‘Wellness festival’ slammed over its ‘excessive use of plastic’

A ‘wellness festival’ has come under fire after stunned eco-warriors noticed the event’s ‘excessive use of plastic’.

Balance Festival was lambasted by attendees who were constantly offered free plastic water bottles.

Corporate sponsor Lucozade packed out the event with electric fridges full of their ‘FitWater’ – raising the eyebrows of the festival’s eco-friendly clientele who had come armed with metal refillable bottles.

Personal trainer Marc Mullen, 32, said he was disappointed, adding: ‘There are bins overflowing with plastic here and it just has to change.

‘This isn’t the world we live in now.

‘I’m a vegan, if you look around, there are yoga teachers and health food specialists everywhere.

‘Outside of these walls, these people would not use so much plastic.’

Katie McPherson, 38, said: ‘There’s plastic everywhere, all the samples and trays are plastic too.

‘It’s surprising given the kind of people who are here.’

The three-day festival at the Old Truman Brewery in Shoreditch, East London, last Friday was designed to celebrate wellness, featuring everything from vegan beer and CBD pills to DNA-tested fitness packs and mindful tea ceremonies.

Micro-influencers, including chef Steph Elswood and yoga instructor Patrick Beach, were among those to attend.

However, the presence of corporate giant Lucozade seemed to deter the festival’s alternative crowd.

Hattie Bourton, 20, raged: ‘I’d understand if the sponsor was a start-up with a tight budget, but a company like Lucozade should be making more of an effort for the environment.

‘It’s difficult to see because I only ever use my own metal water bottle now.’

A Lucozade spokesman responded to the criticism by saying: ‘At Lucozade Sport we take our responsibility to the environment very seriously.

‘We have worked with the team at Balance Festival in the build up to the event to ensure we have the facilities in place to recycle every bottle we give out and we are actively encouraging attendees to use the recycling points throughout the venue.’

A Balance Festival spokesman said: ‘We are committed to making Balance Festival as environmentally friendly as possible and widely recycle waste from the festival.

‘We also have several initiatives to reduce plastic waste including a partnership with Sol Cup to sell reusable cups at an affordable price, supplying 100% plant-based, fully biodegradable cups in partnership with Decent Packaging to all of our coffee and drinks vendors and have water taps on site for refillable water bottles.’