Summer is the time of music festivals - and a new study published in the scientific journal Geoforum has suggested that they offer an opportunity for people to try out more sustainable lifestyles.



Researchers from The University of Manchester, University College London and Lund University in Sweden attended two music festivals in England, where they interviewed 60 attendees as well as issuing 250 questionnaires.



In the interviews, it emerged that many festival-goers packed soap, shampoo and towels which were left unused during the events - people came expecting to shower and wash themselves, but then quickly accepted the festival culture of not doing so - even if there were showering facilities available.



For many of the interviewees, daily showering at the festival was seen as just too difficult, a waste of leisure time, or a breach of ‘social contracts’ with friends to just let go and have a good time.



This small change can have a big impact. At a four-day festival with up to 150,000 attendees - and assuming an average shower uses 62 litres of water - this change in washing habits could save up to 37m litres of water.



Some festival-goers do choose to use wet wipes instead – but many of these are non-biodegradable, and have their own sustainability implications.