Decathlon is offering refunds on its most popular tents, so festival goers don’t abandon them, in a green initiative.
The campaign by the sports retailer is being backed by broadcaster Jo Whiley.
Around 250,000 tents are ditched each year in the UK, with most ending up in landfill, figures show.
As festival season sweeps across the nation this summer, Decathlon and Whiley are reminding festival goers of the damaging environmental impacts of leaving their tent behind.
As part of the campaign, Decathlon has partnered with several charities to repurpose 250 pieces of campaign equipment – each one representing 1,000 tents that are left behind at festivals – to create a visual that it hopes will inspire festival lovers to keep their tents post-festival.
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Despite a declining trend in abandoned tents at festivals, there’s still a significant volume left behind, Decathlon said, revealing that visitors of one UK’s most popular festivals leave behind over 2,000 tonnes annually, equating to nearly 10kg per visitor.
Around 250,000 tents go to landfill in the UK each year following festival season and Decathlon is helping to reduce that number by bringing back the Tent Pledge, nationwide.
From now until 13 September, 10 tents are eligible as part of the Tent Pledge, meaning customers can buy anything from Decahtlon’s MH100 XXL four-person tent to the original MH100 two person tent at festivals.
As a reward for not leaving any tent behind, Decathlon is guaranteeing a full refund in the form of a gift card to spend in-store, even after using it at a festival.
The tents will be returned, refurbed, cleaned and resold through Decathlon’s Second Life programme, to extend the lifespan of the tents and reduce single-use consumption.
A recent survey found festivals across Europe have shown “significant areas of improvement” in their sustainability efforts.
