I'd like to hear from people that were actually at the festival
If you left your tent behind, why was that? was it broken, or maybe you were too broken from days of partying?
Did you clean up your campsite?
What do you think can be done to make this less of a problem? More bins? tent donation points? more awareness?
I've been going to festivals for 25 years and tbh I think its always been a thing. I remember our campsite at Reading back in the early 00s being absoutely rank, loads of rubbish, we were just letting loose and being feral, often we burnt it all on Sunday night, does that still happen? (not saying thats a solution btw!!!). At some point I think I just grew out of it and preferred a tidy campsite. Also I remember a mate leading the way with it, saying we were disgusting if we didnt put rubbish in bin bags.
Do you guys think there is an answer to this, or are 'younger' fests like Reading always going to be like this?
EDIT 1: how many kids do you think have lied to their parents about why they left the tent behind? Beloved Indian Blanket style
EDIT 2: Live Nation are never going to introduce any schemes to track tents or anything as it won't be profitable for them, so - how can we hold live nation to account?
In the days of carling sponsorship you could exchange a full binbag for a can of carling. As a broke teenager off the back of an all nighter I spent a very happy sunny sunday morning collecting rubbish one year with a few mates who had also not budgeted properly. We were so chuffed when we exchanged all our rubbish for a crate of warm carling! Do they do anything like that still? If not surely that's the way
I walked past an abandoned tent with 5 headphones in it, considered being a good dude but then decided I couldn’t be bothered to walk and queue to reward someone’s laziness.
I know years ago a lot of people that live in Reading would go to the site after the festival was over and take tents, tinned food, camp chairs etc I know loads of people that would do it, I don’t know if the organisers allow it now, I think a lot of the tents that are still usable get donated for the homeless - now 100% sure no that though.
Yeah, unfortunately when you get rumours about them being donated, it makes people feel better about leaving them behind. Most dickheads would anyway but there are some that might have had a nudge from their conscience if they had not kidded themselves that they were helping the homeless.
And the cycle continues year after year, it’s a shame they can’t be bothered to at least clean up their rubbish, last year walking along the river there were wrappers, toilet roll, cans, drink bottles and mix more just strewn across the embankment and fences that run along the site
This behaviour has been ongoing decades. When you mix immature teenagers with sleep deprivation and drug/drink come downs - of course people are going to leave cheap tents. They shouldn’t, but they will.
The most effective policy at stopping it would probably would be a deposit on tents upon entry, but that would be a logistical nightmare that would create crazy queues.
Sometimes in life you have to accept the inevitable and put in processes and actions that deal with the known outcome.
On that basis, the best solution is to let charities/scavengers go through the site for items still in good condition, and then send in the clean up crew to clear the rest, which is paid for as part of the ticket cost. As I understand it, that is essentially what happens now.
Agree...my daughter went to Leeds for the first time this year. She's 17 so still governed my teenage logic. She hated the camping part, got zero sleep, I don't want to know about any substances, and her tent got stamped on by some random wankstain.
Given it cost naff all she left it, and so would I tbh. It's clearly factored into the running costs given the price of the bloody ticket!
I used to always take mine. But part of me feels like hey I spend 300 quid on a ticket They give you poor toilets. poor water. Priced hiked vendors. Shall I clean the shitters as well? Respect goes both ways
It’s not about helping out the festival it’s about avoiding single use culture and unnecessary landfill. Disappointed to see so many upvotes on this selfish attitude
This year they were even flushing in the campsites. With the exception of piss on half of the seats they were shockingly nice. Even had soap to wash your hands with!
I don’t remember that and I was going then as well. There were long drops in the campsites, then the arenas had the proper flushing plumbed in toilets. Went for a couple of days in 2019 and they still had the plumbed toilets they’d expanded a bit. It’s still the thing Reading has over a lot of other festivals
Yeah number 3 is probably the big one. After 5 days of rampant drug and alcohol abuse paired with very very little sleep, it’s no wonder people can’t be bothered to take their £20/person tent home with them that them and their mates pitched in for.
i left mine behind because i was really struggling to pack it up and was gonna miss my train, but i gave it to someone who said they’d take it home!
i know Leeds festival had a camping equipment shop accepting donations and in return they’d get a gift card for the shop for next years festival, i think it’s a great idea!
was it a big tent? and didnt the thought of buying a new one next year put you off? (not having a go btw, just trying to understand)
at boomtown this year they had a bit in the campsite where you could hire camping things, like a roll mat, for £1 for the weekend, with a £10 deposit. Do you reckon people would hire tents if they could? Might need a higher deposit to get them returned, but still a tiny fee for the week
it was only a little tent! and we got it from a charity shop anyway thankfully so the cost wasn’t a huge issue. i think hiring tents would be a great way to reduce waste
did you not think ahead about how to put up and put down the tent? (not having a go, genuinely interested) I remember when i got my first festival tent about the age of 16, I practiced with it in the garden! maybe im a nerd aha
hahaha we initially had it down to a science but everything was so muddy so it was taking longer and initially we had a ride to the train station but they cancelled so we had to walk and we just panicked
I am far too old for camping at festivals now, but I done 2 T in the Park and 6 Reading with the same tent. Hiked the tent up and down from Scotland to Reading too.
I just don't get the mentality of leaving it behind. It takes 10 minutes to dismantle it. I went between 07 and 12, and feel like there was definitely not as many tents being left then as you see pictures of now, though still too many being left even then.
how woud you do this logistically? and at a profit margin for Live Bastard Nation? tbh, I think thats the reason there is nothing in place like this, its cheaper for Live Nation to just get the tractors in to ship it all off to landfill than it is to actually put schemes in place
Yep 100% agree with this. There is zero incentive for LN to do anything different. Volunteers come in and clean up and anything else gets skipped because I’d guess it’s easy for them, and then they get to sit quietly while all the news shows the absolute carnage left behind. I’m not saying the people at fest are blameless - they have a duty to clear up their mess, but other festivals do things differently and it works.
There were associations that come in and take stuff, scouts, homeless charity's etc. There was also at one point a group who sent stuff abroad for people in need of temporary housing due to natural disasters. No idea if they still do this.
Nope. Reports are that this is too costly. It just goes to landfill. The fact that lie perpetuates is part of the problem. People think leaving their tent is a good thing when it’s not.
“Was it broken? Or maybe you were too broken from many days of partying”
That’s the most bullshit reason for leaving any rubbish behind.
I’ve just come back from Shambala over the same weekend and practically everyone camping pitches in to leave no trace. Despite the fact we’re all partying and the music not finishing till 5/6am. The site is practically empty upon leaving. Same when I went to Glastonbury back in 2019 and 2023.
If you were some of the few people that manages to clean up after yourselves and take your stuff home, well done to you. But maybe you should start calling out people who don’t. The festival clearly doesn’t do enough, people around clearly don’t do enough to call it out either. The message needs to be clearer or start putting an age cap on the festival because I highly doubt real adults wouldn’t leave a site like that.
yepp, I'm sorry but that is such a sorry excuse!! did a whole week of drunken partying/camping at a festival and we all packed up and tidied on the last day 😂 if you brought it with, you can damn well take it away!
I went to Glastonbury 2023 and the one big thing that shocked me was the sheer amount of litter. Shit everywhere. I don't get why people cannot use a bin?
£10 quid off next year's ticket if you take your tent home. Show the stewards your tent on the way out, Stewards scan your entry ticket, £10 voucher on your Ticketmaster account.
do you reckon the cost of the stewards on the way out, plus the hiring of the scanner machines and changing of software, plus the discount on the tickets would be more or less than hiring a load of tractors to just sweep it al up? I've clicked whilst thinking about this, that Live Nation just don't give a shit about anything other than their profits, so they wouldn't implement something like this
Yep, sadly true. I think there is some reputational damage caused by the images, but the festival ticket will continue to sell well regardless. I think some nods in the direction of sustainability could improve the festivals image though.
only solution is making it over 21s only and changing the programming. at we out here there was like 2 tents left behind, because it’s an older crowd and the music attracts more middle class people, who typically have nicer tents than the £20 argos shitters and are more likely to take it home
Took the tent back but it would be great if they could visit the stupidly long walk to the car park in the mud. Not sure it would help with the tents but would have made me feel better Monday morning when I woke up thinking of all the work ahead haha
I left my tent behind in 2001 because me and a mate had bought it between us for about £15 and didn't care 🤦 2002 made sure to bring it home. I might even still have that one somewhere
Most, if not all, wrist bands now have a unique ID number on them. I would charge a £100 deposit on entry if you have a tent. Then on exit, if you don’t have a tent, you don’t get the deposit back.
It has issues of course, it makes the exit process just as arduous as the entrance process. And Rich twats will just pay the £100 anyway. But, it at least, in theory, it pays some money towards the clean up of the site and hopefully they can use the money to help recycle things as well.
Nothing will stop some people though. I know someone who does 3/4 festivals a year and he buys new equipment for each one and leaves it. He isn’t bothered about the money, or the waste, just wants clean equipment for each festival and doesn’t want to carry it home and clean it.
do you think Live Nation would pay for this though? As they wouldn't make any money out of it. They'd have to pay for the software to be updated to allow scanning out of wristbands, plus the stewards and supervisers to make this happen, and security, and the admin of dealing with the deposits? Granted, they would have an extra £8,000,000 in their bank over the weekend that they could make interest on...
Your mate sounds like a bellend 😆 "ooooh i cant clean my tent", or maybe he has some issues?
Having just been to a small one where every tent was cleared and there wasn’t any rubbish, it comes down to a few things
Big enough to do it anonymously. Group mentality - everyone else is doing it. Ignorant selfish shits (some festivals attract them more than others). Tent and/or camper knackered after a few days of partying. Taking it down and lugging it back is too much effort
i keep coming back to this comment, its really pissed me off tbh. Such a useless and unfounded comment. No practical ideas. Just blaming teenagers. When you were a teenager were you perfect?
Son brought his home. He left his airbed, took it to where the bins were and said they were completely overwhelmed with rubbish (this was on the Sunday).
He took 3 big Costco bin bags with him which only lasted a couple of days with people around them all sharing.
Yes there is blame with the people at the festival, but I’d also suggest that the festival could do more to help/encourage - if they’re not clearing rubbish then where’s the incentive to keep the place clean.
Almost feels like they’re happy for the place to get trashed and do one big cleanup at the end, let the people in the campsites get moaned at after all the photos are put up and then repeat again next year.
Recycled no idea. As far as I know it would just go in general waste if we were at home.
Repaired definitely not, it had a split along the seam.
I’ve given up buying these airbeds for normal camping because they are totally shit, but it wasn’t me that bought the camping stuff.. he went to decathlon and grabbed what he thought was gonna work.
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u/Ashamed_Caregiver_22 Sep 01 '26
In the days of carling sponsorship you could exchange a full binbag for a can of carling. As a broke teenager off the back of an all nighter I spent a very happy sunny sunday morning collecting rubbish one year with a few mates who had also not budgeted properly. We were so chuffed when we exchanged all our rubbish for a crate of warm carling! Do they do anything like that still? If not surely that's the way