Council to contact Electric Picnic boss over 'wilful waste'

THE director of Electric Picnic is to receive a letter from Laois Co Council, seeking more time and access for charities to collect abandoned tents and sleeping bags after the upcoming festival.

The letter will be sent to festival director Melvin Benn, after a proposal from Portlaoise councillor Tommy Mulligan got full support this week.

Photographs and videos of bulldozers clearing thousands of tents and other equipment from campsites in the Stradbally estate, destined for dumping in landfill, have sparked outrage after past Electric Picnics.

Volunteers usually have access only to part of the site the day after the festival closes and must finish collecting that evening.

Cllr Mulligan asked the council to write to Mr Benn, ‘requesting that he engage with charitable organisations, to allow them more access to the campsites and ample time to collect abandoned tents and sleeping bags after the music festival’.

The motion seconded by Cllr Marie Tuohy was passed at the council’s monthly meeting on 28 July.

Cllr Mulligan said charities are getting “less and less time” to collect tents and other items every year and have access only to a certain campsite for a restricted time on the Monday after the festival.

He said: “It is a terrible waste of equipment and it’s terrible to see it being picked up by these huge machines and loaded into landfill.” 

 Cllr Tuohy described the practice as “wilful waste” that should be reduced, in what would be “a win-win for everyone”.

Cllr John King commented that tents and other items could be useful and save money for groups such as boy scouts and girl guides, who often have to fundraise for equipment.

Charities and salvage groups have very limited time to collect reusable equipment after the festival, with organisers up against a tight deadline to clear the site. Last year, Mr Benn said they try to clear the vast Electric Picnic site within 24 hours for return to the landowners.

Meanwhile, volunteers have to spend time checking that all tents and equipment are undamaged, have no missing parts and are sufficiently clean and functional to be reused.

Local charities that have collected items include Portlaoise Action to Homelessness (PATH), which gathered up about 500 sleeping bags for the homeless after the 2023 festival.

Campaigns involving groups such as Friends of the Earth and Field Agents of Change have helped to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill, with organisers reporting that there was a 30% reduction in the number of tents left behind at the 2019 festival. 

Electric Picnic organisers have also repeatedly said that festival-goers themselves should play their part in reducing waste and take their belongings home.