Disgusted with the rubbish left behind at Reading Festival

[mydogisthebest]

Every festival is the same, tons of rubbish left behind.

All those tents just left and most of them will be going to landfill they said this morning.

Considering the average festival goer is fairly young why do they not care about all the rubbish? The lazy so and so's can't even be bothered to take the tents down let alone carry them to the collection point.

Apparently there was also loads of food just left!

These are the youngsters that supposedly care about the planet and climate change. Yeah like hell they do. Some might but the majority just don't.

The mentality of buying a tent and food and other items and then just up and leaving them just beggars belief. The parents have obviously not taught values.

I used to live very close to where the V Festival was held and the amount of rubbish left behind used to amaze me every year.

Apparently it will take a team (no idea how many) 2 weeks to clear Reading.

It makes me so angry

The problem with getting them to fill a sack to takeaway with them is that once outside the perimeter they just dump them that way

Also, ticket prices include clear up so gives the message that they've 'paid for it' via ticket sale

Surely a smart thing to do would for a company to hire hardy decent tents to festival goers on arrival who leave them there and they get put away by the company and reused for the next festival and festival goers don’t have to lug their tents. I would charge a surcharge on those bringing their own tents so it was cheaper and easier to hire them there. So wrong that it’s cheaper to buy a cheap tent on Amazon and leave it behind. Immoral. We are smarter than that!

As skint 18 year olds we always used to go home with more stuff than we took - camping stoves, cases of beer, camp chairs etc. If we'd have been in a car instead of a train, walk, national express combo we'd have loaded it up :-)

"It's akin to people who leave their rubbish in the cinema."

You're told to leave your rubbish at the cinema so they can recycle it. You're told to take your rubbish away from festivals. Not "akin" at all.

'There's often wholly inadequate supplies of bins I've found, I took litter home with me but without a car this isn't always an option.'

Don't understand this - same as people who go on barbecues and picnics and don't take their rubbish home - they bought the stuff in with them - surely it's no more difficult to carry it back? Possibly easier because you've eaten the food, drunk the beer etc.

It's just laziness and arrogance (someone else will clear up).

They managed to salvage lots of tents and sleeping bags, which are being sent to France for the refugees.

@TroysMammy

I think everyone going into an outdoor event should be given a bag for rubbish. If they leave without a filled bag then they have to pay eg £10.

Many festivals have been doing this for a long time. It doesn't deter them from leaving the trash, it makes them more entitled as they've paid for someone else to clean up their shit.

I've also noticed the secondary school where I live lets out and the bushes are filled with crappy junk food wrappers within half an hour. The kids there also wear unethical sports brands and have new stuff every year. It does worry me, as I genuinely thought things were changing. Yes, I try to do my bit and try to educate my younger DCs about it too and do litter picks with them too, but we live in a fancy commuter belt town where you'd think kids would be pretty woke. So it is a worry. Maybe they've given up and think nothing can be done now, which I don't entirely blame them for as it's everywhere in the media. Or maybe they think it's not up to them but to the grown ups, who they think aren't doing enough, which I can't really blame them for as that message is also all over the media.

There are 2 issues.

Firstly, there will not be enough bins, and they won't be emptied. It's easier for the organisers just to clear the site after the festival and as long as they do so fundamentally that's not really an issue.

The amount of waste that goes to landfill that doesn't need to is shocking though. There needs to be some sort of system that ensures that anyone who leaves behind camping gear is fined or similar. No idea how that would work in practice though.

@SusieBob

There are 2 issues.

Firstly, there will not be enough bins, and they won't be emptied. It's easier for the organisers just to clear the site after the festival and as long as they do so fundamentally that's not really an issue.

The amount of waste that goes to landfill that doesn't need to is shocking though. There needs to be some sort of system that ensures that anyone who leaves behind camping gear is fined or similar. No idea how that would work in practice though.

DS said the bins were horrendous by the end

Interesting quote from Deb Meaden on a recent Dragon's Den...that the next dirty word is going to be "recycleable" because its a weasel word and people don't actually do it. I have noticed recently on some packaging a sentence that says "recycleable where xxx can be recycled" ....like the compostable packaging that needs a digester, and the re-usable coffee capsules that you need to travel miles to return.

I am wondering what became of Glasto's compostable tent pegs? They had a problem there that cows would get injured by, or swallow, abandoned metal tent pegs so they started having compostable ones there but I don't know if thye had to be used or were for sale or what?

DD is a bit of an eco warrior and did a bit of clearing up before she left, but she said it was appalling. Lots of them were apparently trying to burn the tents too so she came back reeking of plastic fire. Very sad.

@ElvisPresleyHadABaby

DD is a bit of an eco warrior and did a bit of clearing up before she left, but she said it was appalling. Lots of them were apparently trying to burn the tents too so she came back reeking of plastic fire. Very sad.

WTAF? What kind of fucking idiot tries to burn a tent?

@SusieBob

There are 2 issues.

Firstly, there will not be enough bins, and they won't be emptied. It's easier for the organisers just to clear the site after the festival and as long as they do so fundamentally that's not really an issue.

The amount of waste that goes to landfill that doesn't need to is shocking though. There needs to be some sort of system that ensures that anyone who leaves behind camping gear is fined or similar. No idea how that would work in practice though.

even if they were made to carry the tents away though, they will only throw them away elsewhere....globally still the same amount of single use stuff will still have been bought and junked.

@ElvisPresleyHadABaby

DD is a bit of an eco warrior and did a bit of clearing up before she left, but she said it was appalling. Lots of them were apparently trying to burn the tents too so she came back reeking of plastic fire. Very sad.

I know its a hard one but I wonder if people who are ecologically concerned should stop supporting such events?

I can see both sides tbh. There’s never enough bins, ever to get rid of your rubbish at these events. There’s a paid for, clean up operation after the event.

Also if you are travelling miles to get home and won’t be needing a tent again I can see that carrying it would be problematic. At V festival they used to collect left tents and donate them, can Reading do the same?

A few years ago I was talking to the students at a uni where I was doing some outreach and they believed they were doing a good thing by leaving their tents behind because they would be donated to homeless people... they actually thought that they'd be depriving someone if they took their tent home. Madness.

People should be weighed with all their stuff when they enter and when they leave and charged for the difference

Maybe they could try massive marquees... male, female, mixed. Just being your own sleeping bag..

DynamoKev

Extinction rebellion should hold a protest telling the festival goers to clean it up.“

You’ve not seen the mess that XR usually leave behind at their protests?

I’m starting to think these festivals should just be banned as they are so bad for the environment.

I remember years ago at Leeds festival being encouraged to leave tents behind, fully set up, so they could be donated for disaster relief efforts. Do they not still do that now?

I also seem to have a vague memory of if you collected a bag of rubbish you got free beer in exchange.

Well I'm pleased to say that my teen brought his tent home because I'd have kicked his backside if he hadn't. He did say there was loads left behind and some people were taking them and a few idiots were setting fire to them . I understand that the contracts for clearing the site can be quite lucrative with the stuff that's left behind.

Littering is another matter and I don't know how they control that. When you look at the mess XR left behind at their rallies it seems a universal issue at gatherings whether you worry about the climate or not!

Just for balance, my daughter brings her pop up tent back from festivals every time. She loves it and has owned it for around six years now... Even more reason to suggest other festival goers could remove their tents..

There are options, but all of them would require additional management (which of course should be built into the price of the ticket)

1. Fields where basic equipment is provided. Tents and roll mats. Bring a sleeping bag. Skips at the back of the fields for litter which you clear yourself. Leave tent as you found it and get X reimbursed after the event.

1. Bring your own equipment fields - skips at the back for litter. Fields manned on departure day and festival goers permitted to leave the site once it is cleared. Not sure on legalities of this but assume you contractually agree when booking this option over the more expensive option 2.

1. Special reduced rates at local hotels to reduce camping numbers.

It’s not every festival. Beautiful Days camping fields were pristine and completely empty afterwards. It’s a different demographic.