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EVENT CLEAN-UPS


“I opted to work the morning shift, which was 6am-12, as that way I didn’t miss any of the festival, because my shift was over by midday,” said Steph. “I had to get up early but being up and about helped cure the hangovers!”


But when it comes to the final clean up, dealing with the aftermath can be quite a surprising prospect, Kim said. “I’ve done a fair few clean ups and they’re a bit shocking! You’d be amazed at the things people leave behind – we’d find empty tents with £20 notes just left in the centre.


I just think it’s


dirty and wasteful when people


leave their tents,


rubbish and other items behind.


“A lot of the time it looks like people have just got up and abandoned everything, and there will be stacks of rubbish around tents. People leave cans of food, unopened bottles of alcohol, there’s a lot of waste.”


At this year’s Glastonbury festival, organisers set up specific waste collection points, with separate areas for general waste and recycling, in a bid to try and persuade guests to think more about the rubbish they are disposing of, but Steph wasn’t convinced that this move made a great deal of difference.


She said: “It might have made a slight difference to some people, maybe more so the recycling crew workers, but for the majority of the general punters I honestly just think that they’re not too bothered about where they dump their rubbish or if it’s recycled. They’re just there for the atmosphere and the music.”


And this wasteful, and generally lackadaisical approach to littering at


54 | Tomorrow’s Cleaning August 2015


festivals – not just from the paying guests but even from some organisers as well – is something that can get on the nerves, particularly for a seasoned litter picker. Kim continued: “It’s very frustrating, especially when you can see how much does just go in the bin.


“All the cans of food we find could go to food banks for people who need it and tents to go to charities, but when you’re working on behalf of an organisation that isn’t doing these things it can be especially frustrating. I always end up taking loads of stuff home with me to stop it going to waste.”


So what can festivals do to encourage people to look after their rubbish and eliminate this almost acceptable culture of ditching their leftovers?


Steph believes that convenience can play a big part in people’s decision to litter. She said: “I’ve always been someone who has been against littering anyway – I’ve always preferred to hold on to my litter or put it in my pocket and wait for a bin rather than dropping it. But at a festival it’s fairly inconvenient to carry around rubbish, especially when at a stage watching a band.


“I don’t blame people for littering at Glastonbury – there’s not enough bins at all. If there were more bins then there’d probably be less litter. Even I littered when in a crowd with an empty can in one hand and a full one in another! There are not many other choices but to drop it!”


While Kim added that more policies from the top down might encourage revellers to change their ways. “A lot of festivals have a very green ethos, and one of the most frustrating things is the programmes boasting talks on the environment and not practicing what they preach – I think they need to implement more green policies, such as Glastonbury’s pre-erected tent area which uses tents left the year before,” she said.


“I think festivals should have a section by the exit for non-perishable food to be given to food banks, and a very obvious recycling policy. At Shambala they have recycling points everywhere, and the recycling team make artwork out of plastic waste.”


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