable experience on your CV, whilst helping us continue to make Download one of the best music festivals in the world?

Volunteer with Hotbox Events and not only will you be helping other festival goers get the most out of their weekend but you’ll also get to go behind the scenes, meet other volunteers from around the world, and make new friends.

When joining as a volunteer at Download you’ll be provided with entry to the festival (including lots of free time to also enjoy it), plus access to staff camping, cafes, toilets and showers.

Volunteers assist with a wide variety of areas, and it’s tricky to list everything they get up to, but some of the most common roles include…

• Assisting Download Festival goers with directions.
• Helping Download Festival goers carry their belongings and pitch their tents.
• Answering questions about Download Festival performances and line-ups.
• Reporting any problems such as a build-up of litter or faulty facilities.
• Work alongside Download Festival Fire Safety, Medical and Security teams.
• Keeping an eye on the Download Festival campsites from the fire towers.
• Helping out with various roles across the Download Festival site including pedestrian and vehicle gates, wristband exchanges, keeping an eye on facilities, monitoring stages and walkways.

If you’d like to find out more about volunteering at Download, you can drop the team an email at [email protected]

We’ve teamed up with Every Can Counts this year who will gladly give your finished drink cans a new home. Expect games and activities, who knew recycling could be this much fun!