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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to expect festival goers to pick up their own litter?

63 replies

tripletrouble · 29/06/2015 16:38

I thought that the people who go to Glastonbury are generally educated people who care about the environment. How come they left all that litter?

OP posts:
NaiceVillageOfTheDammed · 29/06/2015 17:09

Cheap super market tents = people who can't be bothered to pack and carry away.

It takes time and person power to pack up the tents. Volunteers save what they can, but most are not good enough quality or in good enough nick to save.

Won't go to Glastonbury anymore.
Far too big.
No friendly vibe.
Litter.
'Exclusive' camping/VIP areas.
TV coverage. All a bit of a 'what is he/she wearing' etc...

Sorry, I know lots love it (as I once did) but it's all too commercial these days. Lost its soul.

Vagndidit · 29/06/2015 17:09

I simply cannot comprehend the attitude here that by littering you're giving someone a job. Cannot stand seeing the mess left behind by patrons in my local restaurants and cafes, all in the name of "job security" for the poor people paid to clean up the mess. Surely McD's and other organisations could find a better use of their money.

Lazy bastards.

scribblegirl · 29/06/2015 17:09

The problem with donating the tents to charity is that someone has to pack them up and that takes a lot more volunteer time than just chucking them Sad - iirc you can actually donate your tent at the festival but you have to put it in its bag and take it to a donation point. And of course, that's far more effort than anyone is willing to make if they're the type to leave it lying around...

Littlefluffyclouds81 · 29/06/2015 17:10

My ex supervises the litter pick. The ones who work during the festival do it in exchange for a ticket, but the main litter pick after the festival people do get paid. It goes on for about 3 weeks and every fag butt is removed, it is immaculate by the time they finish.

Summerisle1 · 29/06/2015 17:12

I'm not actually prepared to accept the excuse that leaving your rubbish strewn all over Glastonbury is in some way socially responsible because it provides jobs! In reality it provides free tickets for the people prepared to clear the shit mountain that is left behind.

Also, just how much rubbish do people need to generate for so few days?

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 29/06/2015 17:16

I agree. Just because someone is paid to lift the litter does not mean it is OK to drop it. I stopped going to festivals because they were just getting so minging with the amount of litter.

Littering is, without exception, unacceptable and anti-social.

PrincessOfChina · 29/06/2015 17:27

It really is quite difficult to find a bin where your rubbish will fit by Sunday. I would always try to leave it by a bin though and would obviously clear up our campsite.

We did leave a tent a few years ago as we understood that they had teams checking them and packing them away (easier than putting them up and down again). Suspect it was urban myth as the following year the "Love the Farm, Leave no Trace" thing came into play.

Notso · 29/06/2015 17:28

...you can't really have a bin bag on the go because it attracts insects and starts rotting surprisingly quickly...

Surely rubbish left on the floor attracts insects and rots as well though.

I couldn't not make an effort to tidy up.

ChuffinAda · 29/06/2015 17:30

Problem with festivals is once you're sat on your backside with your mates in front of a stage and you know you're not going to another stage other than for a pee or a beer then you kind of accumulate mess around you - discarded beer cups, food containers, fag butts etc. In an ideal world people would have a bin bag with them to bag it all up in but they don't.

Does Glastonbury do the cup collection thing you get at other festivals? Surely that helps some way?

fieldfare · 29/06/2015 17:32

It's disgusting and lazy.
The bins may be full and overflowing but you can chuck your rubbish in a carrier bag and leave the bag next to the bin!

There is simply no excuse to not tidy up after yourselves.
"It creates a job for someone else"??!! Wtaf.

WickedWax · 29/06/2015 17:38

we put our accumulated rubbish into carrier bags and then took them to a bin when we moved between stages or areas.

I never had trouble finding bins that had plenty of room in them, even at midnight last night.

googoodolly · 29/06/2015 17:46

I think when there are thousands of people with rubbish, food, empty bottles and whatever wandering about, cleaning up becomes pretty much impossible. There just aren't enough bins or space or volunteers to keep it clean - the bins would need emptying so often that there just isn't the manpower (or space) for it, unfortunately.

downgraded · 29/06/2015 17:48

I suspect that years ago the likes of Glastonbury attracted hippy types who looked after the area and had more than a modicum of social responsibility.

I think now that it has gone so commercial it attracts rich kids with the money for a £150 ticket and the type of attitude which doesn't see a problem in either a) being generally antisocial b) living in your own shit or c) thinking the world owes it to you to clean up after you.

The idea of spending a weekend cheek by jowl with 150,000 of these people fills me with horror.

AlistairSim · 29/06/2015 17:50

I used to do litter picking after the festival in exchange for my ticket.
We were expected to pick up everything.
Every fag butt, scrap of food, turd and needle. Without gloves. Whilst being fed carob-coated grass as a treat.

Oh to be young!

CrystalHaze · 29/06/2015 17:54

YANBU, OP ~ it's a long time since I was last at a festival, but the mess left behind was shameful. We collected up every last thing and took it with us. Others left everything behind.

But what was really disgraceful was that the last year I went, there was a flyer in with the tickets to say that left tents / sleeping bags would be salvaged and passed to Shelter and other groups working with refugees and those homeless due to natural disasters, etc. Great: it's win/win ~ you don't have to cart your stuff home and someone in need benefits from it. Except that a number of arseholes decided that they'd leave their stuff behind and set fire to it as they left. So, endangering others lives, leaving a bigger mess to clear up, and ensuring that there was nothing usable for those in need. Utter twats Angry

Mehitabel6 · 29/06/2015 18:00

I think it is appalling and can't see why there is any litter anywhere. It was the same after the solstice at Stonehenge- disgusting.
The first reply is indicative of the problem - 'it is someone's job' -NO it isn't - it is easy enough to find a bin.
I would love to be able to make any lazy person who thinks someone should clear up after them pick litter for 2 hours.
Why should someone clear up after you? You are quite capable of respecting the environment and clearing your own rubbish.
I think that rather than have people clearing up they could be employed to give the rubbish back to the person and say ' This is yours- put it in the bin.

exLtEveDallasNoBollocks · 29/06/2015 18:06

I stopped going to Glastonbury for the same reasons as NaiceVillage

Seeing the 'Orange' tent where people could charge their phones and the 'NPower' tent where people could plug in their fucking hairdryers and straighteners finally killed me off.

I went every year from age 10 to age 33. I'm now 43 and doubt I'll ever go back. I'm sad that I'll never show DD what I enjoyed every year and why.

We used to carry a bin liner with us each day, filling it as the day went on, sitting on it towards the end of the night when we stayed at the Pyramid for the headliner and finally dropping it off by the bridge before we went back to the tent. It used to be a regular thing, loads of people did it. I don't know why they can't still do it Sad

CrystalHaze · 29/06/2015 18:09

exLtEveDallasNoBollocks, all the 'big name' festivals have gone that way now, haven't they? Sad

We're planning to take the kids to a smaller one next year, hopefully. Not one that costs the same as our monthly mortgage payment Wink

downgraded · 29/06/2015 18:12

It's tragic isn't it Eve. I feel the same way about backpackers nowadays. It's all iPads and Skype.

They'll never know the freedom of being "somewhere in India" and knowing that not one person in the world knows where you are Smile

Poor souls.

Three days in a field is bad enough, but you can't even call it character building if you can still use your straighteners Hmm. Are we creating a generation of total pansies?

barbecue · 29/06/2015 18:15

It's anti-social and revolting, as is the entitled attitude that the minions will pick it up and be grateful for the work Hmm

maddy68 · 29/06/2015 18:16

I hate litter and I am also a keen festival goer (5 this summer!)
There are no bins
There is nothing you can do with rubbish if they don't provide bins

CrystalHaze · 29/06/2015 18:18

Three days in a field is bad enough, but you can't even call it character building if you can still use your straighteners

This may be one of the greatest lines I've ever read! Grin

(and sadly, all too true. I blame Kate Moss and all the ensuing 'festival chic' bollocks)

BathshebaDarkstone · 29/06/2015 18:18

I haven't seen the pictures, but from what PPs have been saying, I'm amazed some people can live like that, even for a weekend! Shock

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 29/06/2015 18:27

There is nothing you can do with rubbish if they don't provide bins

Pack it out with you?!

whois · 29/06/2015 18:29

The litter is gross. People are fucking pigs.

I had to get really 'school teacher' at some of my friends last year at Glasto about litter. They just chucked it on the floor around our tents. I had taken loads of bin bags!!! They were tied to guy ropes, couldn't have been easier to put it in the bin bag.

Some people are just lazy twats who don't mind living in their own shit.