Glastonbury Festival looks to a future of only pre-erected tents

The amount of cheap and poor-quality tents dumped at Glastonbury Festival in 2011 has led to Festival boss Michael Eavis considering making the offer of pre-erected tents compulsory to everyone who plans to attend it in the future.

Glastonbury Festival is offering ticket holders, a range of pre-erected off-site camping facilities in custom-made and pre-erected Festival accommodation. So festival goers can travel to and from the five day festival with nothing but their bags.

The camping site, which looks out over the Festival, for at least 4,000 people is offered in addition to the tipi camping and will be located a short walk from the Festival site (up the hill above the Stone Circle field). The Worthy View car park is in a dedicated field, a short walk from the accommodation.

A company in Bradford won a contract to make 1,000 reusable tents for the Glastonbury Festival. The tents are designed specifically for the festival with the guy-ropes featured inside the structure. Festival organisers hope people will hire the tents instead of buying cheap ones, which are often left behind after the event has ended.

The amount of tents abandoned at the end of the last festival in 2011 by many of the 177,550 attendees meant they had to go in landfill because it was a greener alternative than the costly and labour-intensive job of trying to recycle them for further use. It's a myth that overseas aid charities are going to want a load of cheap and poor-quality tents from supermarkets. Last time the Festival made clear that they wanted attendees to think that a tent is for life not just for a festival.

The amount of poor quality tents that can't even be recycled and have to be thrown away by clean up crews worries the Festival and it's environmentally friendly reputation, and Farmer Eavis, talked to the BBC local news about the issue yesterday, (here).

The story is 19 minutes into the broadcast, which talks about the tents the Festival have ordered with no external guyropes, that they hope people will hire the tents instead of buying the cheap ones which are left behind to pollute the farm site.

Farmer and organiser Michael Eavis revealed his vision of the future saying, "I would actually like to see, in about 10-15 years time, a situation where every single tent is provided by us, and we can make sure that we can keep them, and store them for the following year."

At least that means he has no intention of hanging up his shorts anytime soon. For those who would like to make an accommodation booking for this summer's Festival, There are still options available. Everyone who wishes to stay at Worthy View must already have a valid Festival ticket, and they are booked for all five nights - Wednesday 26th June until Monday 1st July 2013, inclusive.

To buy Worthy View Camping, click here.

Glastonbury Festival takes place across over a 1,000 acres of beautiful countryside at Worthy Farm, Somerset and, as ever, includes a free programme. Once again, the Festival will be raising funds for Oxfam, Wateraid, Greenpeace and a host of local charities and causes (in 2011, more than £2m was raised).

A further release of a limited number of cancelled tickets will happen on Sunday 21st April 2013, for those who have registered beforehand so that they are eligible to buy a ticket.

The number of tickets available will be quite limited, because these will be returns, not a second batch. The exact number of tickets in the resale will not be known until after the ticket balance payment window has closed on Monday 8th April. Tickets are usually limited to four per transaction.

UK ticket balances of £155 per ticket, will be payable in the first week of April 2013 following the Easter Weekend, from 9am Tuesday 2nd April until 23:59 Monday 8th April, when there will also be options to book everything else needed (tipis, campervan tickets, parking, cancellation protection). International ticket balance payments will be taken from 9am (GMT) Monday 25th February until 23:59 (GMT) Sunday 3rd March 2013. After this date any tickets not paid for in full will be offered to those who have registered.

Anyone who decides not to pay their balance in 2013 will be refunded their deposit, minus a £10 administration fee.

Anyone aged 13 or over (when the Festival starts) who wishes to buy a ticket must be registered.

Registration does not reserve or guarantee you a ticket in the resale, but if you don't register you will not be able to buy a weekend ticket for Glastonbury Festival 2013. Online registration for 2013 can be carried out by clicking here.

Malian singer Rokia Traore is the only act confirmed so far, and the full line-up won't be revealed until mid-April, although the first names are expected be announced sometime before that. As usual eFestivals will bring you the very best-sourced rumours, allowing festival-goers to see who is playing long before the bands are formally announced - keep your eyes on the Glastonbury 2013 rumours, updated as we receive information. Help us to help you - if you hear of a band that's playing, please let us know.

Expect something like 2,000 performances at 50 or so venues including music, cabaret, theatre, circus, a fantastic Kidz area, poetry, green crafts and information and loads, loads more ... much more than just the music, so make sure you check it all out!

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