What We Are

Chorlton's Big Green Festival is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to promote environmental issues in a fun, family-friendly way with a local, grassroots focus and no affiliation to any political group. Our agenda is to show that it's possible to live life sustainably but also to the full, and the idea behind the festival is to present entertaining and interesting ways in which to do this and to show that even small steps really can make a big difference.

We aim to practise what we preach, and we try as hard as possible to source eco-friendly options for the festival, including plant-derived plastic pint pots, biodegradable paper plates and energy-efficient lighting. Last year's theme was "Leave No Trace", and we recycle or compost all waste that the festival produces – we even encourage festival-goers to bring their own crockery and cutlery to keep rubbish to a minimum!

Festival food suppliers are chosen for their ethical credentials and, while not everything on offer is vegan, we feel a choice is important, as long as all produce sold is local, responsibly sourced and where possible organic. The bar stocks are also picked this way: last year, all wine sold was Fairtrade, the cider was local and made using traditional methods, and the beer was organic and brewed locally.

The festival site is car free and we ask all non-disabled attendees to walk or cycle to the festival or, at worst, come via public transport. We encourage the use of renewables, and last year some of our energy was supplied by solar, wind and even pedal power. A solar- and wind-generated soundsystem runs decks and speakers all day, many of the bands we feature are acoustic and much of the live entertainment is electricity free – from dance troupes to hula hoops!