Sustainability
Awards
Since our inception 11 years ago, sustainability has been at the heart of every action that we take and every decision that we make. As a community, we recognize and embrace our responsibility to play a big a part as possible in tackling climate challenges and are always looking for innovative, realistic and sustainable ways to minimize the social and environmental impacts of the festival.
In 2019 Body&Soul:
- Banned single use plastics
- Installed more drinking water points
- Increased accessibility to compostable service wear
- Increased recycling dramatically
- Drastically reduce campsite waste by increasing Us&You camping to 50% of attendees
- Moved even more people onto public transport
- Planted tree onsites to further the carbon impact
- Signed the Green Deal Circular Festivals Agreement in the Netherlands - an initiative with 20 European festivals that strive to become circular in 2025, inspiring visitors and setting an example for other festivals. This aims to serve as a microcosm for circular economic innovation and experimentation.
Our sustainable journey brought us to the incredible honour of becoming the first Irish festival in history to receive a Highly Commended Award and a nomination for International
SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY
- Reducing Plastics
Reducing Plastics
Body&Soul is on a quest to eliminate plastic from the grounds at Ballinlough Castle.
Plastic drink bottles, plastic straws, condiment sachets, plastic merchandise and disposable plastic ponchos are banned on the Body&Soul grounds. We provide reusable vessels at a low cost to remove barriers to ecological action. Our numerous onsite bars participate in a cup exchange incentive program
Making the transition to a reusable society will take each of us getting involved. Thank you so much for bringing your reusable cups, bottles and packing out what you pack in.
- Waste Management
Waste Management
In 2014, we sent 59 tonnes of waste to landfill, and recycled 17 tonnes (19%). In 2018, we made vast improvements - we only sent 3.5 tonnes to landfill and recycled 50.46 tonnes - achieving an unprecedented 60.6% recycling rate.
In 2019 we recycled 70% of the waste generated by the festival.
- Communications/Engagement
Communications/Engagement
We know a lot of Body&Soul audience are already conscious and engaged citizens. We also believe that Body&Soul is an opportunity to channel this energy and act as a platform for social and environmental change.
Starting in 2018, we included a sustainability-focussed audience engagement activation at the festival called the Living Lab. This engagement space, based on the principles of the circular economy and industrial symbiosis, was comprised of a venue for talks and workshops on the themes of sustainability, science, and behaviour change. The Living Lab was also home to a vegan kitchen and sustainable marketplace showcasing ethically produced goods and upcycled fashion, as well as a solar-powered phone-charging station.
We plan to expand the Living Lab - to develop the activation with further-reaching engagements so that the message can reach beyond the festival and into daily life.
- Energy
Energy
In 2018, we implemented a smart power plan for our energy use. Working with UK company ZAP concepts and Native Events to carry out a full energy audit to help develop a smart power plan for the festival that will improve energy efficiency, increase
renewable power on site, minimise diesel use and reduce our carbon emissions.
We managed to reduce our diesel usage from 30,506L in 2017 to 23,849L in 2018 .
Our aim over the next four years is to reduce our 2017 diesel usage by 40%. In 2018 following the implementation of this Smart Power Plan, we managed to reduce our diesel usage by 21%. This is the equivalent of 17.841 tonnes of CO2 emissions - which is the same weight as three African Elephants!
We want to continue our success and reduce this number by a further 20%.
- Food
Food
Body & Soul is committed to responsible food sourcing - reducing travel miles, environmental impacts and maintaining welfare standards, and managing our operations sustainably.
All Body & Soul food traders must comply with our sustainability code as part of their contract with us. This means:
- All food traders must use compostable serveware, coffee cups and cutlery
- Single-use condiments, polystyrene cups, and plastic straws are prohibited.
- Traders must source products that are FairTrade, organic and locally-sourced, where possible.
Every year, traders are inspected on their adherence to our sustainability code and a Green Trader Award is given to those making the biggest effort to do so.
At Body & Soul we are conscious of having less meat on site to help reduce our carbon emissions. So we are very excited to announce that this year we are introducing The Veg Village, a new corner of heaven filled with sweet and savoury treats for those on a plant-based diet or who just want to try something new.
- Transport
Transport
Transport is a music festival’s biggest source of CO2 emissions. In 2019, 27% of Body&Soul attendees travelled to the festival by bus. We are aiming to increase this number to 35% of attendees taking public transport to get to the festival. We also partner with Go Car Share to encourage and incentivize carpooling.
- Greener Campsites
Greener Campsites
Six years ago, Body & Soul tried something unique. We opened a different, green eco-campsite, and asked that festival-goers commit to following a set of rules and guidelines, and to being a responsible festival citizen during their stay. The Us&You Green campsite was born.
In its first year, Us&You had 200 campers committing to a ‘leave no trace’ policy and bringing all their camping gear home with them. In 2018 this campsite had grown to 4,300 Us&You Green Campers. In 2019 we plan increasing again, to an aspirational 6,000 attendees camping in Us&You.
Campsites are the largest source of waste at music festivals. At Body & Soul, we have strong messaging in all campsites reminding people to pack up their tents to bring them home, and we provide a team of Monday morning volunteers to help with just that.
- Biodiversity
Biodiversity
In 2017, we worked with a professional consultant to carry out a biodiversity audit of the land Body & Soul takes place on. This has given us an in-depth knowledge of the estate and is helping us to design our current woodland restoration and tree-planting initiative and land improvement works.