Well, we do everything we can think of to reduce the impacts of the event including:

• Subsidised coach travel from 6 cities (to reduce travel carbon)
  
• FREE biofuel shuttle bus from public transport links
• Recycling virtually everything we can (and actively promoting this)
  
• As many compost loos as we can get hold of
  
• Detailed carbon auditing and carbon reduction initiatives
• Strict ethical traders policy and food supply
  
• Whole festival is 98% powered by wind, sun and waste veg oil (2010)

We go into great detail with our carbon auditing, measuring everything we are able to - see section below for more info.

We have been awarded the highest ever Industry Green (Ig) by Julies Bicycle, which measures all aspects of sustainability (see a case study HERE).The results from the 2011 carbon audit are encouraging - we have managed to more than halve the carbon (per person) of the event in 4 years, and reduce total carbon between years.We have been awarded OUTSTANDING three years in a row by the A Greener Festival awards, and won the Most Sustainable Event in the UK award (2009) from the National Outdoor Events Association (NOEA). We not in it for the awards, but we think awards and carbon tools online are a very good thing for raising the standards for festivals.

We are passionate about the ‘Per Capita Principle': If everyone on the planet has an equal share of carbon consumption at sustainable levels (ie for the planet to survive), we each have an allowance of only 7.5Kg/day*. At the moment many of us are using 6 times this or more. Without travel, your share whilst at Shambala is an amazing 3.14Kg/day (2010). With travel the average is just over 12Kg/day. But if you cycled or travelled by coach or a full car, you are within your per capita share! Makes you think how much lifestyles would need to change in the Uk if we are over our share when going for a camping holiday!

*United Nations Environment Program figures

Download Shambala 2010 Carbon report

We are obsessed with measuring carbon. We work with the Centre of Alternative Technolcogy (CAT) to independantly audit the festival each year. The associated reports are published. Please find the detailed 2010 Carbon report below - we have ther most detailed reports of any UK event, so be prepared! We are extrmely happy to say that we have reduced the carbon footprint pwer person at Shamabla by a whopping 56% over 4 years - that's more than halved. Its possible!

We only have the Summary Report from 2011 so far, with the following headlines:

• Carbon has been reduced year-on-year, but only slightly
• We did well on waste reduction, increasing recyling by 15%
  
• Due to technical issues we were forced to hire in some diesel generators at the last minute, which added significantly to the core carbon footprint
• We managed to collect data for all contractor transport
• Over 10% of the audience arrived by public transport!

Please see the action plan 2012 for more information about what we are doing this year to reduce carbon.

Ticket buyers are offered the opportunity to offset their travel when buying car and van passes. Every year those who contributed vote for which project they want to support from a choice of 3 carefully chosen organisations/initiatives. Please see the pdf below for full information on the wonedrful things that these donations have acheived. For a full rationale of the travwel carbon offset please click HERE

Download Travel Offset Report 2009-2011

Everey year we review all the aims we set out to achieve for the previous event and set new ones - this helps us maintain momentum and apply each years learning to the next. You can see our 'sustainable journey' over the past few years through the documents available to download below.

This year we are pioneering a new idea – a recycling deposit. With each ticket booking you will pay an automatic £10 recycling deposit. At the festival you  exchange a green bag of your recyclable's (and any non recycle-able waste you have) for either your £10 back in cash or a "festival pack" (details t.b.c but along the lines of T-Shirts, Shambala CDs etc)

Circa 70% of Shambala's waste comes from the campsites. Too much recyclable waste goes into the nasty black bags (the contents of which can't be recycled by our staff) and often the waste in the green bags is too contaminated with non-recyclable landfill waste. This recycling deposit scheme is desiged to massively improve recycling rates at Shambala 2012.

The scheme is strictly non profit-making. It is designed to inspire and motivate you the festival-goer to take recycling and rubbish into your own hands – community action! 100% of unclaimed deposits will go to our carbon offset fund. Any money saved on litter picking and landfill charges will in the future go towards adding more to creative projects and music budgets! And, we could have a cleaner festival.

Caterers and stall are only get a pitch to trade at Shambala if they can prove they are ethically run. They are required to:

• Use only biodegradable plates/cups/cutlery so that it can be
• Use fair trade, organic and local supplies wherever possible
• ONLY use meat which can be proved to come from good source

Every year our Green Queen (Jen) rigorously asseses all traders. The very best gets the Green Trader Award, and 50% off the next years pitch fee! In 2010 the Chai Shop (falaffel stall) was the winner, and this year it's Hurley Burley. Well done you two.

Nest year we will be changing the award to the 'most improved' to give more of an incentive to those who are not at the top of their game yet.

We are keen to support event management students interested in sustainability. We are developing a resource pack with stacks of information which can be downloaded in one go. This will be ready eraly 2012. We have everything you could imagine:

• Brief history of Shambala
• Green Actions Plans
• Detailed carbon audits
• Wildlife and environmental impact surveys
• Power efficiency data
• Ethical procurement policy
• Feasibility studies on various initiatives including rapid human waste composting!

We welcome students doing innovative research, and will support them with their work wherever possible.