EVERY year 30,000 festival goers bring one with them.

Some barely sleep in them, others party in them and after last year’s heavy rain a handful of unlucky revellers found theirs had been virtually turned into a swimming pool.

But whatever purpose they serve, tents spread out across the rolling hills overlooking Seaclose Park are one of the most iconic views greeting people arriving at the Isle of Wight Festival.

Yet almost one fifth of people decided to ditch their tents last year – leaving them to be cleared away before they made the journey to landfill.

This year, campers at the festival are being urged to go green – and make sure they take their tent and other belongings home with them.

The plea has come from the awardwinning Eco Action Partnership which is now in its fifth year as sustainability consultants to the historic festival.

The group is urging people to “Love Your Tent” by reusing them and packing them up and taking them home.

The mission is being backed by the Association of Independent Festivals, A Greener Festival and of course the Isle of Wight Festival promoter John Giddings.

He said: “Thousands of tents were abandoned at the Isle of Wight Festival in 2011 – that’s around one in six people leaving a tent behind. When you have up to 30,000 tents, it’s an astonishing figure, considering the majority end up in landfill. It really is one of the biggest environmental issues facing festival organi s e r s today.”

His comments were echoed by Rick Storey, managing director of EAP, who said: “Leaving camping equipment behind has become an endemic part of UK festival culture and it really needs to change. Tent retailers, festival organisers and festival audiences all need to take responsibility to make this happen.”

Isle of Wight is one of 450 festivals in the UK, where in 2011, it took 485 manhours to dismantle abandoned tents, most of which were land filled.