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This process was too chaotic to video, but I have provided a picture for clarification

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-spongey
-can be squashed and compressed, but does not bounce back immediately afterwards
-added air pockets so combines passive and active insulation
relatively easy to tear and crumble, however this changed after i adjusted the quantities of components added (see wellie boot insole for same material but much sturdier and durable)
-doesn’t regain water like a sponge
-soft

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I joined all of these parts together using a soldering iron.

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To create the insole, I used the same mixture as the previous steps, but melted it in a pan to make it easier to mix in bicarbonate is soda and cream of tartare (1 tsp of each). I let it cool on a flat mat then cut it to shape once cool.

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To make to soles, I created a silicon mould using a pair of wellies I already owned. I used the mixture from step 2, poured it into the mould, and left it outside to cool (it was -4° out there)

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To create the boot, I used the mixture from step 2 and rolled it out until thin (about 2mm). Once cool, I cut it into two shapes which would later be joined together. I put these pieces back into the oven to re-melt, and formed them around a pre-existing wellie once the were removed. I let them cool in this position so they would retain this shape.

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The first step was collecting the waste material. I have a sainsburys down the road from me so already had a lot of bags from there, and they provide a nice colour without having to add extra dyes which can make a harmful impact on the environment.

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I shredded the plastic bags to make them easier to melt. I cut up 3 -pastiche bags for this part of the project, but not all of it was used. I then added 1 tablespoon of organic, unrefined, fair trade coconut oil and melted the mixture until homogenous.

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I was really excited by the concept of using several materials types in one product, so of course had to make the wellies! They consisted of 3 different materials, all derived from plastic bags.

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-Wellies (Combination of several materials, including material E for soft insole)
-Wristbands (material B)
-Temporary water pipe repair (material I)
-tent repair (material I)
-outdoor flooring (material D, F, G)
-sunglasses (material A)
-electrical wires (material H)
-temporary wire repair (if material H and I were combined)
-tents (material B)
-bags, hats, belts (material B)
-sleeping mat (material E)
-cups (material A, C)
-hot drink holder (material E)

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Typically, cornflour mixed with liquid would simply create a non-newtonian liquid, but in this case it created more of a putty, acting as neither a solid or a liquid regardless of applied force. The putty was completely waterproof. It didnt stick to my hands as I was playing with it , and it reacted well to the heat of skin, becoming more pliable then setting to a harder material when cold. This material could be beneficial for purposes such as temporary repair of burst pipes, holes in tents or even as a general art supply.

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This material reacted in a similar way to material E, with small bubbles forming in the plastic. However, the bubbles were larger and more sparse than in material E, and the overall material was much harder and less compressible. This can be useful in circumstances where both thermal insulation and rigidity are required.

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Baking soda is an inorganic salt often found in powder form. It is used in baking as a leavening agent since it releases carbon dioxide when it reacts with acid or heat. It is also used in wide range of non-food products, such as laundry detergents and personal care items.

Chemical Formula and Synonyms

The molecular formula for baking soda is CHNaO ₃ and its U.S. pharmacopeia (USP) registry number is 144-55-8. Baking soda may go by the following names, which might be how it is listed on a product label: acidosan; carbonic acid monosodium salt; bicarbonate of soda; meylon; neut; sodium hydrogen carbonate; sodium acid carbonate; sodium bicarbonate; and sodium hydrogencarbonate.

Cleaning Uses

Very alkaline in nature with a high pH, baking soda is one of the top eco-friendly cleaning ingredients and is used in several cleaning products, especially green cleaning ones. You can find it in laundry detergents, cleansers, mold control products, cleansers, carpet fresheners and cleaners, dishwashing soaps, automatic dishwasher detergents, air fresheners, toilet bowl cleaners, floor cleaners, all-purpose cleaners, and stain removers.

It is known for its fantastic deodorizing, whitening, brightening, cleaning, and gentle scrubbing abilities. Due to its powder form, it is also great at absorbing grease and spills. In addition, it has bactericidal and stain removing abilities as shown in one dental care study published in the "Journal of Periodontology" and another in the " Journal of Clinical Dentistr y," respectively. If it can work on your teeth, it definitely will work on other surfaces, too. You can also mix up your own green cleaning creations with it.

In addition to its use in cleaning products, baking soda can be found in several products, such as personal care products (e.g., bath products, toothpaste, deodorants, cleansers, soap), drugs (e.g., skin treatments), baked goods, and cat litter. Baking soda is also taken for heartburn, acid indigestion, and upset stomach resulting from such problems. In addition, you can use it to adjust the pH of your swimming pool.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), baking soda is also considered a biopesticide, which are pesticides derived from certain kinds of natural materials.

Product Brands Containing Baking Soda

Aside from baking soda coming in the familiar Arm & Hammer box, baking soda is found in several other products as an ingredient. To see if certain products contain baking soda, try searching the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Household Products Database, the Environmental Working Group's (EWG) Guide to Healthy Cleaning, the Good Guide, or the EWG's Skin Deep Cosmetic Database. Remember, if searching using the general term "baking soda" does not generate a lot of results, try entering one of its synonyms.

Regulation

When baking soda is used in personal care products, food, or drugs it is monitored by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. For other uses, such as pesticides and cleaning products, it is monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Health and Safety

Unlike some other chemicals used in cleaning products, baking soda is a pretty safe chemical. You can even take it internally as an antacid as noted on the Arm & Hammer baking soda box. However, the directions warn that the baking soda should be completely dissolved in water first and not taken when you are full.

Warning

Environmental Effects

No data shows baking soda to have negative environmental effects. However, it is indeed mined from a material called trona, which is found in Wyoming, and then processed into baking soda. A secondhand environment impact is its carbon footprint from mining and processing it.

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All About Baking Soda: Uses, Safety and More

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Baking soda is an inorganic salt often found in powder form. It is used in baking as a leavening agent since it releases carbon dioxide when it reacts with acid or heat. It is also used in wide range of non-food products, such as laundry detergents and personal care items. The molecular formula for baking soda is CHNaO 3 and its U.S.

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The provenance of baking soda is rarely discussed, which leads to the question, 'Is this miracle substance really as eco-friendly as we think?'

If keeping a non-toxic, green home is a priority, then you've probably got a box of baking soda tucked away in a cupboard. Perhaps, like me, you've got multiple boxes - one in the kitchen, one in the bathroom, and one on the laundry shelf.

It seems that baking soda can be used for everything. It cleans homes, deodorizes furniture, exfoliates skin, kills mold,﻿﻿ and polishes silver. I use it to wash my hair, to make deodorant, to take the stink out of sweaty gym clothes. We go through it at an astonishing rate, buying an extra-large box at least once a month.

While it's great to have a single, all-natural ingredient that can replace so many other chemical-laden ones, with the added bonus of being able to buy it in a recyclable cardboard box (no plastic packaging, yay!), it only recently occurred to me that I didn't know anything about where baking soda comes from. Is it sourced sustainably? Where and how is it made? Is it a finite resource that could run out, thanks to a generation of enthusiastic DIYers?

The Story Behind Baking Soda

Baking soda comes out of the ground in the form of minerals nahcolite and trona, which are refined into soda ash (a.k.a. sodium carbonate), then turned into baking soda (a.k.a. sodium bicarbonate), among other things.﻿﻿ Most of it comes from Wyoming, which contains the world's largest trona deposit.﻿﻿ There is no risk of depletion anytime soon according to the Wyoming State Geological Survey:

"The Green River Basin of southwestern Wyoming contains the largest trona resource in the world at over 127 billion tons, of which more than 40 billion tons are reserves (economically minable with current technology). At the current rate of production and assuming a moderate growth in that rate of 1 to 2 percent, Wyoming's trona reserves should last well over 2,000 years."﻿﻿

Nahcolite, a naturally occurring sodium bicarbonate, is often found in evaporated lake basins:

"[It exists] in large quantities in the central salt body of Searles Lake, California, and as concentrations up to 5 feet (1.5 meters) thick in oil shale deposits... in Colorado, where it is commercially mined. It also has been mined in Botswana and Kenya, and there are sizable deposits in Uganda, Turkey, and Mexico."

On its website, the Wyoming Mining Association explains how soda ash is currently used:

"Glass making consumes about half of the soda ash, followed by the chemical industry, which uses about a quarter of the output. Other uses include soap, paper manufacturing, and water treatment, and all baking soda comes from soda ash, which means you probably have a box of Wyoming trona product in your kitchen."﻿﻿

Should We as Consumers Be Concerned About the Effects of Mining?

Apparently there are two ways to mine for trona. One is a 'room-and-pillar' method that involves carving out underground rooms supported by pillars. The mineral is scraped off the walls and removed by conveyor belt. The other is a liquid-injection method, where miners inject hot water underground to dissolve the minerals, pump out the liquid, and then evaporate the water to get at the leftover crystals. The mineral is then processed:

"The purification process begins with crushing the ore, which is then heated to drive off unwanted gases. This transforms the trona into a sodium carbonate. Water is added to this substance, which is then filtered to remove impurities. The water is evaporated and the resulting slurry is placed into a centrifuge to separate the remaining water from the soda ash crystals. The crystals are then sent to driers, screened, and sent to storage bins for transport."﻿﻿

It's undeniable that these methods are invasive and destructive, as any kind of mining would be. They use energy and emit toxic volatile organic compounds(VOCs) and methane.﻿﻿ Trona processing in the U.S. generates air pollution, due to coal-powered facilities, and endangers the sage grouse's habitat. In eastern Africa, soda ash processing plants have disturbed flamingo populations.

It's far from ideal.

But when you consider that everything has a footprint on this earth and all products come with an intrinsic production cost - and that baking soda is capable of replacing countless other, much worse, lab-contrived substances in our daily lives - it remains a pretty decent option. In other words, you can go forward in your baking soda-fueled life without feeling terribly guilty.

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We All Love Baking Soda, but Where Does It Come From?

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The provenance of baking soda is rarely discussed, which leads to the question, 'Is this miracle substance really as eco-friendly as we think?' If keeping a non-toxic, green home is a priority, then you've probably got a box of baking soda tucked away in a cupboard.

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After deciding to use bicarbonate of soda to create air bubbles in the plastic, and realising how drastic and beneficial the effect is, I researched the background of bicarbonate of soda to see if it is ethically viable to be used on a large scale. Even though it is mined, making it a finite resource, and can be energy and chemical intensive to produce, it is generally considered a very environmentally friendly product, as it itself contains to harsh chemicals, so is safe for water, the air and animals.

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In order to answer this loaded question, we need to first understand a little more about the common cooking oils you probably have in your pantry right now. Do you think you use are using environmentally friendly cooking oil? Let's find out.

First things first.

Is cooking oil bad for the environment?

To say that ALL cooking oil is bad for the environment would be a stretch. However, there are a few big offenders in the cooking oil game that are just plain bad for the environment. Here is some food for thought to keep in mind next time you're in the oil section of your local grocery store.

Palm Oil

Ok, so you may not be purchasing large bottles of palm oil (or maybe you are) but palm oil is an ingredient in a ton of processed foods. I'm talking like almost all of them (not exaggerating).

Keep these not-so-fun facts in mind when pondering a food item with palm oil on the label:

millions of acres of rain forest in Borneo and Sumatra are cut down every year to make room for more palm plantations

causing destruction to vital habitat for orangutans and other species

Indigenous peoples are losing their villages and livelihoods to the severe deforestation

The good news is that in 2004, environmental groups and corporations formed the . The RSPO introduced a logo in 2011 with the words "Certified Sustainable Palm Oil," which appears on the labels of approved products. For a list of other environmentally friendly labels, check out Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) this article.

So if you can't get enough palm oil, look for the Certified Sustainable Palm Oil logo on the label.

Try your best to avoid any other palm oil, even though it might be next to impossible.

Canola, Soy, Corn or Cottonseed oils

I lumped these three oils together because of the simple fact that if you are not buying organic, they are genetically modified.

To avoid GM oils....wait for it.....BUY ORGANIC!

As far as environmental concerns go, non-organic canola, soy, corn, and cottonseed plants get sprayed with pesticides, which could contaminate soil and water.

Again, to avoid these, BUY ORGANIC!

Another disconcerting fact I came across was that since palm oil agriculture is causing major deforestation, some countries are trying to rectify the situation by growing vegetable oil crops instead.

According to an IUCN report Palm Oil and Biodiversity:

But existing vegetable oils that could theoretically replace palm oil would be far more damaging to the environment because they would need more land.

Does this make sense to you? Let's replace one crop with a different crop that takes up more space and causes even more environmental destruction. Ya, that makes sense.

I guess the theory is if they stop growing palm oil, manufacturers will have to replace it with vegetable oil in their processed foods.
Smack My Head.
To sum up, try your best not to buy canola or vegetable oil so as to not give the idea to manufactures they need to make more by clear cutting trees in order to make room for vegetable oil crops. Heaven knows we don't need any more canola oil deforestation to go along with all of our other oil deforestations.

Olive Oil

Olive oil is a staple oil in most households, I know it is in mine. However, I came across some interesting facts that will change how I buy olive oil going forward.

Environmental groups warn that large-scale olive oil plantations in Italy, Greece, Spain, and Portugal are using so much water they're turning regions into deserts

There are also concerns about herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers entering into the water table due to surface water runoff

An alternative to the mass produced olive oil brands contributing to these environmental concerns is to buy organic fair-trade olive oil whenever possible.

Is Avocado Oil eco-friendly?

Because avocados are so popular now, there are some environmental issues arising as a result of mass production. These include:

To be honest, it is almost impossible to avoid these concerns with any large scale monocrop oil, so again, do your best to buy organic avocado oils where ever possible as organic farms are generally smaller and are likely not cutting down trees to start a plantation.

most ethical cooking oil

The most ethical cooking oil is one that:

So, if your cooking oil meets all of these criteria you, my friend, are awesome! For the rest of us mere mortals, do the best you can to meet these criteria (or at least one or two) with each purchase of cooking oil.

sustainable oils

The criteria for ethical cooking oils can be applied to sustainable oils as well.

Look for oils that are at a minimum:

Hitting those criteria is your best bet to finding sustainable cooking oils.

Bottom Line

Unless you are buying organic, fair trade, unrefined, cold-pressed oils, then your cooking oil is not environmentally friendly. It is a harsh but true reality.

The cooking oil business is booming and the more demand there is for a product, the more they will make to meet the demand. If you're buying cheap grocery store cooking oil, it is not ecofriendly and leading to more forest and land destruction, pesticide use and soil contamination. That sounds really doomsday and harsh, but unfortunately it's the reality today.

You're going to have to pay up for the good stuff in order to ensure you are using environmentally friendly cooking oil.

I hope this was helpful to you. I know I am going to change how I purchase cooking oil. I might just go without!

Cheers, and have an awesome day!

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What Is The Most Environmentally Friendly Cooking Oil? - Clarify Green

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In order to answer this loaded question, we need to first understand a little more about the common cooking oils you probably have in your pantry right now. Do you think you use are using environmentally friendly cooking oil? Let's find out. First things first.

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Source: Getty

By Lizzy Rosenberg

Updated

Although we strongly suggest hopping aboard the sustainable lifestyle train sooner rather than later, we can admit wholeheartedly that it can initially be somewhat daunting. There are endless potentially wasteful or harmful products you might unknowingly use in your daily life, whether it's a toxic cleaning product or an "unclean" makeup brand. But one aspect of sustainable living one might not consider is cooking oil.

Olive Oil

You've most likely bought olive oil once (or a hundred times). Olive oil is a staple in most kitchens, especially if you're an avid veggie roaster (guilty!). Anyway, olive oil is great, sustainability-wise, as long as you buy organic. According to Gene Food, in many Mediterranean countries, non-organic olive oil accounts for large amounts of soil erosion, and is a huge threat environmentally. Plus, sans the pesticides, you can feel better about using it.

Vegetable Oil

Vegetable oil is a strange combination of soybean, corn, canola, soy, peanut, olive, sesame, safflower, sunflower, cottonseed and palm oils, according to Sustained Kitchen, and for some reason, it's a impeccable vehicle for frying (latkes, anyone?). However, different types of vegetable oils have varying issues associated with them, so opt for organic and fair trade whenever you can.

Canola/Rapeseed Oil

Canola oil is a highly contested cooking oil - Small Footprint Family condemns the kitchen staple for being genetically modified, herbicide resistant, and a magnet for toxic residue that requires hexicane during processing, which is toxic. However, others maintain its OK as long as you buy cold-pressed or organic, as per Harvard's Dr. Guy Crosby.

Palm Oil

Palm oil is probably the one cooking oil you should probably try to stay away from, at all times. Although many palm oil-based products claim theirs was "sustainably harvested," it's almost always derived from palm oil plantations that required massive deforestation projects. Oftentimes, underaged workers are also hired - and unfairly compensated - to work on these farms. Needless to say, we'd advise avoiding palm oil.

Sunflower Oil

Although cultivating and harvesting sunflower oil really doesn't require a noteworthy amount of water, air, or land damage, it requires massive amounts of water usage, according to Healable. Processing sunflower oil also requires quite a bit of energy, so if you do decide to opt for sunflower oil, we strongly suggest opting for the organic variety, to ensure no pesticides were used.

Coconut Oil

Coconut oil is generally praised for not requiring pesticides, per Eco Cult, andinstead of using machinery, farmers also have to harvest it all by hand. But, as demand has grown, coastal mangroves have started being cleared to make way for coconut trees. Also, according to The Independent, increasing coconut oil cultivation has demolished the habitats for a variety of tropical species, and farmers are often mistreated. Therefore, we'd recommend researching the sourcing of your coconut oil before purchasing it.

Avocado Oil

The relentless demand for avocados has made them notoriously responsible for mass amounts of deforestation and increased gas production, according to Clarify Green, so we definitely suggest you try buying organic as much as possible to avoid pesticides, and - as usual - buy avocado oil that was harvested from smaller organic farms, that are less likely to chop down trees in order to start any major plantations.

Different types of cooking oils have pros and cons, but we recommend buying organic and fair-trade whenever possible. But really, whatever you do, just avoid palm oil and use something else.

Article continues below advertisement

That being said, we've evaluated each of the most commonly-used cooking oils, to determine the most sustainable variety for your daily cooking endeavors. We can already hear the garlic sizzling.

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The Most Sustainable Cooking Oils to Keep in Your Kitchen at All Times

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By Lizzy Rosenberg Updated Although we strongly suggest hopping aboard the sustainable lifestyle train sooner rather than later, we can admit wholeheartedly that it can initially be somewhat daunting. There are endless potentially wasteful or harmful products you might unknowingly use in your daily life, whether it's a toxic cleaning product or an "unclean" makeup brand.

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Not really.
I did a lot of research into which oils are the most ethically friendly. I concluded that there are two options that would satisfy my own moral requirements :
- coconut oil which is cold-pressed, fair-trade, organic,  and unbleached
- used cooking oil

Unfortunately I don't have access to a large quantity of used cooking oil, but I do regularly use coconut oil for hair masks, makeup removal and general cosmetic purposes, so I already had a large amount at my disposal which satisfied the previously stated ethical conditions. This is the oil that I used for every sample which required oil, keeping the results consistent.

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This material had really interesting properties. It was compressible, but returned back to its original shape and volume after being distorted. It is sturdy and tough, and the texture will provide a high coefficient of friction, making it appropriate for uses such as outdoor flooring.

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This material was really tough, I couldn't rip it and struggled to cut it., even though it was extremely thin. The air gaps between layers of plastic noticeably  gave more plastic deformation allowance, as even when the material is doubled over, it still shows no signs of stretching or tearing. There is definitely less give in the direction that the wood fibers are pointing. Both versions of this material are extremely light, however the material which uses floss as a strengthener is more practical, as the wood would need to be separated from the plastic in order to make the material recyclable. The synthetic fibers of the floss would also be less likely to degrade over time, making the material durable. It was extremely flammable (video evidence provided) which I think was worsened by the addition of wood.

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Another waste material I tried was wooden skewers. I soaked them in water first to prevent them burning under the iron, which also made them easier to break up into individual fibers. The plastic completely encased the wood after being melted, which meant the water couldn't escape or evaporate off once the plastic was dry. This allows the wood to remain flexible , so the resulting material was very tough but could still be bent and moved in all directions.

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Referring back to the  recommended text about circular economy, I focused on finding a way to use these materials in the same circumstances the were originally collected from. The materials created were so versatile and  displayed a vast range of properties, giving potential for a wide range of festival-related products being produced.
Waste production at festivals is so high because festival-goers don't want to carry extra unnecessary luggage home, so items such as tents, sleeping bags and mats, clothes and shoes and many more are left behind. Creating a circular economy would mean collecting waste, transforming the waste into products, collecting the products once they are left behind as waste, and transforming them again!

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So far, the majority of my experiments had resulted in relatively rigid materials, that held the shape they were set in. To change this, I started by burning a bag down to ash. I then mixed the ash with a small amount of cornflower and coconut oil, and melted it all down together to become homogeneous.

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One of the most notable material properties of plastic is that it does not conduct electricity, so I wanted to see if i could change this. I started by breaking up an 8B pencil (high carbon content) and grinding the lead into a fine powder. I mixed this powder into my usual plastic-oil liquid mix, and left it to cool.

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I was happy with the properties of material C, but wanted to find a way of changing its texture without producing any extra waste or by-products. I did this by adding flaky salt while the material was still in liquid state, then running the sample under water once it had cooled. This left indentations and air pockets in the sample, and the salt water produced can be evaporated off to retrieve the salt in its original form which can then be reused for the same purpose!

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Using oil to achieve a homogenous liquid state of the plastic, I then used a foot pump to force air into the mixture. At some points I managed to create very thin bubbles, but they popped quickly. It was more beneficial to create a texture out of the entire block of material rather than create small individual bubbles.

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Oil and vinegar famously do not mix together, so this experiment was a goof way of working out whether or not the oil and plastic were truly combining to make a new material, or if the oil was simply acting a vector for heat transfer before separating out.
The vinegar reacting with the plastic-oil mixture without any separation occurring, suggesting that the plastic and oil have in fact combined fully.

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After experimenting with the acid-base reaction of bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartare, I decided to try using a liquid acid instead to see if the results would differ. I excluded the bicarbonate of soda from this experiment, using only the plastic and oil combination with vinegar added. The addition of oil was necessary, as vinegar is water bases, so would evaporate before the plastic was hot enough to melt.

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The first waste material  I tried using to improve the uniaxial strength of the ironed out plastic was floss. Most floss is synthetic, consisting of many individual fibers twisted together. the fibers separate  latitudinally from each other easily, however are near impossible to break when  stress is applied longitudinally. I placed several strands on the sheet of plastic before folding it over on top of them, and ironing over. this completely concealed and trapped the floss, and the tensile strength in the direction of the floss was improved.

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To make the material even tougher, i considered adding a material that exhibits uniaxial strength, to reinforce the plastic and make it stronger when pulled in a certain direction whilst still maintaining its flexibility. This could be beneficial in products such as bag straps, for example. I tried two materials, both of which are waste materials.

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The most obvious method of applying heat to the plastic was to iron it (using greaseproof paper to protect the iron!), and, as expected, it resulted in plastic with the exact same properties as before, but less wrinkly. I tried folding the plastic and re-ironing, then repeating this process until it was too small to fold again.  This exploited the "puff-pastry" properties on material A, but the more distinguished layers between the sheets allowed more flexibility . The resulting material was still very tough and rigid, but much less hard than material A and more flexible.  For this experiment i cut the plastic into small pieces before ironing

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Dear EarthTalk : Why can't plastics of all types, instead of being initially sorted, simply be melted together to be separated later? It must be a monumental and error-prone task to separate truckloads of plastics. -- L. Schand, via e-mail

The reason plastics aren't typically melted together and then separated later is a matter of both physics and economics. When any of the seven common types of plastic resins are melted together, they tend to separate and then set in layers. The resulting blended plastic is structurally weak and difficult to manipulate. While the layered plastic could in theory be melted again and separated into its constituent resins, the energy inputs required to do so would make such a process cost prohibitive.

As a result, recycling facilities sort their plastics first and then melt them down only with other items made of the same type of resin. While this process is labor-intensive, the recycling numbers on the bottom of many plastic items make for quicker sorting. Many recycling operations are not only reducing sizable amounts of waste from going into landfills but are also profitable if managed correctly.

Manufacturers of plastic items choose specific resins for different applications. Recycling like items together means the reclaimed polymer can be used to create new items just like their virgin plastic forebears. The seven common types of plastic are: #1 Polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE); #2 High-density polyethylene (HDPE); #3 Polyvinyl chloride (PVC); #4 Low-density polyethylene (LDPE); #5 Polypropylene (PP); #6 Polystyrene (PS); and #7 Other/Mixed (O). One complicating factor is trying to recycle unmarked plastics and those embossed with a #7 (representing mixed resins, also known as polycarbonate). According to Earth911, a leading online source for finding recyclers for specific types of items across the United States, in some cases #7 plastics can be "down-cycled" into non-renewable resin; in other cases recycling operations just send their unmarked and #7 plastics into local landfills.

But even though recycling operations have developed relatively efficient systems for generating reclaimed resins, many environmentalists recommend that consumers still avoid plastics as much as possible. "Simply recycling these products does not negate the environmental damage done when the resource is extracted or when the product is manufactured," reports EcoCycle, a Colorado-based non-profit recycler with an international reputation as an innovator in resource conservation. The group adds that over the past half century, the use of disposable packaging-especially plastic-has increased by more than 10,000 percent.

Along these lines, products (or packaging) made out of reusable metal, glass or even wood are preferable to equivalent items made from plastic. For starters, an item of metal, glass or wood can be re-used by someone else or recycled much more efficiently than plastic when it does reach the end of its useful life to you. Wood products and other items crafted out of plant material-even so-called "polylactic acid (PLA) plastic" made from plant-based agricultural wastes-can be composted along with your yard waste and food scraps, either in your backyard or, if your town or city offers it, through your municipal collection system. Happy reducing, reusing and recycling!

CONTACTS: Earth911, www.earth911.com; EcoCycle, www.ecocycle.org.

EarthTalk® is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine ( www.emagazine.com). Send questions to: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/subscribe. Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial.

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Earthtalk: Why can't plastics all be melted together?

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Dear EarthTalk : Why can't plastics of all types, instead of being initially sorted, simply be melted together to be separated later? It must be a monumental and error-prone task to separate truckloads of plastics. -- L. Schand, via e-mail The reason plastics aren't typically melted together and then separated later is a matter of both physics and economics.

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At first I considered mixing different types of plastic waste together, but researched before doing so to ensure there was no possibility of producing a toxic mixture of gases. I discovered that mixing plastics results in a very brittle, unmanageable material so ruled it out of any possible experiments.

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Scientific reinforcement of the claims I made whilst testing the material by hand.

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Polyethylene Thermoplastic Characteristics

Polyethylene (PE) is the most widely used thermoplastic polymer for fabricated parts and components. It is available in a variety of grades and formulations to suit different needs. In general, polyethylenes offer excellent chemical and impact resistance, electrical properties and low coefficient of friction. In addition, polyethylenes are lightweight, easily processed and offer near-zero moisture absorption. See details of its material properties in the chart below.

There are four categories of polyethylene thermoplastic material based on density/property: low, medium, high (HDPE) and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene. Its characteristics include:

Economical

Low co-efficient of friction

Excellent chemical resistance

Stable in cryogenic environments

Good impact resistance

FDA/USDA approved (HDPE)

Resistant to many solvents (HDPE)

Good fatigue and wear resistance (HDPE)

Zero water absorption (HDPE)

Applications for Polyethylene (PE) Thermoplastic

Conveyor guides

Chute liners

Chemical holding tanks

Food processing parts

Medical equipment

Packaging applications

Conveyor wear strips (HDPE)

Piping systems (HDPE)

Liquid dispensing equipment (HDPE)

Marine components (HDPE)

Contact a Dielectric Manufacturing knowledge expert to discuss the use of polyethylene for fabrication of your plastic parts. Call 800-367-9122 or email sales@dielectricmfg.com.

Polyethylene Material Properties

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Material Properties of Polyethylene (PE) Thermoplastic - Polymer

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Polyethylene (PE) is the most widely used thermoplastic polymer for fabricated parts and components. It is available in a variety of grades and formulations to suit different needs. In general, polyethylenes offer excellent chemical and impact resistance, electrical properties and low coefficient of friction. In addition, polyethylenes are lightweight, easily processed and offer near-zero moisture absorption.

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I later reattempted this experiment, placing the plastic in a mold to begin with and applying significant pressure after heating. This achieved a much more uniform, reliable material. (shown as MATERIAL A in picture of complete sample collection)

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I conducted some quick preliminary tests to establish the material properties of my initial material. The basic properties are as follows:
-relatively high melting point (solid at room temp)
-low plastic bending moment (has very little elasticity, so when stretched it will deform  plastically, and will not return to its original shape)
-not brittle
-can be torn by hand
-cuts easily with scissors or knife
-flexible, not hard or rigid
-soft to touch
-does not conduct heat or electricity
-flammable, and burns for a long time.
-non-biodegradable

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Very clean and easy to follow presentation, lot's of information. Matching the colour scheme to the orange of the plastic is nice.

The samples you have made are really cool, having videos to a show they behave is very helpful. All the different material properties creates lots of opportunities  and it's good to see product ideas forming

Next steps could be testing some samples to destruction or adjusting the recipes slightly to find the best ratios.

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Really like the textured plastic. Looks like armour

Such a clear presentation! Really easy to follow!

You've managed to create materials with so many different properties so I feel like there are so many different directions you could go with this project!

I also think the colour that you've managed to achieve by using sainsburys bags is fab.

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-great presentation on padlet, I like the clear titles and really nice photos!

-I also like the story that you have, outlining the issues with festivals and getting viewers on board with your process

-very cool samples with the bracelet and the sponge, they're very different and show the different ways you can manipulate the material

-next steps could include more testing of the materials to see what they can do, how far they can go

-and also maybe think about ways you could use the new materials (potential to find use at a festival and come full circle???)

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please leave feedback/comments/ideas here .

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Ingredients:
1 Sainsburys bag
1tbsp oil
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp cream of tartare

Method:
Cut up plastic bag, and to bowl with coconut oil. Melt in oven at 160°.
Mix until homogenous. Stir in bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartare. Place back in oven until risen.

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With a liquid state achieved, more opportunities arised. To completely change the texture and properties of the plastic, I applied basic knowledge of baking. I knew that bicarbonate of soda reacts with acid to create carbon dioxide, resulting in air bubbles getting trapped in the liquid. I followed the same steps to liquify the material, then mixed in bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartare (the acid) and put it back in the oven to rise. The result was almost identical in texture to a sponge cake .

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You will need:
----1 Sainsburys bag, shredded
----!1tbsp oil

Put ingredients in oven proof bowl and stick in oven at 200 degrees for 5 mins.
Remove from oven and stir.
Repeat until homogenous.
Pour mix onto silicone mold.
Roll out with empty gin bottle.
Once a little bit cold, wrap around your wrist.
Once completely cool, remove from wrist and peel plastic from mold.

You have a bracelet!

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To achieve a liquid state , I increased the amount of heat absorbed by the plastic without drying it out or burning it. I did this by adding oil. I took it out of the oven at regular intervals and mixed them together, and they quickly combined to form a smooth, homogeneous liquid. I spilled a bit of the silicon oven mitt I was using, and when i peeled it off it had adopted the pattern well.

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After realising how difficult it would be to achieve any accuracy when molding the plastic by itself, I decided to work on making it a liquid. I searched the internet for hours on how to go about this and found nothing. I was concerned about the dangers of mixing other substances with the plastic, as the reaction would be unknown , but I used substances that i knew were non-toxic, opened the kitchen door, wore a mask and hoped for the best.

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The plastic didn't retain its heat well after coming out of the oven, so it was difficult to mold it into any particular shape fast enough before it started to harden again. When I did attempt to mold it, the layers of plastic would stick together, but not combine with each other, similar to puff pastry. However, once completely cooled, the material was extremely rigid, light and tough. I tried testing if it would break, cut with a knife, or tear, and it wouldnt.

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The plastic shrunk significantly more than expected.  Some further research on melting plastic at home probably would have better prepared me for this. I was also anticipating a liquid, but very quickly realised that I do not have the equipment to heat plastic to a liquid state. I turned the oven to it's max to investigate this theory and ended up with a tray of dry, burnt-around-the-edges, slightly gooey plastic scraps..

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To start of my experiments i cut up a plain white polyethylene bag and whacked in the oven for 15 mins at 180 (classic). I used the oven instead of a pot because plastic doesn't conduct heat, so only the parts touching the bottom of the pot would melt. I plan on testing this later on.

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SOUND ON!!!

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On average, music festivals generate 23,500 tonnes of waste, including plastic bottles, food containers, food waste, clothing and abandoned tents.

In a recent Twitter poll, 28% of people asked admitted to leaving a tent or other camping equipment behind after a festival or other event. We also asked Twitter users how much waste left behind after a music festival they thought would be reused or recycled. 28% of people believed more than 40% of items left after a festival would be recycled, while half thought that that the recycling rate was between 0 and 20%.

According to Powerful Thinking's report, "The Show Must Go On" 1/3 of waste is recycled, which is 13% lower than the current average for England and 18% lower than the 2020 targeted recycling rate set out by the Government's new Resource and Waste Strategy. Low recycling rates, cross-contamination and the use of throw away items often made from composite or unrecyclable materials commonly associated with festivals result in the majority of the waste having to be disposed of at landfill.

Read Biffa's Top Tips For Effective Festival Waste Management

"The Show Must Go On" also reports that each festival goer throws away 2.8kg of waste each day they attend, more than double the average person's daily waste production. 29 million people attended a live music event in 2017 and with food, drink and amenities readily available there is little reason for visitors to leave the festival's venue. This results in a large amount of waste in one area which needs large scale clean ups.

Biffa at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend

In 2017 Biffa collected 60 tonnes of rubbish following BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend, the equivalent of five London Routemasters. It took 160 large bin containers, 300 wheelie bins and 22 skips to collect the waste generated as well as waste collection vehicles working around the clock and in the days following the event to remove all of the rubbish. Although the focal point of these events are usually the headline performers or celebrity appearances, the aftermath is often an afterthought for many of its attendees.

Disposing of rubbish in a general waste bin is seen as convenient and straightforward, but it means that waste cannot be recycled due to cross-contamination. When food waste, paper, plastic, and other refuse waste is put together in one container, it makes the materials harder to separate and decreases its value, making it uneconomical to recycle. Utilising specified waste containers can significantly increase a material's ability to be recycled such as food waste collected in separate food containers can be transported to an AD plant and used to create renewable electricity.

It's essential to stay hydrated during a summer festival and on-the-go plastic drinks bottles offers a simple solutions as they are readily available to purchase, easy to carry and throw away. If they were disposed of in a separate or mixed recycling bin rather than a general waste bin, they can be cleaned and broken down into plastic flakes which can then be use to make useful new items such as clothes and furniture by producers. Biffa is in the process of building a PET recycling facility in Durham with the capabilities of recycling up to one billion plastic bottles each year.

100% landfill diversion is possible at events

It's not just music festivals that produce significant waste, food and beverage festivals are commonplace during British summers. With smaller crowds and with waste types being mainly food and recyclable materials such as plastic, glass and paper, it's clearer for organisers to provide and manage ample separate recycling bins which are easily understood by visitors. Last year, Biffa was the waste management operators for a large scale food and drinks festival in Derby which achieved 100% landfill diversion. Food waste was sent to our anaerobic digestion facilities, glass and mixed recycling were separated, cleaned and baled at Biffa's MRFs before being transported for recycling. The festival also had designated vegware stations for the deposit of peelings and other matter sent to local composting facilities.

Discover more about Biffa's event waste management.

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What Happens To Waste After a Festival or Summer Event

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On average, music festivals generate 23,500 tonnes of waste, including plastic bottles, food containers, food waste, clothing and abandoned tents. In a recent Twitter poll, 28% of people asked admitted to leaving a tent or other camping equipment behind after a festival or other event.

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Festivals can be amazing, culturally rich, and freeing experiences, but their impact on the environment has sparked outcry worldwide, with many demanding festivals be banned altogether (this seems a little extreme).

To help to combat the issue without spoiling the fun, I've chosen to concentrate on festival clean-up for my project - collecting the single use plastics which are so eloquently tossed on the ground after festivals, and turning them into reusable products. These plastics are usually in the form of plastic bags, rain ponchos, plastic cups, water bottles, tents, food containers...the list goes on!

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I also found this website, which shows that many festivals in the UK are already trying to cut down on the amount of waste going to landfill. Since they are already separating out plastic, it could be a viable source of obtaining the waste plastic only, without any additional effort expenditure.

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How many skips does festival waste fill? How many tonnes are produced? Is it recycled? Do our beloved UK music festivals have initiatives in place to improve on their environmental impact? We have investigated to bring you all the facts and figures.

People attend music festivals to have a good time, and perhaps escape everyday life for a few days, but have you ever stopped to think about how much waste is produced by these festivals - some of which are so big they are essentially a large temporary town? Have you ever wondered about how much of the waste produced is recycled, or what green initiatives the festival organisers have in place to cut waste and litter? With the number of music festivals being hosted in the UK growing by 34 per cent in just four years, these are questions that need to be asked.

How are festivals trying to reduce and manage their waste?

Our research has led to us uncovering a vast array of interesting initiatives at music festivals, most of which are trying hard to improve on their green statistics from previous years, and lessen their environmental impact. We go in to detail about a few of these below.

General waste / rubbish

Festivals are very keen to produce the least amount of waste possible, as they know they will suffer criticism if not. It has been found that half of festival-goers would happily pay more to attend a greener event, as opposed to an event known for its litter and waste problems. Also, most say "noise, waste and traffic have a negative impact on the festival experience".

Some festivals - including Acoustic Festival and Larmer Tree Festival - recycle ALL of the waste produced onsite, meaning the waste which isn't recyclable in the classic sense gets turned into energy, leaving nothing for landfill.

Cambridge Folk Festival recycled all but 2% of their waste in 2015, and are aiming for 100% recycling this year. They're also hoping to recycle at least 50% onsite this year, as last year 36% of the sorting and recycling took place offsite, which uses more energy.

In 2014, Glastonbury Festival recycled 54% of the waste produced onsite. The graph below shows the breakdown of the recyclable waste types at the festival.

Reading Festival only managed to recycle about a quarter of their total waste in 2013 and 2014, as you can see in the chart below. In fact, there was a 205 tonne increase in waste produced on site between 2013 and 2014, combined with a 2% drop overall in recycling. 2013 saw 433 tonnes of waste and 169 tonnes recycled, and 2014 saw 596 tonnes and 214 tonnes recycled.

However, their sister festival - Leeds Festival - kicked Reading's butt in 2014 and managed to recycle a healthy 82.4% of their waste! There was 13 times more waste recycled at Leeds Festival in 2014 than in 2013. 887 tonnes of waste were sent to landfill in 2013, with 54 tonnes being recycled. Then, in 2014 the tables turned dramatically, and 120 tonnes of waste was sent to landfill with 568 tonnes recycled. That is still 120 tonnes too much being sent to landfill, but certainly a step in the right direction, as shown in the chart below.

Litter

Some festivals issue rubbish bags to festival-goers on arrival, and add a charge to their tickets, which is refunded if a bag of rubbish is returned at some point during the festival. This aims to keep litter to a minimum, and keep rubbish off the floor where it can quickly impact on the local environment.

Cup deposit schemes are becoming increasingly popular and successful at festivals, where attendees only get their deposit back if they return the reusable cup they've been using. Stepping Stones Festival told us this tactic works really well for them, with many people taking the cups home as a cheap souvenir, and the majority of the rest being returned for the deposit. This way, none end up on the floor or in landfill.

All festivals seem to have increased the number of bins on site, which are clearly labelled with what they are for (general waste, plastic, paper, etc.) The problem seems to be bins overflowing with rubbish, as they are not emptied often enough.

Plastics

Plastic is often seen as the most evil of the recyclables - mainly due to the toxins it can contain, which can leach into the environment if the plastic becomes litter. Plastic is also not as easy to recycle as other materials, and therefore uses more energy. For these reasons, some festivals have cut plastic out of their disposable food and drink packaging altogether. Limetree Festival is this year going plastic-free, and will be providing free tap water throughout the festival, as well as encouraging festival-goers to take advantage of the natural spring onsite. As aforementioned, Glastonbury are this year giving out stainless steel drinks containers for a £5 deposit, in an attempt to cut their plastic bottle consumption: around one million plastic bottles are usually used and disposed of at Glastonbury each year!

Tents

Tents are a modern nightmare for the organisers of music festivals, thanks to a troublesome combination of increasingly low tent prices, poor tent quality, and apathetic festival-goers. Some festivals, including Bestival, collect up the abandoned tents and donate them to humanitarian charities - recycling them for others to use.

Interestingly, the Isle of Wight festival now features special 'Love Your Tent' camping fields, in which everyone signs a code of conduct when they arrive, agreeing to remove all of their belongings when they leave. And it works! In 2014, 1450 campers stayed in the designated fields, and not one tent or item of rubbish was left behind! Compare that to your typical music festival camping aftermath, and you realise they might be on to something there.

Toilets

Everyone's least favourite aspect of music festivals: the toilets. In the past, and to this day at some festivals, all of the toilets are chemical - meaning they are far from environmentally friendly, and are adding to landfill. However, some festivals are moving towards more sensible options, with Glastonbury banishing chemical loos forever (save 150) in favour of eco-friendly long-drop toilets and compost loos, the results of which are later spread on farms to help crops grow.

Glastonbury Festival has just been fined in court for causing pollution during last year's festivities, due to a human sewage leak, which ran into the nearby waterways and killed over 40 fish - some of which were very rare. Perhaps the move to long drop and compost loos will stop any repeats of this incident.

Are attempts to be more environmentally friendly working?

Some festivals are doing extraordinarily well at keeping waste to a minimum, minimising their environmental impact, and leaving no trace after the event. Others, not so well. Take Latitude Festival for example: this festival created 157 tonnes of landfill waste in 2014 and 43 tonnes of recycled waste. As you can see in the chart below, that is really not good! The most concerning thing about these figures is, Latitide have a green policy in place which involves handing out clear bags to all party-goers for their recyclables, a cup deposit scheme, and entry to a prize draw for those returning a bag of waste to their waste points. Whilst in 2014 they did improve on 2013's efforts, more needs to be done.

What's the key to environmental success?

Aside from cancelling all our music festivals, which isn't an option, how can we make them as environmentally friendly as possible, cut their waste production, and cut their carbon footprints? Mike of Acoustic Festival, which runs 75% of the festival on solar energy and recycles all their waste, says their environmental success is down to "attract[ing] a green and tidy ethos/person who all do their bit".

Some green initiatives which, according to our research, seem to work well at reducing waste and litter at music festivals include:

Getting attendees to read and sign a green agreement

Banning 'disposable' plastic from the site

Giving every festival-goer a reusable cup, using a deposit scheme

Ensuring all catering vendors use compostable, biodegradable, or at least easily recyclable containers and wrappers

Issuing all festival-goers with bags for their rubbish / recycling, and a reward scheme for returning the bags full

Of course, there are many other environmental aspects to take into account with music festivals, including carbon footprints, and the lasting impact on the land used.

However, it is great that the green impact of music festivals is being considered nowadays - for so long, it was ignored by most festivals and attendees. The reduction of waste production is key, as opposed to just recycling as much as possible: prevention, as they say, is so much better than a 'cure'. I look forward to seeing what new initiatives are trialed in the future, and hope to see a real focus on waste reduction.
Featured image credit: monkeybusinessimages

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How much waste is really produced at UK music festivals? - The Forge Skip Hire Leeds Blog

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How many skips does festival waste fill? How many tonnes are produced? Is it recycled? Do our beloved UK music festivals have initiatives in place to improve on their environmental impact? We have investigated to bring you all the facts and figures.

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This source explains how much waste festivals around the world really do produce.

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EDM.com - The Latest Electronic Dance Music News, Reviews & Artists

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The global environmental crisis is certainly not a new topic - and if you think it is a debatable one, then you might as well also believe that the earth is flat, dinosaurs are a hoax, and the earth is only 5,000 years old. For the rest of us, it's clear to see that the earth is suffering. Global temperatures have been rising exponentially since the 1960s, microplastics suffuse every single biological niche, unstoppable fires rage across the globe ... The list goes on.

Unfortunately, though music festivals may be the lifeblood of the electronic music industry (and the music industry as a whole), and though they might be one of this generation's greatest bastions from the bullshit of the world, they are also doing an irreversible amount of damage to the planet. Read on to learn how it's happening, as well as what we can do to fix it.

Waste

The most visible impact that music festivals have on the environment is the incredible amount of waste they produce. Any festival attendee can surely attest to overflowing trash bins, "ground scores" (A.K.A.garbage) galore, and a wanton disregard for where to toss that beer can or gum wrapper.

Major music festivals like (250,000 attendees over two weekends)generate an average 106 tons (212,000 lbs) of waste per day, which is greater than either the total weight of the Space Shuttle Endeavorplus its full payload, or a fully-loaded Boeing 757 and its 300 passengers. For context, the average American produces about one ton of trash per year.

With over 800 festivals in 2018 in the U.S.alone, the global implications are absolutely mind-boggling.

Energy consumption

With tens of millions of people attending music festivals every year worldwide, energy consumption and emissions from these events is a serious factor that is often overlooked. As the vast majority of music festivals are in remote areas off the grid, music festivals must rely on importing power, rather than connecting to pre-established energy grids. Most often, this means trucking in massive, diesel-powered generators to provide round-the-clock electricity for sound systems, stage lights, flood lights, camp lights, RV power, vendor power, refrigeration systems, etc. Essentially, off-the-grid music festivals are almost entirely powered by the nonstop burning of diesel fuel.

It is difficult to get a fully accurate figure for the amount of energy used to power a single music festival, not least due to the variance in setups and equipment used. On average, however, diesel generators convert roughly 35% of fuel to electricity when running at full capacity. Efficiency falls off exponentially as generators run at 50% throughput or less). In general, each festival stage is powered by at least two generators running in tandem; both generators work at half capacity, with either generator ready to immediately take on full load in case one fails. So necessarily, most of the largest festival generators are running at 50% capacity at all times. In other words, music festival stages are gas guzzling behemoths that must run for days on end, with most of that fuel simply going up in smoke.

Unfortunately, there is no hard data available for the amount of generators used per festival, but some sources have estimated it to be 250 generators. This equates to somewhere around 16,000 gallons of fuel burnt for a single music festival. Powerful Thinking, a think tank working towards energy management at live events, estimates 5 million liters (1,320,860 gallons) of fuel are used per year by U.K.festivals alone.

Travel Emissions

The largest source of emissions from music festivals is without a doubt attendee travel. In the UK, it is estimated that attendee travel emissions constitutes 80% of total festival emissions overall, totaling over 78,000 metric tons of CO2. This is an equivalent emissions to driving an average vehicle for 190,709,046 miles, which is somewhere north of 760 trips to the moon, a round-trip visit to the sun, or driving at 60mph nonstop for 354 years.

It is important to note that these statistics do not account for the emissions created by non-attendee staff; that is, artists, management, contractors, engineering, vendors, and the transport of massive stages and other gear to the festival grounds. In 2015, British Columbia, Canada's Shambala Festival (17,000 attendees) measured and analyzed the emissions created by contractors, artists, etc., and found that they roughly doubled the amount of travel emissions overall.

In expansive countries like America where traveling by car is essentially a necessity, the numbers must be extrapolated accordingly. For those following along, the global implications are terrifying at best.

All in all, the total emissions, waste, and greenhouse gasses belched out by festivals can be equivalent to that of a moderately sized city. Glastonbury 2011 (135,000 attendees), for example, could be considered the U.K.'s 32nd largest city at the time.

What's being done about it

Though the raw data may look bleak, the good news it that there are groups and festivals already working to combat the industry's strain on the environment.

Envision Music Festival (7,000 attendees) largely centers its ethos around sustainability and environmental respect. As of 2019, they have helped plant over 15,000 trees in the Costa Rican jungle, renewing what were once depleted cattle pastures.

Live Nation has created the Green Nation coalition, committing all owned and operated facilities and events to reducing green house gas emissions by 50% by 2030, and end the use of single-use plastics by 2021.

The U.K.'s Association of Independent Festivals, which includes more than 60 events, has also pledged to end the use of all single-use of plastics by 2021.

Australia's Rainbow Serpent Festival (12,000 attendees) offers a whole slew of sustainable initiatives, including compost toilets and scheduled dance floor cleanup sessions, and DGTL Amsterdam (20,000 attendees) aims to be the world's first zero-waste festival by 2020.

Electric Forest (45,000 attendees) tackles sustainability through ride sharing programs, the Electricology program, the Prize Cart trash-for-merch activities, and a slew of other educational and sustainable initiatives.

How we can help

Perhaps it is telling that essentially all the festival emissions data pulled for this article comes from the U.K. and other European countries. Simply put, American festivals do not keep track of this information. Whether that is willful negligence or otherwise, it should be unacceptable. by continuing to attend such brands, we contribute to and approve of the decimation of the environment.

Though it's difficult for any single individual to staunch the limitless cascade of environmental damage that occurs to the planet, and though the attitudes of individuals are out-swayed by the whims of the world's megacorps, change must start at the individual level. To that end, we can affect true change to combat the damage of our revelries.

The way that consumers should approach this subject is twofold: changing our own behavior at festivals ( no more plastic glitter, no more glow sticks, clean up your tents!), and no longer patronizing festivals that won't change theirs. The only way that our beloved music festivals will reduce their carbon footprint is if their attendees and consumers lead the way.

Brian Baker is a writer and photographer based out of St. Louis. You can find his portfolio here.

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How Music Festivals are Destroying the Earth [Opinion]

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The global environmental crisis is certainly not a new topic - and if you think it is a debatable one, then you might as well also believe that the earth is flat, dinosaurs are a hoax, and the earth is only 5,000 years old.

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It's 6am on Sunday morning. You're feeling a litttttttle worse for wear after spending 3 days dancing under the bright lights and glamour of one of the biggest music festivals in Britain. You struggle to dismantle your tent and see many others who have given up and left theirs behind. The fields, once green and filled with smiling people are baron, and litter dominates the landscape for as far as the eye can see.