EVENT CLEAN-UPS


JH: For the user, they don’t have the smell that a portaloo has when you go in what is essentially a plastic tardis that has been heating up all day, with the pyramid of poo that greets you. It’s generally just a nicer toilet experience for the user, which is what it should be at a festival. You shouldn’t have to fear going to the toilet, which is something that is so associated with festival toilets, unfortunately.


TC: I was going to say, the toilets at festivals have a reputation for being particularly nasty. As Sanitation Manager, is that something that rankles with you? Do you think there needs to be a reputation change for festival toilets?


JH: It does a bit, yes! Hopefully we are moving towards changing that though because over the years, the reputation has been there. People, before they talk about anything with Glastonbury Festival, will talk about the toilets and say ‘I wouldn’t go because of the toilets’, but I do think we are turning a corner with that and the toilets are to a much higher standard now.


This year we had Water Aid volunteers cleaning the ‘long drop’ toilets and they really stepped up and made a difference. And as we move forward, with people like Water Aid cleaning them, making sure they are to a standard, I think the perception will start to change, and people will have a bit less fear for the toilets.


TC: It’s great to hear talk of improving the facilities at festivals, but do you worry that you’ll reach a ‘glass ceiling’ of sorts? As surely there’s only so much you can do on a festival site?


JH: No, I always think that there are places you can go. Technology is always developing as well, as this year we had the ‘Pee Power’ toilets up at the Stone Circle, which convert urine into power. There’s always going to be different ways that we can improve the toilets. I don’t think the work is ever fully done, there’s always somewhere to go with it.


TC: Do you spend a lot of time at other festivals and events, researching what sort of toilet facilities they have there?


JH: I do, I spent years going to different festivals and have been


www.tomorrowscleaning.com


Production Manager at several too, working with toilets over the years. I’ve had some involvement with Notting Hill Carnival this year as well, changing their toilets from portaloos to composts, which is quite a massive step. The good thing when you’re doing this job is that every event you go to, you can’t help but check out the toilets! It’s always a bit of a busman’s holiday whatever event you go to.


TC: You mentioned earlier on that the toilets were cleaned by Water Aid volunteers, do you get a lot of interest from visitors about volunteering the year after?


JH: We do, yes. I think the volunteers had a great reception, with people this year noticing the hard work that they’re putting in. Even before the event when Water Aid were recruiting, they didn’t have any trouble getting really good people showing an interest and wanting to help. Water Aid does


have a really good reputation at the festival, and people always have a lot of respect for the work that they’re involved in – and that is going to go across to the long drops now, as when you see they have the people of Water Aid taking care of them, people to tend to have a bit more respect.


TC: Do you think that’s one of the most important things going forward now? To get festival goers to treat the toilets with a bit more respect?


JH: I think there is a tendency for people that, once they’re in a field, they feel like they’re free to do whatever they want. They wouldn’t treat things the way they often treat things at festivals like toilets if they were in their local pub. For some reason when people get out into the field they lose all inhibitions, but I do think that is changing. As you respect the people more by providing them good toilets, people do generally respect the toilets more.


Tomorrow’s Cleaning August 2016 | 55


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