More than 60 independent British festivals - including Boardmasters and Bestival - have pledged to rid their sites of single-use plastic by 2021.
As a minimum, those festivals have committed to banning the use of plastic straws this year.
It's hoped that will extend to items such as plastic bottles in the future.
The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) says it wants festival-goers to think about "re-use", not "single-use".
Paul Reed, AIF's chief executive, says a three-year target to eradicate single-use plastic is a "realistic timetable" but admits there will be "operational challenges" for festivals that run on tight budgets.
Sixty-one festivals have signed up to the AIF's Drastic On Plastic campaign, with no members choosing to opt out.
"Considering the environmental impact of our industry it does feel like it's really time to take some collective and affirmative action," he says.
It comes as the government proposes a ban on plastic straws and cotton buds, reports BBC.
Other festivals to sign up to the AIF's pledge include End Of The Road, Boomtown Fair, Standon Calling and Kendal Calling, and it's up to each event's organisers to do what they can to help reduce plastic waste.
Boardmasters, one of the largest festivals to sign up, has announced it will start a re-usable cup scheme in an effort to reduce the amount of disposable cups on site.
Examples of single-use plastic items at festivals include - plastic drinks bottles, plastic straws, glitter, plastic food trays, cable ties, toiletry bottles (hand-wash, shower gel, etc)
Shambala festival in Northamptonshire has been hailed as one of the best at reducing plastic waste at its site.
Since a campaign to reduce waste was launched in 2013, event organisers claim 96 per cent of their customers now bring in reusable bottles.
At first, Shambala co-founder Christopher Johnson says, it was a "minor inconvenience" for people not to have a pint cup that they could throw away wherever.
"I guess one of the key benefits is that you suddenly have a festival without litter. Take the disposables out and suddenly you get a clean site," he says.
The festival has since installed more water taps, stopped stalls using sauce sachets and offered re-usable bar cups.
It's now tackling another festival favourite - glitter.
"What is a festival without glitter?" says Christopher. "So when we were thinking about it, we found out about bio-glitter. It's a like for like so we'll be encouraging people to use that instead."
Glitter is made up of tiny pieces of shiny plastic measuring less than five millimetres, known as microplastics, which can pose a potential threat to aquatic life.
Melinda Watson, from campaign group RAW Foundation, admits it will be hard to eradicate single-use plastic completely and there will be challenges to find alternatives.
