Can fungi boost festival sustainability?

As events that involve large gatherings and extensive temporary infrastructure, there are plenty of environmental challenges facing music festivals.

One of the greatest challenges is waste management, particularly as UK music festivals have been found to produce 25,800 tonnes of waste annually, equivalent to 2kg of waste per person per day. Waste represents 24% of the total carbon footprint of camping festivals, according to findings from festival industry steering group Powerful Thinking.

One answer could be using waste in the production of festival infrastructure, which is something Bristol-based festival and event production company Team Love, and designer Simon Carrell from Temple Design Studio, first began looking at in 2019.

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Their collaborative work involves using Mycelium Panels, a new, regenerative material made out of the root network of fungi, in festival builds.

The use of mycelium began to be popularised in the late 2000s. When it is fed with agricultural waste, it forms a construction material with similar properties to polystyrene, foam and plastics, but is entirely organic and biodegradable.

This potential sparked the idea that, in the future, waste from festivals could make mycelium panels to use for set designs, moving the industry away from reliance on plastic polymer-based products and wood, which require fossil fuel extraction, deplete natural resources and release emissions.

After the project was put on the backburner during the pandemic, the team regrouped and applied for Arts Council England funding in November 2022. Three months later, they were notified of a successful funding application and work began on realising a mycelium-based infrastructure in time for Glastonbury 2023.

A mycelium-based pavillion

Project work began in April last year. In the six weeks leading up to the installation at Glastonbury, a team of creative practitioners tested, manipulated and challenged mycelium as a practical material.

The end result was a snail-shell-shaped pavilion, with hexagonal, circular and triangular-shaped mycelium blocks lining the walls. It was installed at the Silver Hayes area of the festival, which Team Love organises.

Throughout the festival, the hub hosted specially commissioned sound art compositions and 6 Degrees, an exhibition highlighting the variety of mycelium applications. 

It attracted 2,500 visitors across the festival and is set to be a returning platform for creative research and development at Glastonbury each year.

Mixed findings

A report into the project concluded that mycleium’s usage in festival creative builds “requires further research and development”.

It explains that for mycelium composite panels to be used widely in the creative build sector they require more uniformity, as the inconsistency of the material’s density had made it difficult to shape panels into intricate designs.

The report also outlines that more investment in the technology is necessary for industries to be able to afford it. The production of panels hasn’t yet reached an industrial level and is therefore currently more expensive than plastic-based materials.

But it also suggests that for mycelium panels to be used widespread, the industry must rethink its approach, design process, scheduling, budgeting and skills development of creative builds.

The report adds: “If we continue to push new biomaterials to be exactly like plastic based existing ones we are at risk of making similar mistakes, damaging the planet further and promoting over consumption.”

Further work on the potential of mycelium panels will be undertaken. The report highlights that questions remain on how fast the material breaks down when it is in its raw state and when it has been coated. It also raises questions on whether it could present a risk for biodiversity if it is over produced.

Carrell says he believes we are only beginning to scratch the surface of bio-based materials and our ability to work with nature.

“It won’t be long before we see a wider adoption across manufacturing and construction,” he says in the report.

“We need to completely challenge what we do within the creative industries and the status quo of using materials and objects designed to be thrown away. 

“By working with a regenerative material like mycelium, not only do we raise awareness of possibilities for the future but we start to envision and redesign our way of working in this industry. 

“Everything needs to change if we want to use bio-materials; from more informed design choices, to longer project delivery timelines and especially the diversity of experiences and skills within the crew.”