Glastonbury Festival - BPF Statement

In response to Glastonbury Festival organisers banning single-use plastic bottles, Director of the British Plastics Federation Plastics and Flexible Packaging Group Barry Turner states:

The British Plastics Federation supports appropriate reuse systems. Photographs showing the amount of litter left behind after the Glastonbury Festival highlight why plastic must be properly disposed of and recycled. But we should also remember that – surprising as it may be — shifting to other materials is often not the best thing for the environment. Plastic remains the most environmentally friendly packaging material in terms of CO2 emissions and provides a resource-efficient means of protecting and delivering food and drink in a safe and hygienic manner. In the UK, plastic beverage bottles have a recycling rate of 74%, which is higher than any other material, and the government is already looking into implementing a UK-wide deposit return scheme, which should increase this even further. We would be happy to discuss with the organisers of the festival the most environmentally friendly packaging solutions.