Insomnia Gaming Festival has added a new Eco Village in a bid to become more sustainable.
With reports showing that 23,500 tonnes of waste are produced annually at UK festivals, i66 said it’s ‘determined to take control of the situation’ and do its best to get greener.
It’s teamed up with Nestlé Cereals’ Curiously Cinnamon to bring the first Eco Village to its line-up, which will see the introduction of 150 sustainably-sourced cardboard tents for gamers to stay in over the course of the four-day festival.
Organisers say the tents have enough room for two, are made with ‘both practicality and comfort in mind’ and are recyclable. They say they’re also better at blocking out light than the usual tents in the Birmingham NEC’s indoor camping halls.
Phil Crawford from Player1 Events, the organisers behind Insomnia66 (i66), said: “We’re in the midst of a climate change crisis and the effect of this is being felt the world over: however, whilst its seen a rise in reusable water bottles and a ban on plastic bags, these changes haven’t translated to the world of festivals like ours… yet.
“Now, it’s time to get serious and to get honest with ourselves about the impact that shows, conventions, and expos are having on the planet, and as organisers, we need to be responsible for designing festivals with sustainability plans built in.
“We really hope that those attending i66 get behind our pledge to go green and support our Eco Village. We know that this is just the first step of many to making Insomnia sustainable, but we look forward to working with even more partners to create a model of best practice for festivals to follow.
“Together, we can make a massive difference. We cannot wait to watch the Insomnia Eco Village come to life and make it a staple of every show going forward.”
By introducing the eco-friendly camping village during its festival, Insomnia’s organisers hope that it will encourage more events organisers to follow suit in making similar changes.
Guests can stay in the Eco Village from £75, which is cheaper than purchasing two singular camping tickets.
Insomnia Gaming Festival will return to Birmingham’s NEC from April 10th to 13th.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
