Biodegradable Tent Pegs, Yes or No?

[Changeme]

Hi all,

I know Glastonbury tried pushing this a few years back. It seems this year that their really getting the message across.

I think its a great idea personally.

Who is thinking of investing in them?

thoughts will be apprieated

[tommyds]

Hi all,

I know Glastonbury tried pushing this a few years back. It seems this year that their really getting the message across.

I think its a great idea personally.

Who is thinking of investing in them?

thoughts will be apprieated

The potato starch ones?

I didn't get on with them myself

[mr gumby]

No, just no!

Metal, or sturdy plastic ones are far stronger, you just need to make sure you get them all up when you pack up.

If you really want more planet-friendly ones, you can get hardwood ones (or even make them yourself) in the greenfields. I'm sure you can buy them online too.

[5co77ie]

where have they suggested they will push these again?

[___S_o_m_a__]

where have they suggested they will push these again?

Into the ground I think.

[A Guy Called Matt]

Into the ground I think.

Genius

[justperfect]

[5co77ie]

Into the ground I think.

that's a damn shame last time I tried that with them during a hot Glastonbury the ground was do hard they just snapped

next...

Edited January 29, 2015 by 5co77ie

[___S_o_m_a__]

that's a damn shame last time I tried that with them during a hot Glastonbury the ground was do hard they just snapped

next...

:-)

Think the metal ones are better myself. Just have to make sure to take them all home.

[willutalk]

I found unfortunately that that the biodegradable ones snapped easily especially when putting them into hard soil, they didn't really stand a chance.

I think it's a great idea, but I think mined substances tend to do a lot better in the heavy-duty category of things

[dj_tim]

When the ground is hard I sometimes struggle getting the metal ones in when there's not a mallet handy, this sounds more like one of those ideas that sounds good on paper.

[grumpyhack]

No, just no!

Metal, or sturdy plastic ones are far stronger, you just need to make sure you get them all up when you pack up.

If you really want more planet-friendly ones, you can get hardwood ones (or even make them yourself) in the greenfields. I'm sure you can buy them online too.

Agreed absolutely. I tried them and several shattered into dangerous pieces that flew everywhere as we tried to knock them in. A good idea that didn't work and in fact was quite dangerous. Avoid them at all costs and just do a fingertip search and take all your pegs home with you along with your tents and other broken bits that can be repaired.

[cdm22]

They are crap. Just use metal ones and pull them all up when you are done. Easy.

[siblin]

I had them in 2010 and found the only use for them was boiling them for about 3 hours, eventually they'd go slightly soft (or at least not teeth cracking) and taste not as nice as the gruel from the hare krishnas.

EDIT: but yes definitely take your metal ones home with you. Cows don't much like the taste of them.

Edited January 29, 2015 by siblin

[matt2007]

sadly the potato ones were not good but they were good fire lighters

[Pinhead]

T'was a nice idea and good for the farm and cows. Still got one of mine (not degraded one bit incidentally). However, they need to come up with a better design and tougher formula that isn't so brittle if they are to repeat the trial.

[stuartbert two hats]

T'was a nice idea and good for the farm and cows. Still got one of mine (not degraded one bit incidentally). However, they need to come up with a better design and tougher formula that isn't so brittle if they are to repeat the trial.

I seem to remember pretty hard ground that year too, which wouldn't have helped. I could imagine it having been pretty successful in say, 2013. Still though, you need a peg design which will always go into the ground, like the metal ones do.

[Woffy]

Nice idea...i was given some free when i walked through the gate...they were fucking rubbish. Soz.

[TheParkAfterDark]

I seem to remember pretty hard ground that year too, which wouldn't have helped. I could imagine it having been pretty successful in say, 2013. Still though, you need a peg design which will always go into the ground, like the metal ones do.

I was just thinking when I saw the thread title that if they had handed them out in 2007 they would have been relatively successful.

Like someone mentioned above though in 2010 with rock hard ground they broke really badly and sharply. Wonder if anyone got a nasty cut from them?

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

The biodegradable ones sound crap. Not sure what the problem is with having metal ones and bringing them all home with you to use year after year in future.

As an aside, but in connection with tent pegs, here's a bit of information from the festival website on their tractors and the attachment they have for them which, apparently, draws up the left behind tent pegs;

In the beginning, the tractors were simply used to haul trailer loads of stranded festival goers across the site or to tow cars out of muddy trouble.

Today, their refined adaptations mean they can be fitted with a special four metre wide magnetised front attachment which can pull out rogue tent pegs and other metal objects from the deserted festival fields – removing a potentially lethal threat to the cattle that graze there when the music has stopped and the crowds have gone home. This method has been improved with the help of IntelliSteer, the New Holland GPS guidance system, ensuring there are no overlaps or misses.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

The above said, they mustn't get all the metal pegs out because I've just read further on the festival website and it says;

REMOVE TENT PEGS. Please remove all your tent pegs from the ground. It is really important not to leave any behind because they get imbedded in the ground and when the fields get rotavated, the metal pegs get chopped-up into small pieces, and if the cows eat them they could die.

[jeffie]

I use bright yellow chunky plastic ones. Easy to find, easy to pull out. Perfect.

[frostypaw]

I think he naively, but sweetly, thinks it's mostly people forgetting them rather than simply not being arsed - either way they were a point of ridicule for ages after. Even in soft ground if you hit a stone a metal peg bends at worst, those biodegradable ones shatter and then you're down a peg.

They'd do better reducing the number of feckless campers by getting the bbc to change how they portray the festival to the world so it's not promoted like it's Reading but bigger with cows and more girls dressed like hippies

[mr gumby]

I use bright yellow chunky plastic ones. Easy to find, easy to pull out. Perfect.

You can even get ones that glow in the dark, or have little led's in the top, so they're easy to find even if you're packing up after the Sunday headliners.

[Changeme]

Plenty of decent alternative tent pegs options avaliable. All extremely affordable

Glow in the dark

Led

Large yellow pegs