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Shambala is completely and utterly committed to being sustainable, circular, regenerative, net positive, earth & life respecting and future thinking too – it’s in our DNA!

Our green practices are considered truly pioneering world-wide. We have reduced the festival’s carbon footprint by over 90%, achieved 100% renewable electricity, become meat & fish free, and eradicated single use plastics.

But there’s always more to learn and do – and we need your help to completely design out waste and keep pushing the ”art of possible” as a beacon of inspiration.

Scroll down to see what we’re doing and why. Don’t forget to check out our interactive Reporting Platform to see what we’ve achieved so far – and also our Green Road Map for a geek-out on everything we plan to achieve by 2025.

What can I do to support green shambala?

Well, we’re glad you asked! Here are some very simple things you can do to help us progress toward a peak of planetary protection:

Check out public transport (if you’re not yet one of the 35% of peeps who do already!). 93% of our emissions comes from travel to the festival, so every mile made on public transport helps

Separate your recycling, meticulously – It’s bincredible how much trash we humans produce, and we need your support to help sort it out. Last year we recycled 52% of campsite waste – the rest gets contaminated or mixed up. But this year our target is 75%! So please, can you try extra-specially hard to support us, by scrupulously sorting your waste?

Compost, compost, compost – Please put these in food waste bins please (or collect a caddy from the Campsite Hubs). These plates and bowls are made of plant fibres, and go onto make compost at a local farm, and used  grow veg for next year’s Shambala.

Bring your eco-inventory– bottles, cups, cutlery, lunchboxes to reduce waste. Gold stars if you remember them in real life too!

Leave the bar cups behind – re-using bar cups saves nearly 10 tonnes of plastic waste….as loooong as they’re returned! Please help us keep them in circulation by leaving them in cups bins (they’re all bland and boring anyway!). 

Take your tents home – at Shambala, and always! In the festival world, a tiny amount of tents are repurposed, as the process is labour in-tent-sive and difficult. So it’s best if you keep them, love them, repair them, show them a GOOD time! 

Bin your butts – Estimates suggest that 4.7 trillion butts make their way into land and water – and contain harmful substances and leach toxins into the environment including nicotine, arsenic, formalydehide, hydrocarbons, lead  and heavy metals. Please pop them in the general waste bins! 

Please avoid bringing tooooo much plastic and visit the Refill Roadster zero-waste truck + buy your fresh fruit and veg there too! It will be by Hertz So Good, next to food traders in front of Orange camping). Buy dry goods, crisps, nuts, chocolate, organic fruit and veg plus toiletries! All at competitive prices… and plastic-free, of course! Also check at zero-waste shops in your local area.

WHAT WE’D RATHER YOU DIDN’T BRING

 

Face wipes – 90% of the 11 billion wet wipes used annually contain plastic – even ‘biodegradable’ are a greenwash with harmful effects. Please rub coconut oil into your beautiful faces, and remove make-up SUPER easy with a tissue. Honestly – it works like a dream.

Disposable vapes – The UK is throwing away around 2 disposable vapes every second, which is 1.3 million a week. They are resource-heavy, impossible to recycle (at scale) and leave extremely toxic battery waste which can be harmful to children, pets, and wildlife. Please avoid them if you can. 

Disposable costumes – We often find lots of temporary costumes in the bins! Look sassy in second hand instead, or upcycle your materials, to make less waste. You can do it! We believe in you…

Plastic packaging – If you can, try to avoid bringing loads of snacks in plastic – we find lots of un-eaten crisps, bread and squished bananas in plastic bags each year! Visit our new Zero Waste Shop (in front of Orange camping) to find dry goods, crisps, nuts, chocolate, organic fruit and veg and toiletries. 

Glitter and sequins – All that glitters is… unfortunately damaging for the environment. We are moving towards eventually removing this from our gorgeous fields entirely, as it’s so tricky to avoid toxic glittery pollution. 

Smokers – switch to biodegradable filter tips, for your roll ups. These are easily found online.

Consider menstral products – Check out this brilliant factsheet for reusable menstrual products HERE or pop into the Red Sea Travel Agency on site for more information on making the switch.