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

It's laughable how many of these young people attend protests about the environment and the leave mess behind at festivals. Our city had a shocking mess left behind in the heatwave at the end of the university term.
Also, are parents paying for this camping equipment for it to be dumped ? I'd be furious if my DC did that.

@BackInBlackAgain

My teen went to Leeds a few years ago and they left the tent behind. It was a 4 man tent they all clubbed together for and were planning on bringing it back. By the end it was covered in sick and piss (people throwing bottles of piss round the site) and on the last night they were watching a band and came back and the tent had been vandalised with shit smeared all on the outside of it, they dismantled it and left it by the bins, to be fair i dont blame anyone for not trying to put a piss and vomited on tent back into a bag.

He also had his camping chair stolen at around the same time.

I just wouldn't want anyone to attend an event with this vile behaviour

I read on the bbc that the Leeds festival have offered up everything to a homeless charity. The guy who went to collect was so overwhelmed!

Reading has, in the 15-20 years since I started going, always been pretty feral, particularly at night. I’m generally gung-ho about stuff but I wouldn’t go to Reading without either being with a crowd or big male friends. I've been injured in a crowd there because of pissed up kids shaving people; something that I’ve not encountered elsewhere.

Setting fire to tents and aerosol cans sadly isn’t a new thing, a friend of mine used to man one of the fire towers and saw a colleague hit in the face with an exploding can. As I say, it’s feral and the efforts of those working and volunteering there can only go so far against 100,000 kids determined to go on the rampage. I believe it’s seen as a last night right of passage

As for collecting tents, they did ask people to leave them up at one point so they could be collected. Given the state of tents after they’ve been damaged, covered in mud and much, much worse, I think they gave up on that idea pretty quickly. I’ve collected quite a few things from ‘nicer’ festivals over the years, including some brand new camping chairs, but I wouldn’t want anything from Reading!

And yes, bins at festivals are a perpetual problem. Even Glastonbury, they of “Love the farm, leave no trace” don’t empty them, so you end up just having to pile up rubbish next to them, where it blows away or gets trampled in. The reason for not emptying bins or providing larger ones (skips would be an excellent idea, to the point who suggested it) escapes me.

I am wondering what became of Glasto's compostable tent pegs?

They didn’t go in the ground! The year I went when they handed these out, the ground was rock solid and we couldn’t hammer them in. I don’t know if they’ve tried again since, but I also believe they go over the ground with magnets/metal detectors to find them. Same with Reading, I should think, as that land is also ordinarily a farm.

SHOVING, not shaving people

My parents raised me up properly and after I turned q8 I didn't just ignore everything they taught me. I dont litter and go to many festivals mostly abroad and always take my belongings back with me or make sure I place it in a bin or recyclable bin depending on what's available.

18*

@dayslikethese1

Doesn't it get expensive buying a new tent every year? Even if only 20 quid, that's 20 quid you didn't need to spend if you just took it home. I have a cheap tent and I will be using it again (have used it for one festival so fine so far). Seems a waste of money to leave them as well as being unnecessary landfill.

To an 18 year old, a year is "like forever". So they don't notice how much it all amounts to.

@Demelza82

Are you clutching your pearls at widespread corporate pollution and wastage as well OP?

Does it make this OK?

@GrannyWeatherwaxsHatpin

SHOVING, not shaving people

Relieved you clarified this… I was when I read that 😆

Sorry you got injured though, of course.

@GrannyWeatherwaxsHatpin

SHOVING, not shaving people

OMG! I was thinking how much damage cut be done by a group of pissed-up chavs, in the dark, with a cut-throat razor, offering to shave everyone 🤣

Smaller independent festivals are fantastic, but I wouldn't go to Readings, Leeds, Glastonbury etc if you paid me a million pounds.

The style of music also has a bearing on how people behave and how they leave the place. Go to a nice psytrance festival and they'll be polishing every blade of grass before leaving 😉

They won’t put skips at festivals because people would set fire to them
It’s safer to leave it all until everyone has left

@Mousecapade

They won’t put skips at festivals because people would set fire to them It’s safer to leave it all until everyone has left

Jeez what kind of people are going to these festivals?! I’m glad I don’t go!

I too am in the club when it comes to being sick of being patronised by kids fighting climate change.

"What are you waiting for?" says the girl with the plummy accent on that ghastly advert... well, I'm mostly waiting for the train as I don't drive, or for the recycling to come on Wednesday morning to collect the rubbish I've carefully sifted into bins.

All the while these kids are waiting to turn 17/18 so they can get a car or take a flight to Magaluf. Or for their parents to buy them new Apple products for university.

Winds me up!

Leeds/Reading has the worst reputation for antisocial behaviour and littering, it's partly the age profile of people that attend.

Not all major festivals are like this. Green Man in Crickhowell is spotless - litter does get dropped by irresponsible people but they have an army of litter pickers constantly patrolling and they separate out the recycling too - they even sift through the bins to ensure recyclables don't go to landfill. Very different audience and vibe to Leeds/reading though.

@Snoozer11

I too am in the club when it comes to being sick of being patronised by kids fighting climate change.

"What are you waiting for?" says the girl with the plummy accent on that ghastly advert... well, I'm mostly waiting for the train as I don't drive, or for the recycling to come on Wednesday morning to collect the rubbish I've carefully sifted into bins.

All the while these kids are waiting to turn 17/18 so they can get a car or take a flight to Magaluf. Or for their parents to buy them new Apple products for university.

Winds me up!

You realise that the kids concerned about climate change and the ones flying to Magaluf might just be... different kids?

Young people have every right to be concerned, they are the ones who are going to bear the brunt of the issues created by generations before them.

I camped at V and people were just openly going to the toilet on everything in sight, and sometimes throwing it

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

Whoever reported that is wrong, those still usable are taken for homeless and projects abroad, same as every year.

Jeez what kind of people are going to these festivals?! I’m glad I don’t go!

I think there’s something about Leeds/Reading (maybe V too, I’ve never been) that makes a lot of people go completely feral. I was a pretty good teenager but it was one weekend when almost all the rules and morals went out the window. I don’t think I would’ve set fire to a skip but I did things that I just wouldn’t have done in any other setting. It’s a bit like Pleasure Island in Pinocchio or something… without the donkeys of course

@MorganKitten

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

Whoever reported that is wrong, those still usable are taken for homeless and projects abroad, same as every year.

The two statements aren't necessarily contradictory. Quite a lot of those tents won't be suitable. What a waste.

@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.

How would you make them pay a tenner? Better idea is to charge them a tenner extra with their ticket and give them a rubbish bag. When they return the bag, they get their tenner back.

@MorganKitten

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

Whoever reported that is wrong, those still usable are taken for homeless and projects abroad, same as every year.

Yes suitable ones are going to homeless and projects abroad but many of the tents are not suitable.

It was actually a person involved in the festival that was being interviewed so I think they know what the truth is. They said that any tents not suitable will go to landfill. They also said attendees were asked to take tents to a collection point but most did not bother. Couldn't even be bothered to take them down and those small tents take so little time to take down

My DS 23 went to Leeds as a steward this year, he left Monday afternoon and said it was appalling the amount of rubbish and tents/chairs etc left. They had teams coming in for the clean up but it'll be a vey big job.
DD 17 went with three friends, she brought her tent/chair etc back with her but one of her friends wanted to leave hers as it had leaked. She got short shrift off the other 3 including DD and did fetch it home in the end, grumbling though she was going to throw it away anyway.

Oh come on OP, they’re far too busy “educating” all those awful boomers (which now seems to cover anyone from the age of 30 plus), with all their percieved wisdom. They can’t be expected to take the time to clean up after themselves, I’m sure that’s what mummy is for, right?!