The organiser’s Emily Eavis told BBC 6 Music that the festival was undertaking an “enormous project” to reduce the amount of plastic waste produced at the festival, adding “it’s taking a lot of time to tackle with all the different people we work with”.

The festival has taken steps in the past to reduce plastic bottle use. In 2014, environmentally-friendly stainless-steel bottles and water kiosks were introduced, providing festival goers with free refills. However, estimates suggest that around one million plastic bottles are used annually at Glastonbury.

A total of nine WaterAid kiosks and three Raw foundation kiosks were spread across the last festival, providing options to pick-up £10 refillable bottles or just refill different bottles. All water supplied at Glastonbury comes from Bristol Water.

“We want to reduce plastic bottle waste on the festival site but also in people’s daily lives,” the website reads. “Bottled water is a huge source of landfill across the world, in countries where it is not even necessary to drink bottled water because of the quality of the countries tap water.”

Glastonbury has been known to promote environmentally-conscious solutions to festival goers. A 40-person Pee Power urinal has been powering lights and charging mobile phones at Worthy Farm for the past two years.

The technology is just one of a number of sustainable features at Glastonbury. Last year’s event included mini gyms that create their own energy and solar arrays that powered David Attenborough documentaries.

Plastic pledge

Glastonbury’s announcement is the latest in a long line of recent pledges vowing to reduce the use of single-use plastics. Last week, the Church of England provided worshippers with a calendar of tips to avoid using single-use plastic during Lent, with MPs and environmental law firm ClientEarth also agreeing to the pledge.

The BBC announced it will launch a new “three-step plan” to remove single-use plastics from its operations by 2020, while caterers to the Royal Family will only be allowed to use china plates and glasses, or recyclable paper cups for events.

A host of retailers, including Iceland, Waitrose and Asda have also agreed to reduce the amount of single-use plastics they use.

Matt Mace

Action inspires action. Stay ahead of the curve with sustainability and energy newsletters from edie

Subscribe