35 replies to this topic

[rubicon]

i am currently undertaking a project on festival waste, specifically the amount of tents left behind. as a festival goer ive seen the amount of tents left behind after a festival and was wondering other people experiences of this problem. is it just sheer laziness or is it something else? any opinions would be greatly apreciated

cheers

[grumpyhack]

Something I feel very strongly about.  I've never left anything behind at a festival - we do a fingertip search to check for tentpegs and fag ends etc.  Ever since tents became so cheap (festival specials in Tescos for £15 etc) I think there has been a rise in people just seeing them as disposible items and leaving them behind.  We've always taken our tents home and dried and repaired them before storing away.
Another one of the problems, ironically, is that by attempting to persuade people to go to festivals using public transport to 'green' the festival you also get people less inclined to struggle to take things like tents home with them.
I think you also get less material left behind at smaller festivals - possibly because it's more obvious or maybe because smaller fests attract a slightly different audience,

[cejx]

rubicon, on 10 October 2011 - 07:49 PM, said:

i am currently undertaking a project on festival waste, specifically the amount of tents left behind. as a festival goer ive seen the amount of tents left behind after a festival and was wondering other people experiences of this problem. is it just sheer laziness or is it something else? any opinions would be greatly apreciated

cheers

Sheer bloody laziness, and on the whole a certain demographic of todays society being hugely selfish, and not giving a shit.  I include my friends in that - they think I'm a right miserable git - at the end of the festival making them clear up.  OK, it is a ballache taking your tent down, esp. when its wet and muddy, but when they've paid 9 pence for it from Tesco - and it is actually buggered, there is little incentive to do so... we have a good tent which has seen us through many many trips - but there is also the other train of thought that it would get wrecked at Glast, so why bother taking something half decent.

I don't know the solution to this, but I genuinely think that the campsite crews have to 'crew' the sites a bit more... rather than 5 people hanging around a caravan!  Name and shame.  If people left rubbish all over the place - leave them bags and make sure they know they are being watched regarding being lazy feckers! I am astounded at the filth people chose to live in over 5 days - I just couldn't do it.

GH also has a point about green travel... is it really that green?

[Rufus Gwertigan]

Pure bloody laziness. A bit like your method of research.

[abdoujaparov]

It's laziness and reflective of a society based on waste and complete disregard for the consequences.

Incidentally, it isnt just cheap tents that get eft behind. I brought hom a brand new tent worth 80 odd quid that had been left behind this year

[HAPPY CHEF]

I think the size of the Glasto site is a big factor in people leaving tents behind,although that in itself is no excuse and it still doesn't explain how Glasto is without doubt the filthiest most litter strewn festival that I go to.

[River]

Ive always taken my tent home and all the stuff I bring with me including any broken things as it doesn't feel right to me to leave stuff behind. I went looking in the abandoned campsites of those around us after the festival this year and someone had left a brand new 2 seconds XXL pop up. I was so excited untill I peered inside to find it full of piss

[ferraristu]

I was that broken after 2010 I would of left my caravan if I could of ;-)

Edited by ferraristu, 13 October 2011 - 02:35 PM.

[sharon]

have a bit of the camping area put by at the end of the festival so people know where to leave there tents

[Mishy]

In the past I have left tents behind on 3 occasions at Glasto and V.

I have done this because
1) the tent was cheap. The way I saw it, £60 for a tent for 3-5 nights between 3 people = cheap accomodation
2) The tents were (on 2 occasions) very muddy. I had nowhere at home to clean it and the thought of rolling it up and trying to get it in the tiny tent bag filled me with dread.
3) Laziness

However, I have since invested in an expensive tent and regardless of how muddy it was I would not leave it behind. Plus I had more money back then!

[5co77ie]

Main reason this is no a disposable society where everything's mass produced and no one values much anymore - if you leave it, it doesn't matter another one is dirt cheap - i still take the one we bought in 92 to take to Glastonbury - although now my daughter uses it.

the other reason is no one travels light anymore - i used to walk every year from the bus stop in town to Pilton - so travelled light, and still do - these days people like their comforts and carry far too much with them.

[strolling wanderer]

Laziness is by far the biggest reason for the amount of crap that is left behind. If people looked at how much stuff they took on site and then looked at what they had left when they leave, then the next time they attend they could leave at least a third of the stuff at home. There are also a large number of people who still believe wrongly that the festival is able to recycle the tents left behind.

[Gothenburg83]

I find it strange how people can just chuck away something they have lived in! I have an emotional attachment to my tent (not mine but my ex girlfriends but she decided to fuck off so I'm keeping the fucking tent) and I wouldn't dream of leaving it behind!

But to answer your question I would say its down to laziness and the fact that tents can be picked up so cheap now!

Question to the Glasto veterans? would all most all the tents have been taken home back at the beginning of the Glastos life? 70s 80s? I would guess this is a reasonably new thing, leaving your tent behind

[grumpyhack]

I've never left anything behind.
One of the key points for me was when I volunteered to do a site clean up at the end of a fest.  Because the site was actually a caravan club site when not being used for fests it meant we had to do a fingertip clean up - down to every fag end and bit of silly string.
If everyone had to do a 15 minute clean up of their pitch every day it might make some people think.
We should leave a site clean out of respect to the Eavises or anyone else prepared to make their land available.

[eFestivals]

Gothenburg83, on 23 January 2012 - 10:02 PM, said:

Question to the Glasto veterans? would all most all the tents have been taken home back at the beginning of the Glastos life? 70s 80s? I would guess this is a reasonably new thing, leaving your tent behind

I first went in '86. I can't remember seeing abandoned tents to any extent until well into the 2000's, tho there were always some (not many tho), and more so in muddy years. From people I know who worked the clean up in the 90s, nearly all the tents left behind were broken.

[Gothenburg83]

eFestivals, on 24 January 2012 - 07:59 AM, said:

I first went in '86. I can't remember seeing abandoned tents to any extent until well into the 2000's, tho there were always some (not many tho), and more so in muddy years. From people I know who worked the clean up in the 90s, nearly all the tents left behind were broken.

Cheers for the answer! It baffles me that brand new tents only used once are left behind! there would be thousands left behind at a lot of festivals around the country. The mentality of people these days has total changed even from 10 years ago, they don't take pride in their belongings. Happens everywhere

[Couchy]

I was so hungover the past two years I just really couldn't be arsed to do anything but sit in my camp chair & try & get some micro sleep. The thought of the long walk to gate A with a queue for a coach without carrying bags & tent sunk in & I just looked at the tent & though "f**k that". So I got my girlfriend to pack up & carry it instead.

Whereas at other festivals where it isn't so much of a ballache to escape from I'm more than happy to take all my gear home.

Edited by Couchy, 24 January 2012 - 02:40 PM.

[AnnaGrant]

The tent I took to Glastonbury in 1993 was the same one I took, and brought home again, last year.  A record of some sort?

My first year, 92, I took a scout tent, but the scouts wanted it back.

[rossm18]

Rockness is agood festival for this they cam eround with rubbish bags for everyone every morning and asked you to tie them once there full and would be collected at somepoint and as the festival organisers are going to the effort of keeping the place clean and tidy i felt more inclined to help out

[tonyblair]

funny, but interesting, how people are almost proud to admit that it's just laziness (in those cases)...