The cleanup … Glastonbury 2017. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

This headline in the Guardian–Glastonbury festival set to ban plastic bottles in 2019—accompanying the photo to the right is well timed for me:

That story continues after the jump, but I want to add to this post an image I just photographed when visiting the Costa Rica Marriott Hotel San Jose that was built more than two decades ago. Amie and I were friends with the managers of that property from the mid- to late-1990s, but had lost track of what this property has been up to lately. And I was very happy to learn today that they have recently earned five leaves in the CST program, whose board of directors I served on in the mid- to late-1990s. Bravo, Marriott! And as I snapped this photo, I was told that starting next month this property will have no straws, even if someone says they “really need one” (as the text on the sign says near the bottom). Double bravo!

We have reported on efforts in India, during our years there, to reduce noise pollution using similar signage. Whoever designed this sign for the Marriott property in Costa Rica was thinking along the same lines, graphically speaking. While I am in Costa Rica this week, I hope to have more to report, but for now, back to Glastonbury:

Glastonbury festival is to implement a site-wide ban on plastic bottles when it returns in 2019. “It’s an enormous project; it’s taking a lot of time to tackle with all the different people we work with,” organiser Emily Eavis told BBC 6 Music.

In 2014, Glastonbury introduced environmentally friendly stainless steel bottles and water kiosks for the cost-free refill of any kind of receptacle, followed in 2016 by stainless steel pint cups designed to be“non-aerodynamic, to minimise injuries from throwing”. Use of these containers was optional. Glastonbury organisers have previously estimated that 1m plastic bottles are used during the event.

In 2016, the festival implemented its “Love the farm … leave no trace” initiative, asking punters to share transport to the festival, limit litter, recycle, refill water bottles and not to abandon their tents or urinate on the land. However, that year’s cleanup was thought to be one of the worst in its history, lasting more than two weeks after the end of the event.

There is no Glastonbury festival this year, with the festival taking one of its regular “fallow years”. The event returns in 2019, and will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2020…

Read the whole story here.