With Isle of Wight kicking off festival season earlier this month and Glasto just around the corner, an exciting summer of festival fun awaits! But thousands of party-goers can really kick out some carbon.

We all want to keep this lovely little planet of ours happy and healthy, so we can keep the party going year after year. If you're wondering how to make sure your festie carbon footprint is a tiny tread and not a massive muddy welly, read on...

A host of festivals have teamed up with 10:10 and are making a concerted effort to bring their emissions levels down. Solar-powered stages, biodiesel generators and bike-powered phone charging are springing up all over UK festivals, but tinkering with stages and speakers can only do so much – it’s the merry festival-goers that make it a weekend to remember, and it's up to us to, quite literally, pick up where the organisers leave off.

The three Ts: travel, tents, trash

When you arrive laden with bags and beer, you’ll be encouraged to “leave no trace.” To pull that off, you've got three main things to think about: travel (use a bus!), tents (take them home!) and trash (you know what to do …).

Travel is by far the largest source of emissions for every UK festival – driving alone can produce up to 10 times more nasty CO2 than getting the coach. With National Express offering direct coaches to many major festivals from over 25 locations, you’d wonder why anyone would spend time fussing over a map on the motorway. If you do need to go by car, try and fit as many people in as possible.

If you want to make your journey really memorable, cycling and now even swimming are gathering a following as greener ways to arrive. Our suggestion: reward yourself with a clean, green and comfortable pre-pitched tent for all your efforts.

Come Monday, campsites are filled with lonely forlorn little tents, left behind by their owners. Not only are they a major source of waste, but what really seems absurd is that nearly all of these tents are fit for re-use! Don't desert your tent – squish it back into your bag for next year. If it's broken or unusable, most festivals have drop-off points for such waste.

If you can't be fussed to trudge along with your tent, why not take the hassle out of setting up by camping in the Tangerine Fields? This ready-made campsite is available at many festivals and provides everything you could want; from sleeping bags to blow up beds to head-torches. Easy as pie.

If you're planning on partying hard without the footprint, we'd love to hear about it. Send us in your festival stories and pics so we can share your nuggets of wisdom with the masses.

Stay prepared for whatever the weather may throw at you. Check out withintent, a company who rescue abandoned tents and turn them into ideal festival garb like showerproof ponchos and bags. They're cute too!

See Also:

• Wireless and Lovebox festivals smash 10% target
• Bestival <3 10:10
• Working out a festival's footprint