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I'm cutting down on the amount of shit I take to the festival


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Following on from the David Attenborough thread - no doubt he'll take to the stage and tell everyone about how the planet is fucked and we'll all feel really bad about it.

Ever year I camp in Kidney Mead/ Hawkwell and make the long walk home at 6am across the Pyramid field to bed.

The litter pickers/ recyclers do an amazing job, but the amount of waste left over after the headliners (and on the Monday morning across the site) is increasingly depressing.

So this year I am going to be:

- Taking less cans of beer/ plastic bottles full of booze that never gets drunk
- Not buying/ using any disposible ‘fun’ tat that will go straight to landfill (fancy dress outfits, wigs, glow sticks, face masks, Coldplay wristbands, etc, etc)
- Taking less food with me that will never be eaten

- Challenging the selfish twats who leave behind their air beds, tents, sleeping bags on the Monday

- Telling all my mates to do the same

Many moons ago, during the breaks on the main stages, everyone was encouraged to take a minute to pick up any litter lying around them - and most people actually joined in.

It feels like we need a little bit of that spirit back.

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All that warm beer. I bring one bag of hand luggage on my flight to Bristol. Couple of pairs of shorts, rake of t-shirts and waterproofs. UNDERWEAR. 

Pick up tent from cosy camper and return Monday morning. 

Wee morning trip to Tesco for cider and ice to fill the cool bag. 

Bob is indeed one of your parents brother

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I'm on the coach this year so it's essentials only - clothes, sleeping bag, pillow, toiletries, towel and that's it. Staying in WV so no need to worry about a tent.

Even considering not bothering to take food or booze, I treat GF as a holiday and budget accordingly so can afford to spend a little while I'm there. I always take a slab of beer and by Friday I'm reluctantly choking back warm cans because they're there.

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15 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

I'm on the coach this year so it's essentials only - clothes, sleeping bag, pillow, toiletries, towel and that's it. Staying in WV so no need to worry about a tent.

Even considering not bothering to take food or booze, I treat GF as a holiday and budget accordingly so can afford to spend a little while I'm there. I always take a slab of beer and by Friday I'm reluctantly choking back warm cans because they're there.

I've given up bringing loads of booze. Stopped bringing food after the first one. The wine is decent from the wine bars. I bring a bottle of whiskey and maybe a box of wine in case of emergency. 

Basically if I cant carry it in one trip it doesn't come with me. 

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Enough cold-ish tins to celebrate getting the tent up and for an initial mooch. 1 large hipflask scotch, 1 rum. Clothes, tent, rollmat, sleeping bag, eyemask, earplugs, toothbrush. 

But then again I've only ever made it to the G once by car so the coach has forced that approach onto me...

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As a litterpicker, the cans aren't too bad really- they can be recycled and bring in money for the festival (that said please put them in the correct bins- or at least next to it when they're full). The really shitty things are:

- NOS canisters: just don't

- Jelly shot holders: the plastic smashes into a million pieces every time- nightmare

- Traveljohns: these are DISGUSTING and they always split, leaving gross crystallised piss everywhere. Either dont bring them or make sure they go in the bin. Seriously, piss in a bottle if you must, its less gross- please empty into a toilet if you do though, some poor sod ends up pouring them out otherwise

- Broken chairs: take it with you or bin it!!

 

Edited by LeeHC
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Well said, the debris left on Monday is contrary to the spirit of the festival as is all the garbage lying around every day. It’s not as if there are no bins, my god they are brightly painted enough. Cans of warm beer in the middle of summer just don’t appeal to me. Just for a few days I don’t mind paying the prices charged at the festival, especially if I can enjoy the cameraderie of other festival goers and the excellent acts that turn up in the pubs around the site. 

Leave no trace shouldn’t be just a meaningless slogan. It should be an order! 

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3 minutes ago, LeeHC said:

As a litterpicker, the cans aren't too bad really- they can be recycled and bring in money for the festival (that said please put them in the correct bins- or at least next to it when they're full). The really shitty things are:

- NOS canisters: just don't

- Jelly shot holders: the plastic smashes into a million pieces every time- nightmare

- Traveljohns: these are DISGUSTING and they always split, leaving gross crystallised piss everywhere. Either dont bring them or make sure they go in the bin. Seriously, piss in a bottle if you must, its less gross- please empty into a toilet if you do though, some poor sod ends up pouring them out otherwise

- Broken chairs: take it with you or bin it!!

 

Yeah me too, picking up NOS canisters that have been trodden into the ground is one of the hardest parts of the job. 

Jelly shot tubs are so frustrating as you say they break up into so many little pieces. 

Cans i can get away with but it's the half full ones that annoy me. I don't understand people who don't put more of their stuff in the bin- it's not like there aren't lots and lots of bins all over the place. 

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47 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

Even considering not bothering to take food or booze, I treat GF as a holiday and budget accordingly so can afford to spend a little while I'm there. I always take a slab of beer and by Friday I'm reluctantly choking back warm cans because they're there.

This. It's one of the biggest and best five days of the year so I always try to make sure I have enough to enjoy my time there. Nice cold ciders from the bar and trying all of the delicious food that's on offer etc. People always take too much. I take a couple of emergency camp cans and stash them under the tent to keep 'em cool but that's it.

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I'm with you. This year, we've already bought a tough airbed which we can use for festivals to come, that won't get binned as soon as we get home. We've also got new Chilly's bottles for our drinks to cut down on plastic bottles, and we are taking cereals for breakfast, and some other snacks. We tried to take all our food with us in 2017 and failed miserably.

I also always make sure to take bin bags and give them to our neighbours to put rubbish in.

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6 minutes ago, K2SO said:

I'm with you. This year, we've already bought a tough airbed which we can use for festivals to come, that won't get binned as soon as we get home. We've also got new Chilly's bottles for our drinks to cut down on plastic bottles, and we are taking cereals for breakfast, and some other snacks. We tried to take all our food with us in 2017 and failed miserably.

I also always make sure to take bin bags and give them to our neighbours to put rubbish in.

Id scrap bringing cereal. Wandering about in the morning for brekkie is one of my favourite thigns to do at the festival. Some great options out there. 

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8 minutes ago, The Nal said:

Id scrap bringing cereal. Wandering about in the morning for brekkie is one of my favourite thigns to do at the festival. Some great options out there. 

Bringing it to save money, it's the least likely of the meals to go to waste, and it's the lightest to carry

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Please when the opportunity arrises people join the worthy warriors if just half the people on this site joined we could make a significant difference at the festival .... or more to the point just pack your shit up and take it home ... it breaks my heart seeing people leave a working farm in this state 

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3 hours ago, gherkin8r said:

All that warm beer. I bring one bag of hand luggage on my flight to Bristol. Couple of pairs of shorts, rake of t-shirts and waterproofs. UNDERWEAR. 

Pick up tent from cosy camper and return Monday morning. 

Wee morning trip to Tesco for cider and ice to fill the cool bag. 

Bob is indeed one of your parents brother

It's ironic that those flying into the festival tend to be the "greenest" in terms of impact on the site directly.

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18 minutes ago, mashedonmud said:

Chris should've been forced to pick those up himself, blew me away that they thought they needed a Shiny gimmick. 

My honest answer as to where they should've been shoved I'll keep to myself. ?

Absolutely- fuck coldplay for doing that. They were a non-recyclable mess of single-use plastic. Even worse hardly anyone I met even knew what they were for- I was elsewhere in the festival at the time and saw loads of people with them randomly flashing, no idea why.

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19 minutes ago, ian the worm said:

Agreed.  great post.

Here is my 2016 Monday evening walkabout video.  Notice that the comments are split into people agreeing that this is bad and people telling me to clean it up myself as that's my job.  Er, no.

 

 

God this is triggering!! How hard is it to have a black bag and at least collapse your tent. They should be tracked down and blacklisted from the festival #ranting!!

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1 hour ago, ian the worm said:

Agreed.  great post.

Here is my 2016 Monday evening walkabout video.  Notice that the comments are split into people agreeing that this is bad and people telling me to clean it up myself as that's my job.  Er, no.

 

 

I am truly staggered and shocked by the scale of the crap left and especially the decent quality tents that are abandoned. I knew this happened but not to that extent. I’ve always made a point to take everything and ensure all tent pegs pulled out the ground. They must do damage if left. It’s not me being righteous etc just being responsible and respecting the advice from Michael Eavis, after all he’s given us the best experiences of a lifetime. I would happily stay on the Monday to help out to clear up. 

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