A woman who attended Reading Festival has shared footage of the mess left behind by campers, saying it is "definitely not that hard to pick up your litter."
Izzy, one of thousands who stayed in the festival's camping grounds, posted a TikTok video showing herself walking through piles of rubbish. In the overlay text, she wrote: "It's definitely not that hard to pick up your litter."
Campsite covered in rubbish
The video showed a camping ground surrounded by tents of different colours and sizes, with green grass mostly covered by rubbish and litter. As Izzy walked through the campsite, she showed groups of people sitting in the middle of the rubbish while she avoided stepping on items.
She gestured at various items left behind, including camping chairs, inflatable mattresses, items of clothing, and drinks bottles. Bags of rubbish had also been left on the ground. In the caption, she added: "Grab some bin bags fr."
Viewers react and festival waste problem
Viewers shared their thoughts in the comments, with many as disgusted as Izzy. One person wrote: "People treat hospitality venues the same! Oh it's fine someone is paid to pick up our mess." Another simply said: "You tell them izzzz, you tell themm!!!!"
This is not the first time Reading Festival attendees have left a mess. The event generates hundreds of tonnes of waste each year, with abandoned tents and general litter a major environmental concern during post-event clean-ups. Recent festivals produced more than 700 tonnes of total waste, including roughly 71 tonnes of abandoned tents, according to the BBC.
Festival urges attendees to take tents home
Many attendees mistakenly believe leaving gear behind means it will automatically be packed up and donated to charity, though most ultimately end up discarded. To limit the amount of items left behind, the festival urged attendees to "take your tent home" or use designated on-site donation points, rather than leaving things in the fields.
