in partnership with ecodisco

Our 2023 edition of Westival marks the start of a partnership with sustainable nightlife consultancy ecodisco. This year ecodisco will be supporting us to reduce the festival’s environmental impact as much as possible from 2023 and beyond. 

We have a tremendous amount of respect for Pembrokshire’s natural beauty and it’s incredibly important to us to minimise any damage to the festival site and the surrounding natural environment. Whilst we strive to make the best decisions on sustainability, our efforts are often limited by cost and resource. Thanks to the support provided by ecodisco, we are able to take significant steps this year.

1. Travel

We encourage all attendees to use public transport where possible. We will also use our WhatApp group to support those willing to carpool to ensure all traveling vehicles are fully utilised.

Our beach shuttle bus will wait as long as reasonably possible to fill up all seats before departing. 

In our post-event survey, we will gather data on the different modes of transport used by attendees.

2. Single-use Waste 

We’re excited to use ecodisco’s reusable cup system for 2023! You pay a small amount extra when purchasing a drink, and will receive this back when buying your next drink provided you return a dirty cup.

Through this system we aim to prevent over 10,000 single-use cups from going to landfill. 

For hot drinks, we encourage attendees to bring their reusable coffee cups to use vendors. We are also working towards providing a discount to those who use a reusable cup for hot drinks. 

We are banning single-use plastic bottles at Westival. This goes for you and us. Please bring a reusable water bottle with you to fill up at water points. We won’t be serving any beverages in plastic bottles on-site. 

The Ecodisco tent will offer reusable bowls to attendees on a deposit return scheme. You can pay £4 to borrow the bowl and get £3 refunded when you return it (the non refundable £1 covers the costs of the service). Alternatively you can keep your bowl to use at other events over summer! 

We will also have recycling and general waste bins placed around the site with corresponding signage. We need your help to ensure that the correct items go in the correct bins! 

3. Vapes

We will have collection bins set up where you can recycle your single-use vapes. We encourage you to consider switching to a refillable vape to reduce waste. 

4. Water

We will be measuring our water usage across site all weekend.

5. Energy

For the first time, we will be recording our energy usage across site in order to inform any changes for 2024 and beyond.

6. Audience engagement

This year ecodisco will be running a sustainability tent with various talks and workshops. They will also be offering reusable products and washing up stations so you can avoid single-use as much as possible. 

There will be a survey sent out post-event with the option for feedback on our sustainability efforts. We appreciate that this is a marathon not a sprint, so we welcome any guidance from our audience on how we can improve. 

7. Supporting the local economy

Beyond our environmental actions, we also pride ourselves on supporting the local Pembrokeshire economy. Over half of the structures on-site - shuttle buses, waste collections, generators and toilets - are sourced from within the county. 

We offer a discount on later ticket tiers to anyone living within Pembrokeshire, as well as free tickets to anyone within close proximity of the site. If you are a Welsh business wanting to get involved then please contact us - hello@westival.wales. 

The seven headings above outline our sustainability strategy for Westival this year. Whilst this is a good start, we hope to achieve much more as the festival grows.