AS the festival season nears and environmental concerns continue to rise, new and inventive eco-friendly ideas are being unearthed to help create a greener festival experience. With Glastonbury known for its eco-conscious decisions, are all UK festivals set to follow suit? If this is the case, how can they go about doing so?

Year after year, new UK festivals appear and an ever increasing number of festival goers spend hours lugging bags and beer through the muddy fields of county farms. Last year, as the rain poured once more, a record 15,000 tents were left at Glastonbury festival, 3,000 also abandoned at smaller gathering Reading festival. Numbers are only set to increase and the dream of finding somebody to do all the hard work for you is finally here. The solution lies in neither fame nor extravagant fortune but in “Myhab”. Room Thirteen met up with Myhab Managing Director James Dunlop to investigate plans for the future of his creative invention and ultimately of festivals worldwide.

Myhab is an eco-friendly habitat made from recycled plastic and cardboard, designed to be a more comfortable, convenient and spacious option to sleeping in a tent. Influenced strongly by Japanese Architect Shigeru Ban, who used cardboard tubing as structural components to create schools, churches and offices, twenty-three year old Dunlop states that he wanted to “see what would happen if (he) used recycled cardboard to create temporary accommodation.”

Myhab makes resting at festivals enjoyable, with a spacious bedding area; suitable for all weather conditions. The tent has been tried and tested, and can undergo at least five days and nights of solid rain, coated inside and out with a waterproof sealant. The cardboard on each Myhab is recycled and comes back as a fresh piece further down the line. The recycled plastic parts are reused and will last for about 5 years; then they too can be recycled.

People are already showing their support for festival change. A survey taken from www.agreenerfestival.com shows that 80% of those festival goers who took part in the investigation believed that noise, waste and traffic have a negative impact. 48% claim they would pay more for a greener festival and 36% take into consideration the environmental policies of the festival when purchasing a ticket.

Myhab emerged from a dissertation project at UWE focusing on the “environmental concern of outdoor festivals.” James went about creating an “alternative to a tent, which was made from recycled materials” after a growing fear for the state of outside festivals and the long term effects on the environment. The New Designers Exhibition awarded Dunlop for his innovative creation, and with ₤500,000 worth of MINT Partners investment, Myhab is set to roam festivals everywhere this summer.

The humble MD has high hopes for the project and believes that right now, Myhab is well on its way to becoming a festival revelation;
“It’s panned out well so far and we are all very confident with the product and service. It has been hugely educational and very exciting”. He also hopes that Myhabs can become useful in disaster relief scenarios and the 2012 Olympics.

So, what’s the cost? Well, everything comes at a price yet, Myhab lives up to its valuation. It’s a luxurious stay, if camping in a field can ever be referred to in such terms, and can be bought at a reasonable ₤120 per person based on two people sharing for the duration of the event. Okay, so it’s not aimed at the teenagers amongst us, but it’s cheaper than renting a hotel and travelling to the venue every day. Included for this price is a built in safe, which allows campers to remain carefree when leaving phones, ipods, spare cash etc in the tent. It provides soft raised bedding, and trust me all you festival virgins, after a day of happy but tiring traipsing, there’s nothing like a comfy bed. Being able to personalise your Myhab online is always a seller and thankfully, climbing into a stranger’s tent will soon be a thing of the past. The habitat will be set up and taken down by the organisations employees which also saves time and energy. Alongside a good location within the festival and special Myhab wristbands which provide access to regularly cleaned exclusive showers and toilets (need we say more?!), the Myhab could be the festival accommodation of the future.

It does sound like a rich mans festival, however James hopes to aim the product at “anyone who wants to experience a convenient festival. If you are fed up with hot sweaty tents that flood, become a pain to lug around and set up, and regularly find uninvited guests falling into them then, try a Myhab.”

200-300 Myhabs are set to hit the UK festivals this summer, with James visiting 10 music events across the United Kingdom alone; hoping to reach out to mainland Europe next year. As an avid music fan, this will hardly be a hardship for the young designer; who is keen to catch Kate Nash and Hot Chip throughout his travels.

Myhab ties in nicely with Glastonbury and Millet’s latest endeavour to make festivals a more environmentally friendly form of entertainment; creating biodegradable tent pegs as part of the ‘Love the farm, leave no trace’ campaign. After thousands were left at Glasto alone, new pegs have been produced, made from natural materials derived from wheat and potatoes and will be handed out free to all campers. The exclusive use of biodegradable tent pegs at this year’s festival will reduce the risk of injury to the public and animals from metal predecessors.

James Dunlop believes more people are becoming aware with the impact of their carbon footprint and companies are going to strive to meet the consumers needs; “It’s a very important time and lots of companies are adapting how they operate to help the environment, as well as lots of companies starting up with these concerns at the forefront of their ethos.”

So if you find yourself at T in the Park, Isle of Wight or Oxegen (to name but a few), look out for Myhab villages everywhere. If you can’t wait quite that long, check out the habitats very own website www.myhab.com and order yours online now.