Eco-Friendly Festival Packing: Guide to Attend More Sustainably

Are you looking to be more sustainable at festivals?

Personally, I LOVE them but HATE camping. So, for years, despite becoming more eco-friendly with my wardrobe and in other areas of my life, I kept buying all kinds of minis and plasticky or single-use bits and bobs to try and make my experience more comfortable.

Luckily, a recent trip with a more experienced camper showed me there are lots of smart ways to be more sustainable at festivals without sacrificing fun and comfort or buying the most complicated gear.

So, here are some simple mindset shifts and eco-friendly festival packing tips for you. 

Why it’s important to reduce waste and be more eco-friendly at festivals 

Nowadays, more and more festivals are paying attention to their environmental footprint, from the set-up of their locations to their water, material, and energy usage. 

And that’s great… But our behaviour when attending them makes a huge difference, too!

For example, think of:

• Single-use plastic like disposable water bottles, coffee cups, rain ponchos, and packaging
• Abandoned tents and camping gear
• Disposable wet wipes
• Mini toiletries 

… these are just some of the popular festival items that get left behind.

No wonder the average waste per person for a 3-day festival is over 2kg. And when it’s 100000 people… it becomes a worrying number, doesn’t it?

To help lower it, here’s how we can pack for festivals in an eco-friendly way.

Guide to preparing and packing for festivals more sustainably: tips, easy swaps, and zero-waste festival packing guide

Before I share my tips on how to be more sustainable and eco-friendly at festivals, I want to make this clear: while most of them are easy swaps for your average attendee, some might not be feasible for your specific conditions (for example, with certain disabilities).

So, take them as generic guidelines and suggestions rather than strict rules.

Eco-friendly and zero-waste festival camping gear

Overall, consider investing in durable items you can reuse for various festivals and other trips and occasions too, rather than disposable ones (you can actually save a lot of money in the long run!).

• Durable camping tent made with recycled plastic and PFC-free waterproofing (or if you wouldn’t make the most of it, lots of festivals offer pre-pitched tents)
• Sleeping bag made with recycled materials and responsible down
• Camping chair made with recycled materials
• Reusable water bottle (pro tip: fill it up before you go to sleep, so you can save yourself the crunchy, crusty morning walk to hydration)
• Portable mug or coffee cup 
• Stainless-steel container for food and snacks
• Reusable cutlery 
• Small waste bag and/or tote bag
• Ethical camping bag or rucksack (for example, made responsibly using kinder materials like recycled fabrics or organic cotton)
• Solar power bank 

Eco-friendly toiletries and personal care for festivals

• Zero-waste deodorant (especially the non-liquid variant, which you can take to the festival terrain too, feeling fresh all day long. This swap was truly a winner after too many hot and sweaty summer gigs!)
• Shampoo bar and organic soap
• Your usual toothpaste
• Reusable, refillable minis 
• Washable flannel 
• Eco-friendly mineral suncream (unfortunately, most sunscreen is bad for the environment)

Transports: getting to the festival

You can reduce your festival environmental footprint even further by lowering your carbon emissions when you get there.

If possible, consider:

• Public transport
• Shared rides with friends
• Booking group transport or festival lift shares (for example, in the UK there’s a platform that’s literally called Liftshare)

Ethical festival clothing: planning your outfits

For more eco-friendly alternatives, you might want to consider:

• Breathable and kinder fabrics like organic cotton, linen, bamboo, and hemp
• A reliable waterproof jacket with a hood
• Sustainable wellies (for example, made with natural or recycled rubber)

But overall, the biggest mindset shift is from “buying clothes specifically for that festival” (especially random fast fashion ones that—let’s face it—you’ll only wear that time before discarding them) to “using what I already have or investing in pieces I’ll rewear after the festival, too”.

How?

• Shop your festival outfit from your wardrobe – I’m serious! If you have a proper look, I bet you’ll find some forgotten gems, or you could repurpose some familiar items in creative ways to unlock new outfits. After all, the most sustainable garment is the one already in your wardrobe
• Swap clothes with friends – For example, my friend group recently did a festival-themed clothing swap. It was a lot of fun, it put us in the right mood for that upcoming festival, and we got lots of “new” outfits out of it without buying anything
• Consider renting statement pieces – Better than buying them and only using them once because “I don’t know when else to wear it”
• Invest in ethical festival clothing that goes with your existing wardrobe and that you’ll rewear after the event – Try to support sustainable brands that, unlike problematic fast fashion ones, make their clothes with durability, the planet, and garment workers in mind (no sweatshops or polluting shortcuts). Yes, the price tag will probably be higher. When you buy less but more mindfully and keep it for longer, though, you actually save a lot of money in the long run!

Find the right sustainable festival clothing on Project Cece

If you are planning on investing in some new garments (that you’ll actually rewear after the festival, too), you won’t need to keep jumping from one small ethical online store to another.

At Project Cece, we brought hundreds of fair trade brands in one place, with filters to simplify your choice. Start shopping (mindfully)

With these simple changes, being sustainable at festivals is a walk in the park (or festival grounds).