For anyone in search of a new camping tent, it might serve you well to attend a music festival. Many of today’s massive music festivals have left wastelands of used camping gear in their wake.
The number of tents left behind at music festivals each summer around the globe can be staggering. Now some are making the most of it.
Despite pledges to leave no trace at the Glastonbury music festival, thousands of tents along with heaps of garbage were left behind again this year.
At the Reading Festival in Leeds, organizers launched a “love your tent” campaign that encouraged attendees to the 3-day event to pack their tent up when they leave. But apparently it didn’t have much an effect in 2013 when the entire grounds were strewn with tents.
“Camping gear is so cheap these days that people seem to make it part of their festival package budget, and don’t boter to take it with them when they leave,” a festival goer told The Daily Mail.
The Pemberton Music Festival in British Columbia was also not immune. In one commentary in The Guardian, a writer supposes that people just aren’t able to pack them up properly.
“Yes, the performers were great,” wrote Brandon Cruz Bebe on Facebook. “but the people who attended this festival had no respect for the land or each other.
It can take up to two weeks to clean up the mess left behind with much of the camping gear being donated to charity or the Boy Scouts and other youth groups. But for those tents that are so mangled and damaged, there are other applications.
While some are decrying the wasteful and disrespectful practice of leaving the festival grounds littered with camping gear, others see opportunity. One company named Sheltersuit is using the leftover tents to create wearable shelters for homeless people.
The suits basically look like rain jackets combined with a sleeping bag below the waste. They provide wind and water resistance, full body protection and warmth for those sleeping outdoors. And best of all, the products are free, supported by more than 70 companies trhough money, materials and services.
Photo credit: Brandon Cruz Bebe via Facebook
