Would You Sleep in a KarTent Cardboard Tent at a Bush Doof?

Two cardboard tents branded
Image via KarTent's official Instagram page

At the end of a bush doof, do you stay at the festival grounds until the morning after? Then you’ve probably seen the festival’s aftermath—garbage littering the entire grounds, not just the campsite. Many of the litter are tents that punters haven’t bothered to break down and have simply left behind.

This waste of tents has inspired a trio of engineers from the Netherlands to come up with a solution. And the solution they came up with is the KarTent cardboard tent.

What’s a KarTent cardboard tent?

This video we found on YouTube pretty much explains what a KarTent cardboard tent is:

Basically, as its name implies, a KarTent is a pop-up tent made entirely of cardboard. It’s a big tent, measuring 160 cm by 220 cm, can fit two people, and weighs 11.6 kg. Aside from the usual tent flaps from which you can get in and out, the KarTent has smaller flaps at the back. These smaller flaps serve as windows to allow the air to circulate inside the tent. Additionally, the tent’s cardboard is made with high-quality wood fibres, allowing the tent to be water-resistant in case of light showers.

KarTent cardboard tents are an attempt to reduce waste at festivals

As mentioned earlier, the KarTent cardboard tent is the brainchild of three engineers from the Netherlands: Jan Portheine, Wout Kommer, and Timo Krenn. They had the idea to design KarTent after seeing a picture of a festival in Glastonbury, UK, where many tents were left behind as rubbish at the camping site.

According to facts presented at the KarTent website, one in four people buy cheap tents to take to music festivals or bush doofs around the world. Then, once the doof is over, these people leave their tents behind along with their garbage because they’re too dirty or damaged. Or they just couldn’t be bothered to break down the tent and lug it back home with them.

Cheap tents are made from 35 different synthetic materials that are hard to recycle or reuse. Thus, they only end up sitting in the landfill for decades after they’re dumped. KarTent cardboard tents, on the other hand, are made from recycled paper products that can be recycled once again. KarTent partners with festival organisers to make their tents available at their events. In 2019, you’ll be able to see these cardboard tents at doofs and festivals like Esoteric and The Lost Lands. KarTent, through their partners, will set up these tents at the event, and then collect them for recycling after the event.

Would you sleep in a cardboard tent? Here’s our take

So, doofers, do you see yourself sleeping in a cardboard tent? We would—if we couldn’t bring our trusty tent with us. Its manufacturers have a point. If you can’t get a good-quality tent that you can reuse in future festivals or camping trips, a cardboard tent may be the eco-friendly alternative.

But if you plan on attending a lot of doofs, festivals, camping trips, and whatnot in the future, a good-quality tent may serve you better then. You can use such a tent for years, and reusing is so much better than discarding stuff, even if the stuff you discarded is sent for recycling.

Besides, if you have a good, pricey tent, you’d think twice about leaving it at the festival, no matter how huge that hangover is that you’re nursing. In the end, it’s all about remembering why we attend bush doofs anyway: to be one with community and one with nature. The music is just a gigantic plus.

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