In this guest blog,  Environmental Sustainability Consultant, Livvy Drake shares an overview of the 2025 updates to the Festival Industry Materials and Waste Briefing. Read the full updated, Festival Industry Materials and Waste Briefing HERE.

“Waste and littering is always an emotive topic and the never-ending stream of materials being produced requires local authorities, organisations and events to manage them. In 2025 a couple of waste policy changes are being implemented to address these which will affect how festivals manage their waste for the better.  

Whilst Simpler Recycling stops short at standardising all the bin colours and icons around the country, it does require all local authorities and organisations to now separate waste streams before they are sent for processing.

All organisations with more than 10 full-time employees, from March 31st 2025 (micro-businesses from october 2027) must present these waste streams separately for collection:

• Dry recyclable materials (plastic, metal and glass) – glass can remain separate.
• Paper and card – unless collected with dry materials above. 
• Food waste 
• Residual (non-recyclable) waste

This is a positive step to normalise waste segregation for waste contractors and users, improve the quality of materials collected (keeping food away from recyclable materials to avoid contamination and capturing high carbon and valuable waste streams like food waste. 

Organisations like festivals have the option to separate at the point of disposal, with multiple bins, or afterwards by sorting onsite. For the latter it is still necessary to have a two bin system to keep food waste separate.   

Recommendations from festival waste contractors to improve waste segregation before sorting include: 

• Staffed bins in high density areas  
• Black plastic bag ban (so it’s easy to scan what’s in bags)
• Litter teams collecting separate streams with multiple bags

To find out more on how this affects festivals read the updated: Festival Industry Materials and Waste Briefing. 

Furthermore on 1st June 2025, the sale and supply of single-use vapes is being banned. But given the prevalence in shops, these are still going to be in circulation for months to come. 

Many festivals have already banned them, only allowing reusable ones on site, which requires briefing of audience and security alike to manage effectively. 

All vapes are classed as WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) and vendors are required to provide a take-back scheme, advise customers on recycling points and recycle them appropriately.

Livvy Drake has worked across the event sector from catering and conferences to outdoor events and festivals, delivering initiatives at Shambala, auditing events for A Greener Festival, training event organisers with Julie’s Bicycle and developed industry guidance with Vision for Sustainable Events. Read her Green Industry Leader Q&A HERE.

This article originally appeared in our May 2025 Vision for Sustainable Events newsletter. Sign up to receive monthly event sustainability news, case studies and guest blogs direct to your inbox.