KarTent: recyclable cardboard tents for European festivals
The Dutch company KarTent has come up with a sustainable solution for the many tents left behind by music festival goers: a cardboard tent, designed to be purchased and transported in bulk to festival sites.
After the festival, the company arranges for the tents to be removed and recycled. The process of making a KarTent emits half the CO2 of a regular tent, and uses only cardboard instead of the 30 materials that may be used in a typical tent. KarTents began in 2015 at the MadNes festival and since then have been in use at other festivals in countries around Europe, including HellFest and Zwarte Cross.
With festivals on hold, the company has diversified through its webshop to sell a range of recycled cardboard furniture and toys as well as tents.
- The KarTent is easy to recycle. Furthermore, the material in a KarTent is re-purposed to make new products
- KarTent claims that each tent can absorb up to 400% of its own weight in water and still retain its structural integrity
- The cardboard remains cooler than traditional tents on hot days and can be customised with logos or decorated with paint
- The tent won the Red Dot Design award.