Herts charities collaborate to repurpose festival tents and sleeping bags
The two Hertfordshire charities will be going after festival goers, collecting the items to be repurposed
Two Hertfordshire-based charities are working together to collect and repurpose abandoned tents and sleeping bags after the Isle of Wight Festival, ending later today,
The aim is to redistribute them to people experiencing homelessness and displacement both in the UK and overseas.
Volunteers from Emmaus Hertfordshire, based in St Albans, and Herts for Refugees will be collecting tents and sleeping bags left behind by festivalgoers, which are then cleaned and distributed to people in need.
Emmaus Hertfordshire provides a home, tailored support, and work opportunities to up to 39 people who have experienced homelessness and social exclusion. The charity supports people through a social enterprise model that includes four shops and a house clearance service.
Gemma Beckett, Business Development Manager at Emmaus Hertfordshire, said: “Every year we send a team of volunteers to salvage hundreds of discarded tents and sleeping bags which are then repurposed to provide essential shelter and warmth to displaced people.
"Last year, after the Isle of Wight Festival, our team of four companions, plus two members of staff, helped a team from Herts for Refugees collect 260 abandoned tents and 150 sleeping bags.
"If you’re camping at the Isle of Wight Festival this weekend, please make our work much easier by leaving tents and unwanted sleeping bags in good, clean condition so they can be readily distributed to people who really need them.”
The collaboration also helps reduce landfill waste—an environmental benefit that aligns with Emmaus Hertfordshire’s ethos of reuse and repurposing. The charity also upcycles and sells second-hand furniture and household items through its shops.
This year marks the fourth time Emmaus Hertfordshire has supported Herts for Refugees in its festival salvage work. Previous collaborations include salvage operations at the Boomtown Festival in 2022, and the Isle of Wight Festival in both 2023 and 2024.
“Our solidarity work is part of an ongoing partnership,” Ms Beckett said, “brought together by the two charities’ shared belief that everyone, no matter their background, deserves somewhere safe to call home.
"The team at HFR are experts in how best to support displaced people. They have endless amounts of compassion and empathy, and an insatiable drive to help in any way they can. We are proud beyond words to call them partners and friends.”
Herts for Refugees (HFR), established in response to the refugee crisis in 2015, organises festival salvage operations and coordinates the delivery of humanitarian aid across Europe and the Middle East. They also run local support initiatives for new arrivals in Hertfordshire.
Angus Clark, Chief Executive Officer of HFR, said: “It’s been an absolute pleasure to have the team from Emmaus Hertfordshire along to our salvage event at the Isle of Wight Festival during the last few years – the guys were total stars. People in need are people in need, no matter if they are at home or overseas and we love working with Emmaus Hertfordshire.
"Volunteering is at the heart of everything we do at HFR. We run volunteering trips to France where we work with partner organisations directly supporting refugees, which is a great way for people to really experience the reality of the situation refugees find themselves in.
"As well as France, we also deliver aid to Greece, Lebanon, Syria or wherever the need arises. A huge thank you to Emmaus and all our volunteers, we couldn’t do it without you!”
In addition to the Isle of Wight Festival, HFR will also carry out salvage work at Reading Festival later in the summer.