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Bestival to ban single-use plastic water bottles from its bars
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 9 May 2018
Bestival has expanded its war on single-use plastic, announcing that water will be sold in its own bars in aluminium cans this year, rather than plastic bottles. The event will work with a company called CanO Water in order to deliver on this commitment.
Last year, plastic straws were banned from Bestival and its associated events. Then last month it joined over 60 other independent festivals in joining new campaign The Final Straw. This saw the events commit to ban all single-use plastic from their sites by 2021.
“We’re very serious about reducing the plastic waste at our festivals, which we know is a problem that needs solving”, says Bestival founder Rob Da Bank. “We’ve already launched The Final Straw and joined the Drastic On Plastic campaign, so getting rid of plastic water bottles and using CanO Water’s 100% recyclable cans on our bars is a big step ahead in our mission”.
He adds: “We’d love for all the traders on site to be plastic free right now but we’re also realistic that can’t happen overnight. Our goal is 2021 but we’re going to do as much as we can before that date and bringing in CanO Water is an important step that we’re pleased we can make this year”.
Using aluminium cans rather than plastic bottles is a significant move. While only around 9% of plastic bottles used worldwide are recycled, around 70% of aluminium cans are. There is also no limit on the number of times that aluminium can be recycled, and doing so uses 95% less energy than making a brand new can.
