surely it would not be too much additional work to designate a pitch to individual tents and mark them so that these who leave items behind can be pulled up and either fined or made to tidy up after themselves.

😆

Yeah, not much work. Only 135,000 ticketholders, tents in sizes from tiny to behemoth, and groups that want to camp together. Oh, and actually enforcing it when people come through the gates first thing on Wednesday and find out their pitch is in a field miles from anywhere.

Glastonbury has been prosecuted by the EA in the past.

water pollution IIRC. not desireable and they’ve put quite a bit of effort in to preventing it in future.

I’m not defending it, but there is a reclaimed tent + camping equipment sale on 23rd July, with proceeds going to charity- so at least some of it isn’t going to landfill.

I know in the past local Cadet units have helped to clear the site and been able to take their pick of the tents left behind. Was quite useful for them, especially for the kids who didn’t have enough to buy their own. Some are just in a shocking state though and I wouldn’t fancy assessing whether it’s mud or excrement on the inside of them!

I went last year and by the Sunday night there were volunteers dismantling tents already left behind by early leavers, all to be sent overseas for charity.

The guys in the tent next to us left behind their very nice brand new tent, camp beds, chairs and sleeping bags and they told us they do the same every year (and had been for something like the last 15). Their view was the lot cost them the same as they’d spend on hotels for a weekend and just wanted to get up and off on the Monday morning.

If it wasn’t for the fact we were lugging all our stuff back I’d have taken it all myself.

Looks a bit like the tent site at Decathlon’s on a Saturday afternoon…

I was at last years Glasto and got woken up early on Monday morning by the people next to us smashing up their camping gear just for laughs.

They had a massive tent that looked half decent, some camping chairs, a few air beds and other cooking stuff all smashed up or broken.

When I questioned them what they were doing and why don’t they just donate it to charity, or at the very least leave it in good condition for someone else, I was told to “p**s off mate” and they can do what they want as it’s their stuff.

I found the whole encounter a bit depressing. The crazy amount of waste just from one group.

It becomes “waste” at the point of discard under EA rules. What doesn’t get “acquired” will be off to landfill.

Not quite right. Material becomes a waste at the point that it is discarded or it is intended to discard, but it comes down to definitions. The people leaving things behind haven’t discarded they’ve abandoned them, practically it’s been fly tipped on private land and it’s the organisers that are responsible for ‘discarding’ it. Therefore they are able to choose to not let discard it and instead resell/use it.

In the good old days before the mainstream infiltration, a good mate of mine used to stay on an extra week to do some tatting..

This was the days before aldi tents, hygienic wipes and waitrose bags and he used to do very well..
He’d certainly find ‘desirable goods’ each year with enough resale value to see him through to Christmas, usually with a dapper new wardrobe and a decent pair of boots as a bonus..

I imagine the best you can hope for these days is an occasional unopened can of energy drink, discarded One Direction stickers and soiled primani jeggings

This is how people behave in large groups.

The free festival scene was ruined because it became too big.
Too many weekend drunkards and small town smack dealers looking for chaos and a fresh market.

Bit wiser when rave came around, but the same principle applies – some things can only work and are best enjoyed amongst like-minded individuals, on a smaller scale.

Glastonbury has evolved to embody everything it proposed to despise.
How could it not?

Anarchy for a weekend and mindless conformity as a badge of honour.

Brexiteers, all of them.

How d’you work that one out, then?
I was watching a news item on BBC Points West last night, about the stuff discarded by students at their lodgings after they finish Uni, and apart from the lack of mud, and the smaller numbers involved, the amount was still staggering, bedding, clothes, shoes, electronics, (including two almost new iPhones, one a 6s). It’s sorted, bagged up and sold, the money going to charities, an estimated £120,000 was made from the last lot.
The thing is, stuff really is so cheap as to be disposable, when factoring in costs of any on-site accommodation that’s available, and the hassle of packing up a wet, muddy tent and sleeping bags.
I brought back my tent from the IoW Festival, because I wasn’t going to waste a £75 tent, or the £17 air mattress, because I can’t replace it with anything similar, or the sleeping bag, which was £40, because it’s a really nice bag.
I’ll also be using it in a few weeks time at Greenman in Wales.
I hate throwing anything away, I’ll keep using stuff for years, but when the whole kit for a weekend can be had for less than £100, then I can see why many really can’t be arsed with the pain of packing it all back up.
A friend of mine bought a really nice tent for Glastonbury a couple of years back, packed up to come home on the coach, left her trolley by the loading bay for the driver to load, and when she got home, found someone had nicked the lot!

It’s become my stock answer for arseholes.

It also depends on whether you’ve got space to store stuff. If you’re in a flat or apartment you don’t necessarily have too for a whole set of camping kit, this is exacerbated by cheap (essentially disposable) camping kit that gets marketed at festival goers.

That’s no excuse for not packing it up and taking it to the charity drop off.

Ridiculous state of affairs the lazy arsehats. It’s not even like most of the tents were just 20 quid throwers. I remember last time we went there were tents being nicked left right and centre during the festival!!

Would never go to one these regulated party spaces. There a bit Las Vegas aren’t they!

Years back, I used to work on the festival circuit, and the wobbling was fantastic. People leave alcohol….. loads of it.

Considering that the festival is meant to be all about getting back to a better place, sustainability and being aware of Greenpeace and the likes, it really stinks

Go and get of yer head – that’s half the fun – but carrying a tent out is hardly difficult

Make it difficult:

Weighed on the the way in, weighed on the way out.
Any difference added or subtracted anatomically.

Weighed on the the way in, weighed on the way out.
Any difference added or subtracted anatomically.

Just get a receipt every-time you go to the loo. (D Adams)

I can scoop that…I used the put up the marquees when I was at uni, mankiest find ever was a full colostomy bag between two concession tents at TITP,next to the used condom. But yeah, got a sweet wee NF tent, some wee shite had probably borrowed it without asking and just left it,and piles of tinnies as well.There is a rise in the concept of the shit tent as well now,so I wouldn’t be unzipping tents.