The festival's over... someone fetch a dustpan and brush: Sea of rubbish left behind by 90,000 music fans at Reading Festival

Aerial photographs show 'the morning after the night before' at Reading Festival, after everyone had gone home

A huge clear-up operation began within hours of the annual Bank Holiday event closing on Monday

Thousands abandoned tents and left a sea of cans, cigarette butts, half-eaten food, and lost or unwanted belongings


It looks like the aftermath of a campsite tornado, or perhaps the first stages of a landfill site.

But this was the scene the morning after the night before at Reading Festival, shortly after everyone had gone home.

The music stopped... the party finished... and a 90,000-strong exodus from the hugely popular music event began.

It may look like the aftermath of a campsite tornado, or perhaps the first stages of a landfill site - but this is the scene as the crowds dispersed at Reading festival

The once bustling campsite was transformed into a sea of rubbish and deserted tents as the revellers left and the clean-up teams moved in

A massive sea of beer cans, cigarette butts, half-eaten food, discarded packaging, lost or unwanted belongings, grubby clothes, wellies, sleeping bags and abandoned tents now fill the vast fields

It’s just that many festival-goers appear to have left a few things behind when they went.



Result: a massive sea of beer cans, cigarette butts, half-eaten food, discarded packaging, lost or unwanted belongings, grubby clothes, wellies, sleeping bags and abandoned tents.



Especially tents.

‘Camping gear is so cheap these days that people seem to make it part of their festival package budget, and don’t bother to take it with them when they leave,’ a festival insider said.

‘If eight people are crammed into one tent it’s only going to cost them a few quid each. We do everything we can to encourage people to take their stuff with them when they leave but it’s a question of social responsibility. At the end of the day it’s down to the individual.’



A huge clear-up operation began within hours of the annual Bank Holiday event closing on Monday. Despite a 'Love Your Tent' campaign imploring people to pack up and remove their camping gear, thousands clearly did not

Tractors towing magnets are used to collect metal tent pegs and other potentially dangerous metal objects, and volunteers will work with specialised rubbish-clearance teams eventually to return the field to its original state

Last year more than 20 tons of re-useable equipment was salvaged - and this year the figure is expected to be even higher. Some will be offered to local charities but damaged or unplaced equipment will be destined for landfill sites

The spectacular sea of camping trash, just yards from upmarket homes on the opposite bank of the Thames at Caversham, is expected to take up to two weeks for festival organisers to clear completely

A huge clear-up operation began within hours of the annual Bank Holiday event closing on Monday. Despite a ‘Love Your Tent’ campaign imploring people to pack up and remove their camping gear, thousands clearly didn’t.



Last year more than 20 tons of re-useable equipment was salvaged - and this year the figure is expected to be even higher. Some will be offered to local charities but damaged or unplaced equipment will be destined for landfill sites.

READING FESTIVAL BY NUMBERS

90,000 people per day attending

£250 - price of an all-weekend ticket

£14.99 - current price of cheapest pop-up ‘festival tent’ at Argos

200 ‘green messengers’ promoting recycling

4,000 recycling bags distributed

20p returnable deposit on plastic bottles

6 tons of cardboard cups and containers for recycling

150 tons of rubbish estimated to have been left behind

101 reported crimes and 51 arrests

1 million pints of lager consumed

500 to 1,000 items handed to lost & found each year

650 (female only) portable toilets; 100 male.



Unopened cans of food, some of which was donated at designated drop-off points around the campsite, will be recovered and distributed.



Much of the rubbish, however, is precisely that.

Meanwhile the spectacular sea of camping trash, just yards from upmarket homes on the opposite bank of the Thames at Caversham, is expected to take up to two weeks for festival organisers to clear completely.



Tractors towing magnets are used to collect metal tent pegs and other potentially dangerous metal objects, and volunteers will work with specialised rubbish-clearance teams eventually to return the field to its original state.

Lack of rain over the weekend means the task will be significantly easier. High temperatures mean the garbage will be significantly smellier.

Advertising company trainee Louise Miller, 17, took a day off work to travel from her home in mid-Wales to attend the festival with two friends.



‘We bought a stupid looking two-berth pop-up tent from Argos and we all squashed up inside,’ she told the Daily Mail.

‘We never intended to abandon it but although it popped up really easily, it was impossible to get it to fit back in the bag properly. Everyone else was leaving their stuff behind so we did too.