5,000 tents discarded

[giantkatestacks]

Well we were told the percentages and the amounts needed for recycling v landfill for the licence in our recycling briefings and at every available possibility - so its either true or a scare tactic to get us to put things in the right bags on shift.

I think they could focus stewarding resources on the problem fields - just pick 2 where they say they are going to take a leave no trace approach - more visibility on Monday morning might help even if there is no actual stick iyswim.

[stuartbert two hats]

Well we were told the percentages and the amounts needed for recycling v landfill for the licence in our recycling briefings and at every available possibility - so its either true or a scare tactic to get us to put things in the right bags on shift.

I think they could focus stewarding resources on the problem fields - just pick 2 where they say they are going to take a leave no trace approach - more visibility on Monday morning might help even if there is no actual stick iyswim.

Fair enough, I didn't realise that there was a focus on the license. I'm sure it matters, but I've not got the impression that the current landfill levels are unsustainable*, from a licensing point of view. I'm not one one second saying the status quo is good, just that it doesn't appear to be something that is currently putting the festival's license at risk. Having said that, if loads of recyclables were put into landfill during the cleanup operation, then we may have a different situation.

*Obvious the ecological aspect is totally different!

[frostypaw]

I know people like to think of Glastonbury as a green festival, and that Leave No Trace is there so things aren't wasted, but it's not. It's there because it's expensive to clean up after. Which I guess is where I get a lot of flack on this thread - because anything I suggest is there to reduce the cost of the clean up, not to make sure stuff goes where people want it to go.

Careful what you state as fact - the cleanup is a big issue in the license... I'll hunt and see if I can find the link. They have been doing pretty well lately so it's no longer red-flagged but it was in the past and since it's Michael's farm and he really cares about this shit who cares if it's on the license - leave no trace is there because he believes in it. I reckon you'll find almost everyone who grew up in the countryside sticks to it as a matter of course as second nature - we don't have enough immigrants to clean up after us, they're too busy working on the farms

the cleanup operation costs £15 of your ticket price but i don't think that includes the costs of landfill disposal etc. so it doesn't cost them, it's passed directly onto us.

i don't think you're getting flack because of that, just some of the ideas can be written off before they're typed with some thought eg. barcoding tents. my current thinking is why the hell don't they decorate the queuing bits up to the pedestrian gates? Banners slung just above the path that everyone has to walk past slowly with plenty of time to read.... it's a missed opportunity with a captive audience

[musky]

Loads of recyclables are put into landfill in the outside world, and for the cleanup operation at least the same situation appears to happen at Glastonbury.

It's hideously expensive to try to sort waste, and by and large it's only done in the most rudimentary fashion. The Government has attempted to encourage recycling by making it very costly to take stuff to landfill, but they'd have to make it far more expensive yet before waste will be properly sorted. That's the very good reason why councils are so keen for people to sort their waste at source - from that point of view they have very similar problems to Glastonbury.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

It's hideously expensive to try to sort waste, and by and large it's only done in the most rudimentary fashion. The Government has attempted to encourage recycling by making it very costly to take stuff to landfill, but they'd have to make it far more expensive yet before waste will be properly sorted. That's the very good reason why councils are so keen for people to sort their waste at source - from that point of view they have very similar problems to Glastonbury.

I know the owners of two skip hire companies who make staggering amounts of money by sorting their waste out efficiently, so that they reduce landfill to a minimum ie, it's less cost to them. I can only assume the majority of skip hire people do the same, but have no direct knowledge of this. What I'm saying is that if the private sector can do it, then why can't the public sector mimic their operations?

As an aside, the owners wife of one of the skip hire companies told me that electrical appliances found in their skips from posh areas often include appliances where the fuse has just blown, the vacuum cleaner has only stopped because of a dust/hair blockage etc etc It would appear that these people just go out and buy a new item rather than even looking for the fault and rectifying it. Incredible.

[progue]

Do we really genuinely feel that Glastonbury really has a Green Ethos?

I know that there are definite 'Green' aspects to the festival, but given the scale of the site, the clientele it now attracts and the amount of rubbish that it generates, has green not started to take a bit of a back seat?

[UEF]

I'm glad it has a green "element" rather than anything stronger. Imagine - only being able to come by milk float, everyone sleeps in a yurt, veggie food only... no thank you.

[frostypaw]

Do we really genuinely feel that Glastonbury really has a Green Ethos?

I know that there are definite 'Green' aspects to the festival, but given the scale of the site, the clientele it now attracts and the amount of rubbish that it generates, has green not started to take a bit of a back seat?

Hell yes, did you visit the green fields?

I think I know what you're getting at but they do care and try and do it the best way they can. Look at the response given about campsite lights, they're not brushing it off with "not a problem"

Hard though without a major change in scale and focus to change their audience to one that cleans up after itself - to too many it's somewhere to just go nuts and stop thinking and managing it's media image is something they seem loathe to tackle past making it seem ever more child friendly

[Block]

I dont know if anybody has posted this already:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-28509827

Cornwall Fire Service collected tents on the Monday and then sold them a couple of weeks later to raise money for the Fire Service charity.

They have done this for the last two years and it has been such a success I dont know why they dont give more charities this opportunity.

[Leggins]

I dont know if anybody has posted this already:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-28509827

Cornwall Fire Service collected tents on the Monday and then sold them a couple of weeks later to raise money for the Fire Service charity.

They have done this for the last two years and it has been such a success I dont know why they dont give more charities this opportunity.

Who says they don't give any other charities the opportunity?

[Block]

Who says they don't give any other charities the opportunity?

Hmm, fair point, maybe they do. Do they???

One of the firemen that did it in 2013 said that there were so many more tents, but they only had a limited time up there and had to leave a lot of them.

[DeanoL]

Paying people to clean up doesnt reduce the landfill percentage though which is the problem with the licence - its not just a money thing.

Having people take all their stuff home doesn't help with the percentage of waste Glastonbury landfills vs recycles either though does it? The only way to do that is encourage people take away landfill stuff to dispose elsewhere while leaving recyclables.

Or by asking people to sort recyclables vs landfill before they leave. If a method of recycling the tents could be worked out, then actually getting people to leave them would help with the percentages.

Or they pay more money for more sorting of recyclables... this is a problem that can be solved with money (unlike 'don't piss on the ground') so the end result of people not doing it is more expensive tickets. It's not ideal but I don't buy that it's threatening the festival.

[stuartbert two hats]

Having people take all their stuff home doesn't help with the percentage of waste Glastonbury landfills vs recycles either though does it? The only way to do that is encourage people take away landfill stuff to dispose elsewhere while leaving recyclables.

Or by asking people to sort recyclables vs landfill before they leave. If a method of recycling the tents could be worked out, then actually getting people to leave them would help with the percentages.

Or they pay more money for more sorting of recyclables... this is a problem that can be solved with money (unlike 'don't piss on the ground') so the end result of people not doing it is more expensive tickets. It's not ideal but I don't buy that it's threatening the festival.

If people take home their tents rather than leaving them to go to landfill, then surely this does help with the amount going to landfill?

[NorthernScum]

I could do with a new tent. Usually i like to leave 6am Monday, but if i'm lucky enough to attend 2015, maybe i'll hang around all day and get a couple of new tents.

[Superscally]

Wonder how many Gazebos were left behind? Maybe they should ban tents.

[UEF]

I could do with a new tent. Usually i like to leave 6am Monday, but if i'm lucky enough to attend 2015, maybe i'll hang around all day and get a couple of new tents.

It's not your place to take tents, especially on the Monday... there are people living there til Wednesday you know!

[frostypaw]

It's not your place to take tents, especially on the Monday... there are people living there til Wednesday you know!

Dude the deserted tents are entirely obvious. If you've ever stayed late monday it's clear as day - hell you can watch people pack up everything else and leave just an empty tent standing with just an airbed floating around in it

I get all the fretting about the thefts that occur but that's almost entirely from the influx of people once security stops - you're back in the general public and I know it sucks. BUT it's grossly unfair to start treating everyone like a criminal because of them - you don't need to whip the entire pack to find out who stole the sausage sandwich

It's bloody wrong what people leave behind and if someone can be bothered to check, collapse, pack and tidy away a bit extra of the site that would otherwise require already hardworking staff to stop and work longer, and saving the landfill to boot - how can that be a bad thing. find me the party that is wronged by that

Having people take all their stuff home doesn't help with the percentage of waste Glastonbury landfills vs recycles either though does it? The only way to do that is encourage people take away landfill stuff to dispose elsewhere while leaving recyclables.

Or by asking people to sort recyclables vs landfill before they leave. If a method of recycling the tents could be worked out, then actually getting people to leave them would help with the percentages.

Or they pay more money for more sorting of recyclables... this is a problem that can be solved with money (unlike 'don't piss on the ground') so the end result of people not doing it is more expensive tickets. It's not ideal but I don't buy that it's threatening the festival.

You're a strange one.

If people take stuff away from the site then there is less stuff on site, and hence less that can end up in landfill. Tents are non-recyclable. Left tents increases landfill. That's obvious to the point of wanting to shake you to see if you're alright - can you hear me? can you see me? ok to post

There already IS a huge recycling effort exactly like what you're saying - it all gets sorted through and separated as much as possible.

[stuartbert two hats]

I'm with you Frostypaw. Responsible tatting is a very good thing. Deliberate theft or irresponsible tatting (I.e theft) is a bad thing, but responsible tatting is a fine thing to do.

Reuse is better than recycling!

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

I'm with you Frostypaw. Responsible tatting is a very good thing. Deliberate theft or irresponsible tatting (I.e theft) is a bad thing, but responsible tatting is a fine thing to do.

I'm with you both. It wouldn't bother me if commercial ventures were allowed in to do it also.

[UEF]

Dude the deserted tents are entirely obvious. If you've ever stayed late monday it's clear as day - hell you can watch people pack up everything else and leave just an empty tent standing with just an airbed floating around in it

I get all the fretting about the thefts that occur but that's almost entirely from the influx of people once security stops - you're back in the general public and I know it sucks. BUT it's grossly unfair to start treating everyone like a criminal because of them - you don't need to whip the entire pack to find out who stole the sausage sandwich

So if I'd decided to take all my stuff back to the car or go and sit up in the stone circle before coming back later for my tent, you'd have had it already?

[frostypaw]

So if I'd decided to take all my stuff back to the car or go and sit up in the stone circle before coming back later for my tent, you'd have had it already?

Is this assuming you left it open hanging in the breeze surrounded by rubbish and discarded white wine and broken trolley or that you left it neatly done up like someone would if they were doing as you said?

Cos it matters mate we're not opportunist criminals, there may be some but seriously if you've stayed behind ever you'd see it's flagrantly obvious

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

So if I'd decided to take all my stuff back to the car or go and sit up in the stone circle before coming back later for my tent, you'd have had it already?

Come on. As frosty says, it's more obvious than an obvious thing who has left their stuff behind. Anybody who diverges from that perspective on tatting was always a thieving w*nker to begin with, so would rob you anyway.

[miniand]

Must say I'm with the responsible tatters and have had a few very obviously abandoned tents myself and camped with a few people who had tatted tents this year. None of them nor myself are thiefs, we just took what was obviously abandoned by lazy c**ts... This year witnessed security coming through oxlyers stamping on abandoned tents making them useless for fuck all. Can see the problem of people wanting to wonder around the site and having their gear removed but this can easily be avoided if you really wanted to...

[DeanoL]

You're a strange one.

And you don't understand how percentages work!

Someone said the license targets for landfill are percentage targets, not weight/volume. That means it doesn't matter how much stuff goes to landfill, as long as more stuff gets recycled.

So if Glastonbury has a target of 30% landfill, that means 70% of stuff recycled. The key here is that stuff taken home does not count as recycled. These targets only apply to waste. To put it another way, what if everything except one tent was removed from the site by punters? If we all took all our rubbish with us and back home with us?

Sounds great right?

But in that situation, if that one tent was sent to landfill, Glastonbury would be sending 100% waste to landfill, and would fail on the licensing rules.

Is that a stupid way to measure it? Sure! Should the numbers in the license be in absolutes instead? Yes, of course. But apparently, they're not. I don'ts make them rules. This isn't about what's more green, it's about what is in the festival license rules.

I appreciate my point is slightly more sophisticated than yours, so I don't need to shake you, but I can recommend some basic mathematics tutors for innumerate adults if you want? I know percentages are tough for people that didn't get taught them properly at school.

[ICGenie]

Surely that would only stack up if tents were the only waste. If there's 50 tents plus 50 tents-weight of recycled plastic, the recycled percentage is 50%. One tent and 50 tents worth of recyclyed plastic and the recycled percentage goes over 90%.