tents

A HIGH street retailer will issue a refund for any used tent it sells over the summer, in a boost for campers and festival goers.

Decathlon has pledged to offer a full gift card refund for the return of every tent it sells to encourage people not to abandon them.

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Customers must purchase a tent online or in store between June 9 and September 14 to qualify.

Shoppers need to return it with proof of purchase before September 14, to receive the full purchase value back in the form of a Decathlon gift card.

The retailer said this is regardless of how much they used the camping tool.

Customers must also be a Decathlon member at the time of purchase, which is free to sign up for.

The scheme started in 2023, but this year has been upgraded to include every Decathlon brand tent across both its Quechua and Simond ranges.

A Quechua four man tent can cost £199 at the retailer.

Tonnes of waste and tents are abandoned at festivals every year, which can put huge strain on the environment and those required to clean up the mess.

A typical single-use tent contains as much plastic as 9,000 straws or 200 bottles.

Decathlon UK sustainability leader Chris Allen said: “By making it easy and rewarding to bring tents back, we’re not only reducing waste across all camping activities, but also creating a vital supply chain for our Second Life programme, making quality outdoor gear accessible to even more people.

“This is about driving systemic change and changing camping culture for the better.”

Broadcaster Vick Hope, who is supporting this year’s campaign, added: “Whether you’re dancing at Glasto, on a hilltop, or roasting marshmallows with family, your tent deserves more than one weekend of glory.

“Decathlon’s pledge is brilliant because it simplifies doing the right thing.”

End-of-life tents from previous seasons have been repurposed and transformed into oversized flags bearing the message “I’m not leaving my tent behind, you shouldn’t either”.

BECOMMING A DECATHLON MEMBER

If you want to receive a voucher for returning a tent you will need to sign up for Decathlon’s membership scheme.

This is free to do and can be done online.

Customers earn points when they spend in store, which can be then used as money off vouchers.

Shoppers also get personalised offers which are tailored to their interests.

You can find out more by visiting, membership.decathlon.com/en-GB/.

England are using heated tents as part of training to replicate the conditions they could experience at the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico next year.

Thomas Tuchel and his squad are in Girona in Spain for a training camp.

England play Andorra in a World Cup qualifier on Saturday before playing Senegal in a friendly at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground on 10 June.

As part of the training camp the England head coach and the Football Association performance staff will look at how players cope in the extremely hot and humid conditions they could face at the World Cup.

Players will carry out fitness tests inside the tents on exercise bikes, in temperatures they could be expected to face during the tournament, and their recovery will be analysed.

Speaking last week, Tuchel said he expects his players to “suffer” in the tournament’s conditions and he will travel to the Club World Cup this summer in the United States to assess the conditions.

“It is important to see matches now in America, and in Miami at three in the afternoon,” Tuchel said.

“I will see that. How it looks, and we need to understand how to cool the players down, to drink. What our options are.

“Let’s see because it is after the season, so it will be very similar. The actual experience is for the players, but I have done pre-season there in Orlando and I will be very surprised if we do not suffer. Suffering is one of the headlines for this World Cup.”

There have been warnings that the temperatures at 14 of the 16 stadiums being used for the 2026 World Cup could exceed ‘potentially dangerous levels’ during the tournament. In host city Dallas, in an average year more than 80% of June and July days exceed 28C.

England have won their first two World Cup qualifiers under Tuchel and sit top of the Group K table.