We need YOU to help green the Picnic! Apply to volunteer now!

For the last 2 years, Friends of the Earth has brought a super team of volunteers to Ireland's biggest music, comedy and spoken word festival - Electric Picnic. This year will be our biggest venture yet.

Will you be part of it?

Festivals can be intense bursts of waste; thousands of people in a relatively small area, usually eating every meal from a food truck, needing to dispose of each food container. Beer cans often blanket the ground, melding with broken tents on the Monday morning to provide a perfect picture for every Irish newspaper, fodder for festival shame. It's embarrassing, it's disgusting, and it's a blight on the face of Ireland.

But you can be part of a team to make EP the greenest festival in Ireland. Imagine an atmosphere of care, of responsibility, of shared respect for Stradbally. You can be part of creating that atmosphere, and the best part? As a reward, you will get a free weekend pass to the sold-out festival!

Last year, our team of volunteers contributed massively to increased success in sustainability at the festival. In 2015, we took 50 volunteers. That year, 74 tonnes of waste was recycled, and 4.36 tonnes of compostable food waste was captured. In 2016, when we took 120 volunteers,142 tonnes of waste was recycled, and food waste more than doubled, with 10.24 tonnes being composted! A whopping €31,000 was given out to festival-goers who returned their valuable plastic, and considering that the deposit per cup was 20 cent and per bottle it was 10 cent…that’s a lot of cups and bottles!

This year we're taking 150 volunteers...let's see if we can beat our waste records once again!

So, if you are enthusiastic and willing to chat to festival-goers about Friends of the Earth's campaigns, as well as help them figure out which bin their waste goes in, then we want you to join us from the afternoon of August 31st until the evening of Sunday 3rd September.

Sound good? Then apply here now!

Here's what’s involved:

• You will work as part of a team of enthusiastic Green Messengers, encouraging festival goers to separate their waste properly and educating them on Friends of the Earth's campaigns
• You will work in pairs throughout the main arena and the campsites
• You will volunteer for a total of 18 hours over the weekend (6 hour shifts) plus team briefings
• Your weekend pass will entitle you to full access to the festival which you are free to enjoy outside of your shifts
• Your pass includes camping in the Eco-campsite (all FoE volunteers must camp here)
• Transport to and from the festival will be provided (departing from Merrion Square, Dublin on Thursday afternoon 31st August).

Requirements:

• You must be over 18 to apply
• You must provide a deposit that will be refunded in full upon completion of your volunteering at the festival*
• You must be available to be on site from Friday 1st 10am – Sun 3rd September (evening)
• You must be attend both an information session and a training session in August
• You must read, sign and agree to the volunteer agreement

Next steps:

1. Fill in this form and simply come along to our next information evening in the Teacher's Club, Dublin on August 8th (times are in the form). There we will give you a bit of background to Friends of the Earth, we'll have some activities to help you get to know each other and and we'll be answering any questions you have for us.

2. Pay deposit and complete volunteer application form, the link to both will be emailed to you.

3. Come to our training day in Dublin city centre on August 19th, 1-4pm.

4. Book your free spot on the bus and pack your bag!

This is a fantastic chance to enjoy great music & arts, meet fellow environmental enthusiasts and of course contribute to a cleaner, greener festival!

We hope you can join us! Third time's a charm, after all ;)

Meaghan, Claudia, Kate, Cara & Oisin

Friends of the Earth

*We need to ask for a deposit because we can't take the risk that volunteers won't show up, we hope you can understand that! The deposit will be €150, to be paid in one instalment. If you cannot afford this, please get in touch with us as we don't want financial difficulties to prevent anyone from taking part.