But of course we were there to promote the recycling of drinks cans, and we did so in a number of ways.  The first was by going out and mingling with the lovely people in the campsites. It was interesting to see that a lot of camps had made some grand creations out of their cans, so when we approached them and told them about theExtravaCANza competition, it’s fair to say it went down pretty well. Hopefully they’ll be entering to try and win £1,000!

During the festival, we helped man the Every Can Counts football challenge, where people could recycle a can to have four shots at an inflatable goal. If they got in all four in there was a chance to win tickets to next year’s festival, so it was a pretty good deal. We were very impressed by the 7 people who managed to get 4 out of 4 goals; Zac only managed one goal the whole weekend!

There was also a wristband initiative run at the goal and at the campsites’ recycling points for those that went to the extra effort of recycling a whole bag of cans (great for those with terrible football skills). The uniquely numbered wristbands go into a separate draw for tickets to next year’s festival. It complemented a fantastic initiative that Reading Festival was already running – a beer token in exchange for a bag of recyclables.

But of course we were there to promote the recycling of drinks cans, and we did so in a number of ways.  The first was by going out and mingling with the lovely people in the campsites. It was interesting to see that a lot of camps had made some grand creations out of their cans, so when we approached them and told them about the ExtravaCANza competition, it’s fair to say it went down pretty well. Hopefully they’ll be entering to try and win £1,000!

During the festival, we helped man the Every Can Counts football challenge, where people could recycle a can to have four shots at an inflatable goal. If they got in all four in there was a chance to win tickets to next year’s festival, so it was a pretty good deal. We were very impressed by the 7 people who managed to get 4 out of 4 goals; Zac only managed one goal the whole weekend!

There was also a wristband initiative run at the goal and at the campsites’ recycling points for those that went to the extra effort of recycling a whole bag of cans (great for those with terrible football skills). The uniquely numbered wristbands go into a separate draw for tickets to next year’s festival. It complemented a fantastic initiative that Reading Festival was already running – a beer token in exchange for a bag of recyclables.

 Zac Hill

I’m delighted to be able to introduce myself as one of the Student Recycling Champions. My name is Zac Hill and I currently study Business Management with Marketing.  I have always respected the importance of recycling and have carried out research at university into the effect the environment has on the reluctance or enthusiasm towards recycling.  I also find the interplay between knowledge and behaviour truly fascinating.

Rather than attempting to modify behaviour, my idea involves encouraging behaviour we already see at festivals.  Quite often I see festival goers piercing their cans onto poles, so I thought this could be encouraged by handing out pipe cleaner-type poles (without the fluff of course) and setting up a Twitter or Facebook competition to find the most creative can sculpture.
These sculptures would then be easy for staff to pick up at the end of the festival and, as every can in the sculpture would be perfectly visible, there wouldn’t be the worry of contamination, which is sometimes faced with recycling bins.  As entrants would need to ‘follow’ or ‘like’ the Every Can Counts social media channels, there would be scope for post-festival communication, to help promote the cause after the festival.

I’m most looking forward to being able to promote recycling in the festival environment. Not only is it a place where most people are in a cheerful, talkative mood, it’s also where thousands of cans are consumed, so it is vital Every Can Counts promotes the responsible disposal of drinks cans.

Zac

John Kilpatrick

Hello, I’m John, an undergraduate studying Management with Marketing at the University of Exeter. I’ve been to Reading Festival for the past two years and what I have always noticed is that without fail, the queue for the artist signing tent is always huge. My idea is simple – offer a fast track-style priority queue jump service for the signing tent, for those who exchange a bin bag full of cans.

I believe that this would provide a very large incentive for people to recycle their cans, as ultimately what is on offer is unique, and cannot be obtained any other way. Music fans always want to meet their favourite artists, but at Reading Festival, they are often put off by the truly grim queue size, knowing that the time spent queuing could be better spent seeing another band. My idea overcomes this problem as it offers people more time to enjoy the festival, whilst at the same time could have a hugely positive effect on the environment.

I’m most looking forward to interacting with festival goers, as the atmosphere at Reading is always great. I’m also looking forward to the promised chance of captaining Every Can Counts’ Twitter account, and tweeting about the various festival shenanigans…. But overall, the whole experience should be great and I’m looking forward to getting started.

John

Becca Smith

Hi everyone!

I’m Becca, I’m 21 and I’m an Environmental Sciences student from sunny Southampton.

I decided to get involved with Every Can Counts because I’m really passionate about the environment, and I believe that young people can really make a difference to the issues affecting our generation. It might sound cheesy, but it’s our future and the good habits we make now will pay off in years to come.

I also believe that recycling doesn’t have to be boring. My idea is to encourage festival goers to win prizes by chasing down the Every Can Counts team and ‘scoring a goal’ by dunking their cans into one of our recycling bins. The team members would be wearing fancy dress and running around to make it more of a challenge. This may have the potential to descend into mud wrestling… but that is the spirit of Reading!

At the festival, I’m most looking forward to meeting people and telling them what we’re all about, so if you see me please don’t hesitate to say hello. I’m also really excited to see Florence and the Machine, Band of Skulls and, of course, the mighty Foo Fighters!

See you there!

Becca x