Boomtown Fair will introduce ballot bins for cigarette butts this summer, encouraging Citizens to dispose of butts responsibly by letting them take part in public votes.

The festival’s crew area will feature a table tennis table made out of cigarette butts, built by Terracycle. After this summer’s festival, Terracycle will turn butts discarded in the ballot bins into more furniture.

In an interview published this week, Boomtown Sustainability Coordinator Emily Ford told TheFestivals: “We’re really excited to trial our new voting ballot bins to encourage our audience, crew and artists to dispose of their butts responsibly.

“All butts disposed of via the ballot bins will be taken to Terracycle who recycle the butts into products used for furniture and construction.”

Cigarette filters are typically made of plastic and take well over a decade to break down. Emily told us Boomtown are in discussions with their tobacco supplier about making biodegradable filters available at the festival.

The ballot bins are part of an ongoing effort by Boomtown, Terracycle and Buttrfly to raise awareness of the problems caused by cigarette litter. Buttrfly recently confirmed on Instagram they’ll be handing out free pocket ashtrays at Boomtown’s gates as festivalgoers arrive this summer.

In other environmental initiatives, the festival has partnered with TreeSisters to plant a tropical rainforest with nearly 50,000 trees, one for each ticket that’s been sold.

Boomtown is one of over 60 festivals that recently launched the #TakeYourTentHome campaign, encouraging fans not to leave their tent behind. The average discarded tent contains as much single-use plastic as nearly 9,000 drinking straws.

Boomtown released a specially recorded song by Beans on Toast alongside the campaign, entitled “Take your sh*t home with you!“.

The festival has also banned plastic bottles from being sold anywhere on site this year. Traders will continue to sell canned drinks, but all other food and drink packaging sold will be totally compostable and turned into agricultural soil within 12 weeks. This includes the lining inside coffee cups and beer cups that look just like plastic.

Fans won’t be prevented from bringing their own plastic bottles into Boomtown and anyone that fills a bag of recycling can claim £10 from a campsite eco-bond hub.

Anyone attending is strongly encouraged to bring their own reusable bottle. WaterAid will be on site staffing stations where any bottles can be refilled for free.

Boomtown Fair takes place near Winchester from 7th-11th August 2019. Prophets of Rage, Lauryn Hill and The Streets are set to headline with hundreds of other artists appearing. Weekend tickets and package deals remain available.

READ MORE:

– Eight Boomtown stages will be completely upgraded this year

– Could Boomtown become a completely meat-free festival?

– Boomtown reveals Area 404 line-up with four new stages

– Boomtown release final district line-up for Town Centre

Image credits:

Ballot Bin – BallotBin.co.uk by Hubbub & Creative Works ( CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 )

Portable ashtray / bin – Derek Bremner

WaterAid kiosk – Ben Roberts / WaterAid