After a couple of days of the Prodigy, Razorlight and memories of odd bars, whiskey, brandy, massages, dried noodles, veggie burgers, the temptation of bacon, I have just about recovered and am ready to write again.

10p refunds for cups and kids with stacks of hundreds; about 5 local produce stalls, the odd solar panel, and scouts and explorers campaigning to save the bees. Isle of Wight festival has a lot of green tendancies, but benchmark it against Glastonbury and it has far to go.

Chris (pictured) had collected 40 cups (£4 / $6).  This pay per cup recycling scheme was an obvious success from the lack of cups on the ground, it’s just a shame about the rest of the litter.  Litter is endemic at most of the large scale festivals in the UK, but the Isle of Wight Festival really needs more bins.  Also with the number of men and women peeing in the hedges I wonder what the Environment Agency will find if they analyse the content of the surrounding rivers and land now.  More troubling is the acceptance of this behaviour, and pure indulgence for environmental destruction, still I think making comments like ‘1 inch. Is that all!’ helps rid yourself of those, that identify the hedge near your tent as a good toilet.  WHERE WERE THE URINALS? people were peeing everywhere.

Overall the festival felt slightly disorganised.  We were moved after pitching, then told we could go back again.  Not nice after a 40 walk with a load of kit.  Security around the site were the nicest bunch of security guards I’ve ever met.  Actually they felt more like friendly community wardens. Disorganisation felt more  at production as opposed to the grass roots level.

Oxfam were represented selling second hand clothes,  ‘Act Now on CO2′ slogans adorned the site, and a small number of local producers sold pies, cakes and fish.  Scouts and Explorers were on hand to raise funds for a local research project into the decline of bees whilst also taking some of the donation money for their own coffers.  The festival has made some bold moves in the right direction but if it wants to be a eco-leader it’ll need to pack a greater green punch next year to make it the best.

Here’s some ideas for next years fest: clay oven pizzas, eco-toilets, more urinals and bins, devliver compostable bags for peoples rubbish, land rovers run on biodisel, 100% local food, eco camping tips on the main screen (well done on the messages from the Prince’s save the Rainforest campaign), big screen text messaging for sharing ideas to make the environment, a community of eco-models to help teach people new skills … Let me know if you need my assistance next time, my fees for WaterAid are low