Liz Eliot

This clip is from a series of 100 life history interviews with environmental campaigners in the UK, 1970-2020. It will feature in a book published by UCL Press in 2026. The full interview, along with the rest of the collection will be searchable on the British Library’s Sound and Moving Image catalogue and the interviews will be accessible onsite at the British Library in St Pancras from February 2026. For more information visit www.royalholloway.ac.uk/ohemQuotation:Barbara Brayshay: Right. So in terms of the sort of environmental, if you like the kind of environmental culture of the Festival, I mean the Greenpeace Stage has grown, it’s quite a big part of the complex now isn’t it. And I don’t know if you feel that you know the Festival, the culture of the Festival has changed in that, is that still quite strong, a strong theme for the Festival, even though it’s not overt?Liz Eliot: It’s, it’s the alternative side, the green side of the Festival is growing hugely. They’ve done an enormous amount to, they’ve stopped, crisp packets are made of, only the ones that are only sold on site, I mean the ones that are sold on site can only be non-plastic. So they are completely biodegradable. Ecover are all over the site which in fact was a spin-off from Green Fields again. I promoted them to Michael.Barbara Brayshay: And they’re sort of cleaning products. Mmm.Liz Eliot: Yes, green biodegradable products.Barbara Brayshay: Yes, yes.Liz Eliot: They have tried to spread a message about not leaving rubbish behind, not leaving tents behind. And that’s growing better each year.Barbara Brayshay: I did see a map, I saw an aerial photograph and it was quite remarkable comparing year on and the massive difference that-Liz Eliot: Yes. That unfortunately came about because there was a wet year, a lot of tents had been left behind, a lot of Wellington boots. And one of these relief agencies had suggested collecting those tents. And I can’t remember which one they were, the following year and putting a notice to please wrap your tent up so that we can take it away with us.Barbara Brayshay: Take it away.Liz Eliot: So it was, and I said, ‘You can’t publish this. You can’t publish this. You can’t because it’s going to invite people to be generous with their tents.’Barbara Brayshay: Or they just dump, yes.Liz Eliot: And they did. And that was the result. So it was a, it kind of like jumped from not too bad to terrible.Barbara Brayshay: Yes.Liz Eliot: To not too bad again and it’s now each year it’s less than the year before.Barbara Brayshay: I know last time I walked across the site from, actually from the Greenpeace Stage field, through, out to, I always have to carry my stuff across [laughing] to go to get the train and really noticed the difference.Liz Eliot: Yes. And it’s good. Those things are working. Emily is very environmentally concerned and she’s always, I have always had her backing. But she’s not won the argument quite often. But the-Barbara Brayshay: Is that because it’s not seen to be commercial or something?Liz Eliot: No, I don’t think so. I don’t know who it is or what it is but it’s more difficult. She’s, the glasses for example are now aluminium, deposit-Barbara Brayshay: And the water bottles.Liz Eliot: Water bottles, there’s water on site everywhere where you refill your own bottle. You can buy souvenir bottles to refill, Glastonbury Festival bottles. And you can buy tankards to hold your beer, pint tankards that you cart around with you for not huge amounts. Or else you can pay for it on a deposit basis, so you can bring it back.Barbara Brayshay: You buy a drink and you pay a pound for the-Liz Eliot: Yes, more than a pound I think. Probably the price of the can but if they bring them back then they get their money back.Barbara Brayshay: That’s right, yes.Liz Eliot: Yes. Deposits. It’s, there is an enormous amount that’s gone on recently since Emily has kind of taken over. And there’s always more to do. Trying to encourage lift sharing and so forth always. We’ve initiated that at Green Fields. Green Fields initiated recycling for example which worked very well. And they now have, the whole site is recycled. And they are building up the amount that’s going back each year and getting better and better at it. They have conveyor belts in one of the barns that they pick it through and-Barbara Brayshay: Sorting and the-Liz Eliot: Sorting it.Barbara Brayshay: Sorting the rubbish.Liz Eliot: Yes. Bagging it.Barbara Brayshay: Well the recycling.Liz Eliot: And sending it on. And the kids play ship actually is built out of recycled plastic. And that plastic came from recycled waste from the Festival.Barbara Brayshay: Wow.Liz Eliot: So it’s a lovely circle.British Library catalogue number: C2037/80 Project clip number: 192