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Glastonbury clean-up crew includes 2,500-strong team of volunteers
7th of July 2022
A major clean-up operation has been taking place to transform the site of Glastonbury Festival back into a Somerset dairy farm.
Around 200,000 people attended the iconic event for the first time in three years. And after the festival had ended, 2,500 volunteers moved into the 324-hectare site to clear up the mess.
A total of 15,000 bins had been provided at the festival's Worthy Farm location and each festival-goer was given a green bag for recyclables and a clear bag for general waste. But the volunteer clean-up army found the bins to be overflowing and the area littered with thousands of discarded items including paper cups, food containers, slippers, flip-flops and shopping bags.
They also had to clear away larger items such as camping chairs and blow-up mattresses. Charities involved in the clean-up included SOS Africa and Kidney Research UK.
"By far the most common items we find are inflatables," said Marc Shaw from Kidney Research UK. "This year's collection included a giraffe, paddling pool and a giant foam fish.
"But besides these novelty items we often find people's underwear as well. And this year we found someone fast asleep under a pile of what we hope was their own clothes."
Dr Matt Crowcombe from SOS Africa said volunteers had also found a grandfather clock near the Pyramid stage. And regular Glastonbury volunteer Sean Kelly said there had been a change in the nature of the rubbish since the last event was held in 2019.
"There's been a huge reduction in gas canisters this year," he said. "But there's been a lot of vape bars - and they are the only things you can't recycle."
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