THE Unearthed Festival in Wales is setting out to prove that sustainability starts with empowering people this summer.
It takes place for the ninth time from June 16 to 18 in St Davids, Pembrokeshire, which was recently voted among the top 10 seaside towns in the UK.
Alfie Cooper, recycling manager at Unearthed Festival, said: “I first started coming to Unearthed with my mum when I was a kid so it feels great to be coming back as a manager now that I am in my 20s.
“I've worked at quite a few festivals across the UK and there is something undeniably special about Unearthed. It feels like a festival for everyone, that everyone takes care of, and that makes it a really lovely place to work.”
For 2023, the festival – now in its ninth fully fledged edition – is starting a reusable crockery scheme in partnership with Crock n’ Rock. The scheme involves festival-goers paying a £1 deposit for crockery to use for the duration of the festival.
Tim Rees, Unearthed Festival co-founder, said: “At Unearthed, sustainability and environmentally friendly practices are founding principles, and they are as important to those delivering the festival as they are to the organisers, which is why it works.
“We are incredibly lucky to work with exceptional volunteers who join us each year from all over the world and who are as committed to looking after this amazing planet we have been gifted with as we are.”
The fully vegetarian festival also has a dedicated allergen-free zone and a recycling rate of 95%, and has had no single use plastics since 2018. More than 70% of the food and drink providers are local to the area.
Activities at the festival include music, workshops and talks on lucid dreaming and sustainable construction.
One of the workshops includes an educational craft lesson for teens with "trash pandas" only using recycled material.
Unearthed is the only festival that Tipi Valley, a sustainable living community committed to sustainable living since the 1970s, is represented every year.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here