Our thinking

Smart camping

14 June, 2024

Heading to a festival or camping this summer but you don’t have enough storage to keep your tent for the rest of the year? You are not alone: around 250,000 tents end up in UK landfills each summer. Even if you are not guilty of polluting the environment by leaving your tent on the fields of Glastonbury, Decathlon has introduced a solution that could be of interest: a tent buy-back scheme. 

Under the scheme, customers can return their eligible tents to Decathlon UK stores before September 13th. The scheme covers ten major types of tents. Participants will receive a gift card equivalent to the full amount they initially spent, regardless of the tent’s condition. The returned tents will then be refurbished, cleaned, and resold through Decathlon’s ‘Second Life’ resale platform. 

Why is this a great solution for everyone? Well, beyond offering customers a full return on their investment, it dramatically reduces waste, addressing a significant environmental issue by keeping thousands of tents out of landfills. And it’s a good example of how to build circular principles into a business model. In this scenario, the tent user gets their money back, someone else gets a tent at a lower cost, and the environment benefits.  

Decathlon’s tent buy-back scheme is combining practicality with eco-consciousness. What will be your summer endeavour to combat waste and promote a greener future? 

By Flora Gicquel