WATCH: From UK festivals to France, the life cycle of a tent
Our exclusive investigation has found how tents and sleeping bags - once abandoned on UK festival sites - are now providing shelter and warmth to refugees in Calais and Dunkirk
Hertfordshire-based charity Herts for Refugees has spent the summer sweeping up UK festivals upon festival goers’ departure, in search of items to be repurposed.
Items left behind are now supporting displaced people sleeping rough in Northern France.
Formed in 2015 during a peak in the refugee crisis, it is the 9th year that the charity has carried out salvages.
Our Senior Reporter Zoe Head-Thomas followed the journey the tents make from festivals, to organisations in France which work with migrants, you can watch the journey here:
“It goes from being something that was there for the weekend ...to actually being life-saving aid"
Angus Clark, CEO of Herts for Refugees, said: “It's quite a contrast, and it shows the difference in our society.
“People go to the festival, they're there for a good time, they're not thinking about what happens next. They wake up in the morning and they just want to get out of there, so this stuff is left behind. We are repurposing what they've left behind.
“It goes from being something that was there for the weekend, part of the built-in cost of going to the festival, to actually being life-saving aid. It's providing shelter and warmth for some of the most vulnerable people on the planet.”
The UK festivals salvage is the primary source of tents and sleeping bags for displaced men, women, children and families.
The delivery operation to Northern France, which happens once a year at the end of the summer seasons, replenishes stocks for charities working on the ground.
They include Mobile Refugee Support, Utopia 56, Care 4 Calais and Refugee Women's Centre.
With a team of dedicated volunteers and support from partner organisations, Herts for Refugees were able to collect a total of around 2,470 tents and 1,750 sleeping bags.
Those came from the Isle of Wight Festival, Glastonbury Festival, Boomtown Fair, and Reading Festival.
Herts for Refugees also regularly receives items from a festival in Cornwall, Bloodstock Heavy Metal Festival in the Midlands, and the Green Man Festival in Wales.
Tents and sleeping bags are dropped off at official donation or recycling points, not just abandoned on festival camping sites.
Another organisation, Hope and Aid Direct, which runs humanitarian convoys, is in charge of the delivery operation. This year, they included two 7.5 ton trucks and a 40-feet-long articulated lorry, in addition to a van load, in which the CEO and one of the trustees of Herts for Refugees travelled across the Channel.
An additional 15 camping chairs, two bags of toiletries, seven boxes of shoes and 25 tarpaulins collected this year travelled in the van.
French authorities regularly dismantle camps, which increases the need for charities to support asylum seekers all year round.
New camps then emerge the following day in several different locations, and the cycle continues.
What does the government say?
Asked about the scheme, Dan Tomlinson, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said:
“This government has to do all it can to make sure that we can control our border. It was left totally uncontrolled by the previous government and we have to make sure that we have security at the border.
“That's why I'm really happy that we have a new Home Secretary who's going to bring energy and ideas to making sure that we can make progress there. We've got to see the number of crossings come down and we also have to reduce the number of hotels.
“But at the same time, you're mentioning charities. We want to do all we can to support charities and the voluntary sector.”