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Fans attending Reading Festival have been politely reminded stuffing tents and sleeping bags down the campsite toilets is not a great idea.

Thames Water has revealed its engineers have found the items, as well as mobile phones, in the toilets after festivals of the past and says they clog up the company's machines.

The company urges people heading to the festival to consider the three Ps - poo, pee, and paper - that are the only things which should be put in the toilets.

"It's amazing to see what else people flush down there"

Andrew Glover, from Thames Water’s commercial operations team, said:"Festival loos are infamous for their pong, but it's amazing to see what else people flush down there each year.

"We've previously had to drag out tents, sleeping bags and foil blankets, along with smaller items like mobile phones, beer cans and clothes so they don't clog up our machines.

"We're therefore urging festival-goers to only put the three Ps down the loos - pee, poo and paper - and not to flush any other objects or rubbish down there."

Poo power

(Image: Berkshire Live)

The advice comes after the company revealed it will transform the waste collected from the three-day event into renewable energy.

Thames Water's teams will be removing thousands of litres of sewage from toilets on the site, which will be transported to Reading Sewage Works in Island Road.

Nine tankers capable of carrying 19,000 litres of sewage, will come and go from the site in Richfield Avenue between 6am and 10pm on five days around the festival.

Thames Water says more than 750,000 litres of human waste will be collected by its contractors the A1 Group.

Once it is collected, the sewage is then transformed into energy by extracting gas from another by-product called "sludge", which generates electricity for the plant in Reading, Berkshire.

Mr Glover added: “Reading Festival is one of the biggest events in our calendar, but we're raring to go.

"We'll be working 16 hours a day for five days, collecting and treating a total of 750,000 litres of sewage from the site's toilets."

The festival officially runs from Friday, August 23, to Sunday, August 25, but early birds had already started arriving on Wednesday, August 21.

Thousands of people are expected to arrive in the town on Thursday, August 22, for the huge annual event.

BerkshireLive will be covering the whole of the festival and live coverage can be found here.

You can find out more on where the festival drop off and pick up points are here .

We also have tips on how to survive the festival , where to get breakfast nearby , along with what you can take and which items are banned .

Don't forget to join BerkshireLive's Reading Festival Facebook group to stay up to date with the latest news, tips, and share your pictures.