Sustainability at GCF

We’ve always been committed to delivering a sustainable festival. We put people and the planet at the heart of everything we do.In 2025 we were so proud to be named ‘Best Sustainable Event in Scotland’ as well as receiving B-Corp certification, alongside Dear Green. 

In 2026 we’re continuing the effort in meeting high standards across how we operate, source and pull together the festival. 

Here’s a look at what we achieved together last year and what we’re building on for 2026….

Reducing waste

One of our biggest priorities is tackling the waste that comes along with running a festival. 

Cups are one of the most common festival waste items. Last year, you helped us save over 30,000 cups from landfill by bringing your own or borrowing one from our cup partner 2GoCup.

We also made sure that zero waste went to landfill, working closely with Change Waste Recycling to properly process materials from across the site.

Giving materials a second life

We repurposed 90 litres of used coffee grounds with Revive Eco, turning waste into useful, sustainable skincare products.  They’ll be back at GCF this year, so make sure to swing by and check them out.

We also continued our pledge to repurpose booths and materials rather than letting them go to waste.

Keeping the festival plastic bottle-free

Thanks to one of our headline partners, Mossgiel, the festival remained plastic bottle-free, helping reduce single-use waste across the weekend.

You might remember they also brought the World’s Tiniest Cinema to GCF last year to teach us all more about sustainability in the dairy industry.

Encouraging greener travel

How we all get to the festival matters too.

In 2025, we gathered active travel data on-site with Bike for Good, helping us understand how people travel to GCF and where we can improve.

We’re always looking for ways to make it easier for you to choose lower-carbon ways to attend so don’t forget to check out our sustainable travel guide and be sure to stop and chat with Bike for Good this year.

The Road to Net Zero 

All of these actions help us deliver something bigger:  our commitment to reaching Net Zero by 2030.

We’ll be building on all of this (and more) at this year’s festival, and we’d love for you to be part of it!

Tickets for the festival are sold out but you can join the waiting list or sign up to our mailing list to stay up to date with all things GCF.

Thanks to our GCF partners La Marzocco, Mossgiel, Dear Green, Story Shop, Jaguar as exclusive distributors of Eureka, and The Social Hub 🙌☕️