Recycling Veterans

[marathonsteve]

Check your e-mails

[Pinhead]

I'm a 'veteran' - is it time for me to be recycled?

[marathonsteve]

Yes Pinhead you should have an email . I am not however  one of the chosen ones

[marathonsteve]

The "lovely one " is on holiday at the moment so can't reply to e mails.

 

[March Hare]

This is all very cryptic. What’s going on? I thought “once recycling crew, always recycling crew” was the rule?

[marathonsteve]

Apparently the people who have done it for a certain number of years, over 5 get to hear first. I suppose thats only right  really.

[ironmike8]

How does one go about getting into the crew in the first place?

 

Must be the best shift you can have at the festival tbf, especially if you wander around for the most part anyway.

[Crazyfool01]

Just now, ironmike8 said:

How does one go about getting into the crew in the first place?

 

Must be the best shift you can have at the festival tbf, especially if you wander around for the most part anyway.

6am - 12 wouldn’t call that so easy for the litter pickers ... it will somewhat influence your evening before I would say ...think I’ve got that right ... what’s the recycling centre shifts ? 12 -6 rings a bell 

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

Just wondering what was the most valuable thing any litter picker reading this (if there are any) has found?

[Roger1]

39 minutes ago, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

Just wondering what was the most valuable thing any litter picker reading this (if there are any) has found?

Whilst picking the Pyramid field a few years ago I found a wallet containing cash and a quite an amount of class A powder. Luckily the wallet had a driving licence in it. I binned the class A so as not to land the gent in trouble and returned the wallet Inc all the cash to lost property

[Roger1]

2 hours ago, ironmike8 said:

How does one go about getting into the crew in the first place?

 

Must be the best shift you can have at the festival tbf, especially if you wander around for the most part anyway.

Think it's by recommendation now.  Must have been a lot of people over the years promising to work then doing a runner.

Volunteering isn't easy and as mentioned includes some 6am starts. Definitely get to see the festival from another perspective though. You always have the thought of a 5.30am alarm call in the back of your mind.

 

[priest17]

Gotta do something with them I guess

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

55 minutes ago, Roger1 said:

Whilst picking the Pyramid field a few years ago I found a wallet containing cash and a quite an amount of class A powder. Luckily the wallet had a driving licence in it. I binned the class A so as not to land the gent in trouble and returned the wallet Inc all the cash to lost property

Fair play to you for your actions. I'd have kept the class a for myself though, but do recognise that not everybody is a user. 

I once saw two young women hand in a wallet thick with notes in to one of the Lock Ups. Fair play to them too.

[marathonsteve]

There's a fair few shifts but the veterans will get first dibs as it were, as some shifts are only for those.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

2 hours ago, marathonsteve said:

There's a fair few shifts but the veterans will get first dibs as it were, as some shifts are only for those.

That's the way the cookie crumbles. Mind you, it's no mad thing to recognise long term loyalty. I've heard all about first timers disappearing from where they should be working, and dropping everybody else in it. This is in all areas of the festival. The long term volunteers have earned their stripes, in that way. There's an enormous amount of politics at play too. Totally mental, actually.

[marathonsteve]

 Theres not many posts from the the Recycling Crew on here.

Edited December 30, 2019 by marathonsteve
s

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

6 minutes ago, marathonsteve said:

 Theres not many posts from the the Recycling Crew on here.

Maybe they're just not interacting with efests right now?

[sirjonnyp]

I had a good chat with a guy on recycling last year as we (wateraid) shared their canteen with them. I picked up:

• Definitely a who you know situation, with many of the current crew having done it for years and not wanting to give up their place for future years. 
• He got in through a family link a number of years ago, but knew who to talk to if he wanted to recommend anyone in the future. 
• Shifts for pickers are 6-11 or 6-12, I can't remember which. Not sure if you get a day off or not. I think most of them arrived on Monday or Tuesday. 
• Some people work on 'The Belt', which is where all of the litter goes. The people working the belt sort it into the different types of recycling. 
• Everything is covered - every meal, transport and your recycling crew shirt. As with wateraid, it was unlimited showers. 

[Roger1]

Will definatly agree that is isn't easy to get in. I started with a charity for a few years clearing the pyramid 6-12 Friday to monday before moving over to the main crew as I wanted to explore other recycling roles. 

The shifts state 6-12 but I found if the site is clear you finish early. Especially the Friday when it's not quite so bad. Monday used to be a killer as people just seemed to dump everything on the pyramid field. I will say this does seem to have improved in recent years.

2 meals a day are provided on the days you work as is the tea and coffee. The field we camp in is so friendly and has nice facilities. Really can't complain

[marathonsteve]

There are also afternoon shifts as well

[marathonsteve]

The fact that they banned traders from selling plastic bottles last year.   The waste was cut down  a lot we noticed in our section

[SecretFish]

Yeah seems hard to get in on this. Good luck to all that do! Wish I could!

[marathonsteve]

13 minutes ago, SecretFish said:

Yeah seems hard to get in on this. Good luck to all that do! Wish I could!

Dont lose hope In our section  we didn't recognise any one from the previous year except the Team leader

[Doug85]

On 12/30/2019 at 5:51 PM, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

Just wondering what was the most valuable thing any litter picker reading this (if there are any) has found?

Found a couple of mobiles over the years, a clip of money (around £30 i think) and a substantial amount of acid last year. All barring the acid got handed into lost property. I checked on the last day and the phones had been claimed, the money was a no and there was no ID with it so it went to charity i think. 

[Doug85]

In regards to some questions regarding the Recycling Crew, shifts are 6am - midday and usually friday to monday depending on where you are posted. I do the Pyramid early morning shift, friday isn't bad and we usually get deployed elsewhere to help but monday is usually worse and to be fair people try and clear up their mess (last year especially) but they never know where to put their stuff. I've suggested us and the festival need to promote what goes into each bin so people are more clear. I was amazed how many glasses i still found.

Yes there are unlimited showers apart from saturday last year which was due to the water shortage, that was tough on people who had a later shift. I was lucky to get a shower straight after shift and then go out.

Generally it's a good deal, 2 meals per day that you work, parking included and you can arrive early/leave late if needs be, we always beat the crowds and arrive early weather depending and we left on the Tuesday last year. Campsite is secure as well and usually friendly, last year a couple of tents were broken into and a few things taken but I suppose that can happen anywhere on site, speaking to security they said there were reports all over site of those type of instances so I suppose its just luck and people being dicks. Most are fine.