THE mammoth clean up effort in the wake of Glastonbury 2017 has begun.

More than 1,000 volunteers have been left with the job of cleaning up after the music festival, binning tonnes of rubbish and salvaging as much as possible to recycle in its aftermath.

44 Monday morning reveals the huge amounts of rubbish left on-site at Glastonbury Festival Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

44 People had to leave the festival by 6pm , having seen musicians including Ed Sheeran and Dizzee Rascal perform Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

44 A festival-goer lies down amid waste left on a meadow as people leave after the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, near Pilton Credit: EPA

44 Litter pickers begin the job of clearing the fields at the Glastonbury Festival site at Worthy Farm in Pilton Credit: Getty Images

The clean up, which costs about £785,000 and is expected to last six weeks, began as 200,000 festival-goers head home.

Despite organisers urging festival-goers to take their rubbish with them, and to try to leave "zero waste", photographs after the event show the field strewn with rubbish.

Abandoned tents, camping chairs and even wellington boots can be seen left behind in the wake of the festival, which offered a stellar line up of artists including Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Ed Sheeran and Katy Perry this year.

44 The site was left strewn with rubbish, including tents left behind. Some tents will be donated to charity Credit: PA:Press Association

44 A pile of abandoned camping chairs Credit: Getty Images

44 Stewards sleep after their shift as festival-goers prepare to leave the Glastonbury Festival site Credit: Getty Images

44 Festival-goers were warned to limit what they brought with them, and to clean up after themselves Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

44 Two women stand on the field, surrounded by rubbish, as the festival draws to a close Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

44 Laughing gas canisters and rubbish left following the Glastonbury Festival Credit: PA:Press Association

The festival tried to encourage attendees to take their tent home with them, saying: "A tent is for life not just for a festival."

But many of the tents have still been left behind, with some to be donated to charities while the rest will be dumped in a landfill.

One image of the aftermath of the festival shows a broken pair of glasses, and old cups surrounded by laughing gas canisters left behind from the raucous festival.

Other photographs show rubbish spilling out of bins, with birds soaring overhead.

But not everyone tried to put their litter in the bins, with the field in front of the Pyramid stage covered in huge amounts of waste.

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More than 1,300 volunteers have poured into the site to clean up the rubbish, with 1,200 of them working off their ticket.

They have a big job ahead of them, if statistics from previous years is anything to go by.

In 2014, festival organisers managed to recycle half of the waste left behind, including recycling 114 tonnes of composted organic waste, 400 tonnes of chipped wood, 23 tonnes of glass, 85 tonnes of cans and plastic bottles, 41 tonnes of cardboard, 162 tonnes of scrap metal, 11.2 tonnes of clothing, tents, sleeping bags, 0.264 tonnes of batteries, 3 tonnes of dense plastic.

44 More than 1,000 volunteers cleaned up the aftermath of the festival, which had attracted hundreds of thousands of music lovers Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

44 A couple can be seen sitting on the ground as a truck full of rubbish from the festival drives past Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

44 A tired festival-goer lays on the grass, getting some shut eye before heading home Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

44 A man rests his eyes in a camping chair in the aftermath of the festival Credit: Getty Images

44 A person picks their way through the rubbish as they walk past a pile of camping chairs Credit: Getty Images

44 Festival-goers begin the long trudge back to their cars to return home from Glastonbury Credit: Getty Images

44 A person gets 40 winks between some tents Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

Other measures organisers took was to introduce compost loos, with 1,200 brought into the festival.

Products sold to festival-goers also avoided plastic bags in an attempt to limit the impact on the environment.

Organisers have asked attendees to take their tents with them, with posters around the venue reading: "Love the farm, leave no trace" and an emphasis on recycling throughout.

The 514 food vendors on-site had only been allowed to provide compostable plates, cups and cutlery, while glass was banned across the festival.

Tractors carrying magnetic strips worked to clear the rubbish across the fields while workers will also carry out a fingertip search to make sure no inch of the land goes unchecked.

But the damage done to the site of the festival - which takes place on Worthy Farm, a working dairy farm in Pilton, Somerset - has meant there will be no event next year, with it hoped the year off will allow the site to recover from the thousands of people tramping across it.

44 Birds swarm around the rubbish left behind from the festival Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

44 Two people walk through the grass, covered in litter, with Glastonbury organisers having vowed they would recycle half the waste generated by the festival Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

44 Festival-goers were urged to take home their camping equipment, including their tents Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

44 Festival-goers leave after a jam-packed event Credit: Getty Images

44 It costs £780,000 to dispose of the rubbish left at the Festival grounds - with organisers warning that it meant the money would not reach charities like Oxfam Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

The organisers said they were giving "the farm, the village and the festival team the traditional year off".

Determined not to let Glasto’s thousands of yearly revellers down, organiser Michael Eavis had hoped to move the festival to a different site in 2018.

He had planned to host the musical extravaganza at the Longleat Estate, in Wiltshire, but the plans fell through.

There are no plans to hold future Glastonbury festivals anywhere other than at Worthy Farm.

But he is already looking towards the event's 50th anniversary, which will take place in 2020.

He said: "We're already booking acts for that one.

"Half a century. It's an incredible feat, actually. We've been through so many struggles to get here."

As you pack up, please remember to... pic.twitter.com/8nJ9DX7wEt — Glastonbury Festival (@glastonbury) June 26, 2017

44 Partygoers leave the site at Glastonbury Festival after the weekend Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

44 The festival pushed its motto of 'reduce, reuse and recycle' Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

44 A suspicious-looking plastic bag among the rubbish left in the wake of the festival Credit: PA:Press Association

44 An estimated 5,000 tents were abandoned after the festival at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

44 A brightly-dressed festival-goer walks through the rubbish-strewn field Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

44 People had attempted to put their rubbish in bins, which were quick to overflow Credit: Getty Images

44 The clean up is expected to take about three weeks Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

The last year break from Glasto was back in 2012 but the festival will resume as normal in 2019.

There’s no word yet on which artists will be headlining the 2019 festival but an announcement will be made closer to the time.

But ravers had made the most of the 2017 event, going wild for performers including Johnny Depp.

Several people appeared to be taking laughing gas as they sucked from brightly-coloured balloons as the sun rose on the first day of Britain's biggest music festival.

Famous faces even appeared during the festival, including Brad Pitt.

44 The big clean up near the Pyramid Stage that saw musicians perform to screaming crowds Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

44 Two festival-goers sit on the grass, observing the massive amounts of rubbish left behind from the 2017 Glastonbury festival Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

44 More than 1,000 volunteers are tackling the huge job of cleaning up after Glastonbury Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

44 Rubbish can be seen spilling out of bins, with volunteers doing their best to clean up and recycle Credit: PA:Press Association

44 Rubbish is collected, with tonnes of plastic and glass collected Credit: PA:Press Association

The event has been the most political in its history, with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn addressing tens of thousands of revellers from the iconic main Pyramid Stage and giving a talk at the Left Field tent.

Artists, revellers and festival organisers have spoken in support of the Islington North MP – with the chant "Oh, Jeremy Corbyn" to the tune of the White Stripes' Seven Nation Army becoming the unofficial anthem of the festival.

With the party officially over, campers now have until 6pm tonight to leave the 900-acre site, while crew and stall holders are given a week to clear the property.

44 Three women leave the site, taking their possessions with them to help limit the waste left behind Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

44 Festival-goers pick their way through the field, which had attracted more than 177,000 attendees Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

44 Organisers had encouraged attendees to think about leaving behind zero waste Credit: Getty Images

44 Many of the volunteers who clean up after the festival work for their ticket Credit: Getty Images

44 Camp chairs left behind from the festival - with tonnes of belongings left behind ultimately recycled Credit: Reuters

44 The festival has introduced hybrid generators in an attempt to better power the music event Credit: Reuters

44 In 2014, the festival recycled 114 tonnes of composed organic waste and 23 tonnes of glass Credit: Reuters

44 The money that volunteers would be paid for cleaning up after the festival is instead donated to charity Credit: Reuters

44 Well worn wellington boots were left behind after the festival came to a close Credit: PA:Press Association