Staying Green
Read about our environmental sustainability initiatives and how you can help
This Earth Day the theme is Our Power, Our Planet. We are launching our Look Out for Our Planet campaign and inviting everyone who attends the festival this year to take the ‘Pledge for the Planet’.
What WE are doing to Look Out for Our Planet
- The show is powered by Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) which is 100% fossil-fuel free
- We provide low-carbon travel options with Big Green Coach, train travel and encourage car sharing.
- 87% of festival waste was recycled or composted in 2024
- We are reducing single use plastic – soft drinks and water are served in cans where possible and no virgin single use plastic is used (any plastic we have is made from recycled content).
- A 10p deposit is included on cups, cans and bottles to encourage their return for recycling.
- All food packaging and cutlery is 100% compostable.
- We collaborate with environmental groups such as Climate Live, Greenpeace, Music Declares Emergency and Every Can Counts.
- We provide free recycling bags to all campers.
- We run campsite Recycling Rewards to customers who recycle and keep clean camps.
- We redistribute leftover food to food banks.
What will YOU do to Look Out for Our Planet?
By attending the festival, you pledge to;
- Travel by Big Green Coach, train or fill up the seats in your car.
- Buy your festival outfit second hand or reuse something you already own.
- Bring a reusable water bottle.
- Not bring any disposable vapes.
- Visit Climate Live or the No Music on a Dead Planet stand.
- Eat a plant-based meal.
- Use the bins provided and not drop litter.
If you are camping, you pledge to;
- Bag up your camping waste and take it to the recycling points.
- Take your tent and camping gear home.
- Drop any leftover non-perishable food to the air hubs for redistribution.
Remember your Planet Pledge!
New & Improved for 2025: THE MEADOW (ECO CAMP), stay in a clean, green field for a festival you’ll remember.
The Meadow (Eco Campsite) is for like-minded people who want to make a difference: You live life with the planet in mind, and want to stay in a clean, green field for a festival you’ll remember.
To stay in The Meadow every guest has to sign up to the following principles:
- All guests agree to respect their fellow campers: Be inclusive and curious, talk about what is important to you, and enjoy the festival together.
- All guests agree to respect the environment by protecting biodiversity and avoiding littering: Separate your recyclable materials, use the toilets provided, and don’t cause excess waste.
- All guests agree to leave the campsite exactly as they found it: Everyone here has joined the call, take your tent home, and show the way forward.
Create Your Future. Stay in the The Meadow in 2025
You must book your free spot in advance alongside your Weekend or Weekend + Early Entry festival ticket.
This year, we’re bringing even more to your camping experience with activities tailored to each of our unique campsites. Whether you’re looking to unwind, connect, or explore something new, each campsite offers its own unique lineup:
The Meadow will feature activities such as sustainability-focused talks, upcycling workshops, clothes swaps, and yoga sessions in a serene setting.
At Reading Festival, we are committed to creating a space where everyone feels welcome, valued, and safe. We operate a strict zero-tolerance policy towards any form of harassment, discrimination, or violence. See our zero tolerance policy here.
Music Festivals have an impact on the environment because of the transport taken, energy they use, waste generated, water use as well as the food and drink consumed. The Show Must Go On Report 2020 shows that the biggest impacts are travel, energy and waste. We have committed to reducing our carbon emissions by 50% by 2030. Most of our on-sire emissions come from how we power the festival.
As set out in our Sustainability Charter we are committed to preserving the live music experience for future generations to come and using our platform to inspire global environmental action.
We worked very closely with Julie’s Bicycle while they ran the environmental impact report. In their last reporting season, 2019, we were very pleased to be have been awarded 5 out of 5 stars.
We are also proud to be one of the Vision: 2025 Festival’s committed to reducing our carbon emissions. You can read more about the Vision: 2025 pledge here.
Please see our Festival Charter here, which details our commitments to Environmental Sustainability and a number of other areas.
Travelling to the festival makes up at least 80% of a festival’s carbon footprint (Source: The Show Must Go On Report, 2020 . To help reduce the Reading travel carbon footprint, 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 below for low carbon options, and our Travel page for all options here.
We have committed to reducing our carbon emissions by 50% by 2030. Most of our on-site emissions come from how we power the festival.
We use a percentage of HVO (Hydrotreated vegetable oil) fuel in line with our emission reduction targets which emits up to 90% less Greenhouse Gas emissions and are exploring other forms of power such as grid connection and batteries.
We have put the following in place to reduce single use plastic at Rockstar Energy presents Reading Festival:
– All our cups are paper, and we have had a deposit return scheme in place since 2007,
– We have Pepsi Max bars that avoid plastic bottles completely, serving your drink straight into a paper cup and offering refills,
– All our soft drinks are made from at least 50% recycled plastic
– All our water is served in cans
– Plastic cutlery and straws have been banned since 2009, and only compostable food containers are allowed, – Bulk condiment bottles must be used by our food vendors instead of single-use sachets.
Please refill your water bottles at the taps provided. Please bring a refillable bottle with you to refill.
View a list of everything you can and can’t bring, here.
We run a three-bin system at the festival, which means every bin in the Main Arena will be formed by 3 bins:
Food and Compostable Food Packaging, including paper cups – 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.
Cans & Bottles – any metal drinks cans or plastic bottles can be recycled!
Everything Else – There should be minimal left over that goes into this bin.
Don’t worry the waste will get sorted!
Look out for the planet and take your tent home . Buy a durable tent that you can use again each year, it will save you money in the long run – see our ultimate guide to buying a tent here
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. See our essential packing guide here.
Did you know that tents are the equivalent of 8,750 plastic straws, or 250 pint cups. Say no to single use, take your tent home!
The reality is that abandoned tents are sent to energy from waste because it is impossible to recycle or reuse them. If you have any broken tents chairs, gazebos, empty batteries, unopened tins of food after the festival, please take them to the Recycling Points
Pink Moon 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
Did you know that tents are the equivalent of 8,750 plastic straws, or 250 pint cups. Say no to single use, take your tent home!
The reality is that abandoned tents are sent to energy from waste because it is impossible to recycle or reuse them. If you have any broken tents chairs, gazebos, empty batteries, unopened tins of food after the festival, please take them to the Recycling Points
Every cup, can and bottle sold in the arena has a 10p deposit included in the price. Collect 5 and take them to our cup return stations in the arena for your money back on card.
Minimum deposit return = 50p
We coordinate a salvage operation after the festival for organisations to collect some of the perfectly reusable camping equipment that is left behind therefore reducing the amount of waste that goes to energy from waste.
Salvage applications are now open, please email Salvagers@festivalrepublic.com
Climate Live is a youth-led charity who organise concerts and festival campaigns to harness the power of music to engage a new audience in the climate movement. They bring their pink solar-powered bus stage to Reading & Leeds alternately, where they programme talks from youth climate and intersectional social justice activists interspersed with live music performances from up-and-coming artists.
Alongside the bus stage, they have their campaign stall where festival goers can speak with their team about how they can support, as well as get free temporary tattoos and bio-glitter, and get creative at their t-shirt printing workshop (where they can print climate justice messaging on t-shirts sustainably sourced from charity shops).
Their stage is solar-powered and their bus runs on HVO vegetable oil. In 2025 they will have their bus stage and campaign stall at Leeds and a campaign stall at Reading.