The organisers of Reading Festival and other outdoor events across the town have been chosen to pilot a new sustainability project for events across the UK.

This comes as 10 council authorities were brought together to develop the Green Events Code of Practice (GECOP) which will eventually provide guidance for outdoor events.

The aim of this is to make sure events are as environmentally friendly and sustainable as possible.

Louisa Dean, Head of Communications, Events and Marketing at Reading Borough Council, said: “We are really pleased that Reading has been invited to be part of this important national pilot.

“Not only will this initiative support Reading’s ambition to be net zero but it will potentially help provide festival organisers and local authorities across the country with consistent guidelines to hold events that are sustainable and environmentally sound.

“It will help tackle many of the issues associated with festivals, such as use of single-use plastics, energy use, management of waste and how visitors travel to the site.

“Event organisers who attended the workshop at the Civic Offices were really enthusiastic and positive about the initiative and, of course, the Council will be playing it’s part directly with the popular events it holds every year, including Water Fest and Reading Children’s Festival.”

The Green Events Code of Practice (GECOP) pilot is being co-funded by the Arts Council and participating local authorities.

During the meeting of event organisers on Tuesday, April 9, the representatives from Reading & Leads Festival, Festival Republic, gave a presentation on their green policies on food and drink, materials and waste and water and energy at the events.

Alongside Reading Festival, the organisers of Readipop, East Reading Festival, Reading Mela, Blue Collar and Reading Pride attended the pilot meeting held by the Council at the Civic Offices.

Matt Foster, from East Reading Festival, said: “East Reading Festival is really pleased to be helping pilot the Green Events Code of Practice in Reading. This is an important and timely initiative for us, and the wider festival sector.

“We have been talking about how best to play our part in cutting carbon emissions and addressing environmental impact for a while. But as a small, volunteer-led festival we have struggled to know how. Already we can see we are on the right path. More importantly we are not alone!

“It has been great hearing experiences of other local festivals, large and small, sharing knowledge about what works as well as identifying barriers that we can address together. We know we will need to do some things differently, which is daunting. But also exciting!”