Our top tips for a more eco-friendly festival season!

It's Earth Day! We're celebrating by sharing our top tips for reducing your environmental impact whilst having an awesome festival season!

1. Let's start before you arrive at the festival site – so you've got your festival place confirmed and now need to get everything else you need. Instead of splashing out, chat to friends and family and see if you can borrow a tent, sleeping bag and other festival gear, not only is it eco-friendly it's cost-effective too!
2. Boycott fast fashion! The clothing industry is one of the most environmentally damaging industries, contributing between 2-10% of global carbon emissions. You have power in where you choose to purchase your festival outfits so opt for more sustainable options and buy second-hand on Depop or reselling sites.
3. Borrow and swap festival fashion with friends! If you'll be buying new items this summer, get together with friends to create a festival wardrobe, particularly any friends that are going to different festivals so their items will be free on your festival weekends! So instead of you all buying the same marble print matching crop top and flares that you'll only wear once, take turns to wear it to festivals all summer! 👭
4. Have you sorted transport to the festival yet? Organise lift shares via our Facebook Group! We've got staff and volunteers coming from all over the country so there's sure to be someone else coming from your neck of the woods.
5. Don't forget to bring a reusable mug and water bottle! There are water taps for refilling all over the festival site and you can make use of the unlimited free tea and coffee in the Hotbox compound with your reusable mug! ☕
6. Try to keep to the designated sinks when brushing your teeth or washing up, these are usually found near the showers. Using the drinking water taps for things other than filling up water bottles can cause the area around the taps to flood quickly, plus allow chemicals in toothpaste and washing up liquid to run into the ground.
7. An obvious one for many...use the proper toilets! Not only does it keep the campsites and walkways more pleasant, by going to the toilet outside of the designated areas urine can seep into the rivers, streams and lakes around the festival site and pollute the water. 🐟
8. Check your glitter! Make sure you've got the biodegradable kind ✨
9. Avoid using disposable rain ponchos by investing in a proper waterproof coat – remembering there's a difference between shower proof and waterproof! Many 'down jackets' might be warm when it's cold and dry but when they get wet, they stay wet! A thin waterproof jacket, like a pac-a-mac is ideal and won't take up much space in your bag!
10. If you're buying new festival kit buy right and you'll buy once! If you're able to, use the money you saved on your festival ticket when you signed up to volunteer to invest in some good quality festival kit that will last you for years to come. Think walking boots, rucksacks, sleeping mats, and raincoats. If you need any advice we're got a host of seasoned festival goers who would be happy to recommend what to buy and what to avoid in our Facebook Group! 🥾
11. Finally, at the end of the festival clear up your camping area! Make sure you take your tent home with you afterwards. Although some tents left behind are salvaged, you'll have no way of knowing if yours is one of them or if it's just gone to landfill. Many of the campsites are used for livestock grazing for the rest of the year and you wouldn't want one of the iconic Latitude pink sheep to accidentally eat one of your left behind tent pegs!

This isn't just virtue signalling, we're always looking for innovative ways to reduce, reuse and recycle at Hotbox HQ...

For example, we've designed and built a custom system which reuses the heat generated by our company's IT equipment for heating the open-plan areas of the Hotbox Studios and Hotbox Events office. On colder days, rather than the heat generated by the IT equipment housed in our server room being pushed out into the environment and wasted, this heat is ducted into the open-plan office areas. The reuse of this heat has reduced the energy we use for heating the office by around 50%! ♻️

We've dramatically reduced paper usage before, during, and after the festivals we work with via our PAAM Web App. Created by Hotbox Events' sister company Hotbox Studios, PAAM is the system you use when applying to volunteer at festivals, how you access documents and info, find out your shifts, how we allocate kit to you when at the festivals and more! Following the release of PAAM 15 years ago it's helped festival and event companies worldwide with their staff and volunteer recruitment and management, and in turn helping the wider event industry to reduce its paper usage and be greener!

We reuse as much as we can from events each season – from banners and signage to wristbands and miscellaneous office supplies. We also make environmentally conscious decisions when it comes to suppliers, all the way down to things as small as the ink and method used to print our logo on tabards! 🦺

We hope you have a very happy Earth Day and look forward to seeing you for a green festival filled summer! 🏕️

How to apply

To find out more and apply choose the festival you're interested in volunteering at, you'll then find all the info including when you'll need to arrive at the festival, how many volunteer shifts you'll do, how old you need to be to volunteer at festivals, the kind of things you'll get involved with when volunteering and loads more!

Paying your deposit

As usual, you need to pay a refundable security deposit to volunteer with us this summer.

When volunteering with Hotbox Events you only need to pay 1 deposit to volunteer at as many festivals as you like each summer!

Deposits are returned within 30 days of the last day of a festival, if you have volunteered with us before your deposit is discounted by 35%. There are no admin fees charged on deposits, so you receive your entire deposit back as long as you complete all of your shifts at the festivals!

Of course, if for any reason a festival does not go ahead, your security deposit will be returned to you in full.

Please remember that we cannot confirm your place until you have paid your deposit!

Choosing shifts

You can choose the shifts you prefer a few weeks before each festival and we will confirm your shifts in advance, so you know when you will be volunteering and can plan your festival schedule!

Shift preferences are allocated based on deposit payment date, so the earlier you pay your deposit, the more likely you are to get your top shift preferences!

Messenger

If there is anything you would like to ask or you would just like to chat with us about volunteering, the easiest way is to...

Connect with us on Messenger

Socials

You can connect with us @hotboxevents on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn

Connecting

If you would like to chat with others who have volunteered with us before head to our Facebook Group and Forum

On Facebook and in our Forum you will find new and returning volunteers chatting about what it is like to volunteer at festivals, arranging to share lifts, asking and answering questions about volunteering at festivals and making friends with other volunteers!

Videos

If you have not volunteered at a festival before and are wondering what it is like, check out some of our staff and volunteer interviews!

In the interviews you will get to hear from volunteers who have joined us talking about how they found their shifts, how they felt they were looked after by the Hotbox team, what it was like volunteering solo for the first time, taking on more responsibility year on year and progressing from a volunteer to staff role, and even how the experience and confidence gained has helped with career progression away from festivals!

Photos

Another way to see what volunteering is like is to check out some of our festival photos!

In our festival photo galleries, you will find thousands of photos covering our festival volunteering history over the past twenty years!

Going Solo

If you are thinking about volunteering but not sure about going alone, please don't worry! Every year more than half of those who volunteer with us do so on their own the first time and then return year after year to meet up with friends they have made whilst volunteering!

Questions

If you have specific questions about volunteering at festivals try our festival FAQs!

Our festival FAQs are regularly updated and packed full of answers to the questions we are usually asked, plus lots of handy hints and tips about volunteering at festivals.

Newsletter

We usually send an email newsletter about once a month, if you would like to keep up to date you can subscribe!

Email

If you would like to drop us an email it's info@hotboxevents.com

Phone

You can reach our office by phone on the numbers below...

Tel: 01252849600 (UK) select option 2 for Hotbox Events

Tel: +441252849600 (International) select option 2 for Hotbox Events

Festival filled summer!

We cannot wait to welcome you to the Hotbox Events team for an amazing festival filled summer 😊