As the revelers left Glastonbury Festival on Monday, the usual images of the site’s green fields littered with rubbish began to appear online.
ut photos from the aftermath of the festival show that the amount of debris left behind this year seemed lower than in previous years, when the site looked like a scene from a dystopian movie set.
While it’s too early to judge the overall picture, the rapid clearing of the fields and images of far less litter, discarded tents and camping chairs on the ground than in previous years suggest a promising picture.
However, it was not immediately clear whether this was due to festival-goers becoming more environmentally aware or due to an increase in litter over the weekend. Glastonbury says more than a thousand recycling volunteers are helping to clean up the site.
The full extent of the waste left behind only becomes clear after everyone has left the site. The festival did not immediately respond to a question from The Independent, but the organizers tweeted Monday a photo showing a clean field in front of the Pyramid stage, along with the caption: “The garbage collectors have already done a great job.”
Turning the fields of Somerset into a makeshift town of 200,000 people, the five-day music festival typically produces over 2,000 tons of waste.
Glastonbury has a long history of progressive environmental policy, encouraging festival-goers to “Love the farm: Leave no trace.” But in recent years it has stepped up its efforts to tackle its waste and carbon footprint.
In 2019, it banned the sale of plastic bottles and now only allows compostable or reusable plates and cutlery – including straws.
About half of all the waste created by Glastonbury Festival is reused or recycled, and it is estimated that more food waste is composted than the national average.
In the past, abandoned tents at music festivals were a real problem, thanks in part to the mistaken assumption that they were donated to charity.
But in 2019, the last time the Glastonbury festival took place, organizer Emily Eavis said 99.3 percent of all tents had been taken home, indicating a change in behavior among those in attendance.
But there is always more possible.
In 2019, scientists found that high levels of illegal drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy had been detected in a river running through the site, endangering fish and other wildlife.
