I thought the younger generation cared about the planet?

It's the norm at any festival and has been for years. Just too much trouble to dismantle tents and take them away for further use and clear up their mess. It's the oh someone else will clear it up after all we have paid to camp here attitude.

My son had to get rid of his tent after a festival last weekend because the zips were beyond repair. He had used it for several festivals and camping before it gave up the ghost. It was packed away in its little bag and disposed of in our dustbin. Not all young people are like the ones who abandoned their stuff. He was more upset that at each festival he has been to, including this one, his chair has been stolen. Apparently there are gangs of people who go round stealing chairs as they are in hot demand.

As someone who used to do these rallies. Up until covid on my personal experience it was the young generation that left them behind. I used to be shocked on some really expensive stuff that got left.a lot of it is just pure lazy because they can’t be bothered.Us older folk tend to have more sense when it comes to money a lot of young generation tend to think it’s easy replaceable. But at least a lot of the stuff went to help the homeless so not all bad I guess.

Teacheranne, I think you're right. The festival goers are being misled into thinking they are doing good by leaving camping gear behind. So perhaps it's time for the organisers to make this clear and insist all tents are at least packed away and then maybe dropped off somewhere, rather than just abandoning them in situ.

I'm not sure it is right to assume that the young people who attended the Reading Festival represent all young people. It is not everybody's idea of fun to camp in a field with only very basic amenities.

On the face of it, it does look pretty appalling, but unless there are lots of facilities, like maybe skips, to dump large items like unused tents and plenty of large bins for general waste, I suppose it is unlikely people will take rubbish with them unless they have a car.

Roddi3363

I have lived near Reading for 30 years. This year's waste was no different to any other year except this year we had 100,000 'guests' rather than the usual 60-80,000. Young people do care but they also need to let off steam. The festival organisers need to be held responsible for providing adequate waste collection on site too as I am reliably informed that this is inadequate.

but there shouldn't be the waste! Shouldn't we be trying to avoid single use ANYTHING....you don't need to buy single use plastics or to set fire to stuff or smear faeces around to let off steam

I have lived near Reading for 30 years. This year's waste was no different to any other year except this year we had 100,000 'guests' rather than the usual 60-80,000. Young people do care but they also need to let off steam. The festival organisers need to be held responsible for providing adequate waste collection on site too as I am reliably informed that this is inadequate.

I’ve done many Xmas day dinners for a lot of religious denominations. The only one I found who didn’t preach in any way was the Quakers.

grannypiper

My son used to go to the Download festival, every year he came home with a better tent, chair, sleeping bag an cool bags than what he went with ( he brought his old things back too) The last year he went, he arranged for my Husband to pick him up in one of his work trucks. DS had bought a stack of tents, chairs and coolbags. He stored them in my husbands yard during the winter and come the summer he sold "festival packs" made up from the bargains he had bought the year before. He made enough to travel Europe for 6 months.

My kids will be upset that someone might be cashing in on the stuff they leave believing it will go to the homeless. How sad.

Smileless2012

I couldn't believe it when I saw the pictures. There were so many tents I thought everyone was still there.

Hasn't it become a "thing" over recent years that people leave camping gear behind so that it can go to the homeless. I know my kids used to buy cheap camping gear and bring it home and give it to charity shops or sometimes just leave it in a cupboard. The last couple of times they went they left their gear because they thought it was a good cause.

You can't win really.

Obviously litter is a different matter, no excuse for that but I do wonder if there are enough waste collection bins. I know at my local beach there aren't enough bins and at busy times there is litter. I had a day out to another seaside town with lots of bins and very little litter, in fact I don't think we saw any. So I think the organisers also have a responsibility.

They should be prosecuted for fly tipping.
I imagine the organisers know they are,it`s a disgrace.
I believe the majority are over 30 years of age.

Oops, wrong thread I think - Mods please move, thank you!

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

After doing my supermarket shop this morning, I stopped to put my empty bottles in the bottle bank. Our council don’t collect glass, don’t ask me why. The bins were full to overflowing before I shopped, but had been emptied by the time I finished.

I spent several minutes picking up heaps of discarded bottles kicking about on the ground. It infuriates me, if the bins are full, I take mine home with me until next time. How people can just dump them really annoys me.

Shoeboxes are such a good idea, but I think we all need to be responsible for who we donate to. Maybe some will like the Operation Christian Child ethic, but we all need to be aware of it.

Yes shoeboxes for some charities are good, our primary schools all quietly stopped the Christmas child one some years ago because of the concerns about the organisation.

Alegrias1

Operation Christmas Child are allied with Franklin Graham's evangelical Christian "church" and does more harm than good. Its not the young who are ruining the world.

www.secularism.org.uk/opinion/2019/09/operation-christmas-child-does-its-charity-benefit-the-public

Blimey Alegrias1 everyday is a school day on GN.

We have done many shoeboxes over the years with our now AC (scouts and Brownies etc.) and some of the GC have also done them.

Operation Christmas Child are allied with Franklin Graham's evangelical Christian "church" and does more harm than good. Its not the young who are ruining the world.

www.secularism.org.uk/opinion/2019/09/operation-christmas-child-does-its-charity-benefit-the-public

Here’s one that made us ?. A niece from abroad started at a boarding school with a substantial intake of Chinese pupils.

One of those had ordered via Amazon (before her arrival) so many cases of bottled water - literally dozens - they were blocking the entrance to her school house.

She had apparently been firmly convinced that tap water made your hair fall out. Though to be entirely fair, maybe the domestic water supply in her home area of China was polluted to some extent.
It had to be equally firmly explained to her that tap water here was safe, and that any such future deliveries would not be accepted.

Same niece (6th form student) told me that girls in her house would heedlessly put a washing machine on, and subsequently the tumble dryer, to wash just one item they intended to wear later.
Though I do seem to recall a TV ad for detergent - years ago now - that showed a teenage boy doing precisely this! Presumably they wouldn’t even think of such an ad now.

GG too much of everything in our consumer wasteful society. You should have seen all the presis gd had for her birthday. Soon I will be packing up a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child and reflecting how much happiness it will bring to a child who has nothing.

It all takes me back to the 1960's. Masses of litter after Woodstock. Mass protests on pollution. Now it's the grandchildren running amok...

Hetty58 we all have a responsibility to do our bit for the planet, it’s not so much the littering it is the throwaway mentality of Festival goers. Only a small percentage of tents, sleeping bags and other camping equipment can be cleaned and reused.

When you see pictures of the detritus left behind at festivals on the news and the next item is Extinction Rebellion blocking roads, defacing buildings and monuments along with breaking glass windows/entry doors of JP Morgan all in London this week, what is happening to people’s mindset?

The festival is a bad example really. People are employed to clean it up, after all. Litter left everywhere else is a real problem.

I was trying to point out that caring about the planet involves a whole lot more than not littering. We've left a terrible mess and looming disaster for future generations, though, haven't we?

why should they when we obviously don’t?

Hopefully, many young people won’t take this stance. I’m sure there’s many with the good sense to behave properly.

GrannyGravy13:

'I thought the younger generation cared about the planet?'

Why should they when we so obviously don't? They're just following our brilliant example - aren't they?

(Not you, of course, if you're vegan, don't drive, never holiday abroad - or consume imported, out of season food.)