Leeds festival revellers leave behind ‘utterly appalling’ piles of rubbish and hundreds of abandoned tents that are only fit for the bin
- The huge amount of detritus left behind was branded ‘apocalyptic’ by some
Festival-goers who abandoned their tents and rubbish leaving ‘apocalyptic scenes’ after Leeds Festival have been blasted as ‘utterly appalling’ by those tasked with the clean-up.
Jack Lowe entered the site to salvage tents for a refugee charity and said he had never seen litter on such an enormous scale with many tents abandoned and slashed rendering them useless for reuse.
Posting a horrifying video of rubbish littering once serene Bramham Park outside the city, he Tweeted: ‘It’s going to take us a while to digest what we saw when we went to help salvage tents and equipment for a refugee charity at the end of Leeds Festival yesterday.
‘This is just a fraction of it – littering on the grandest scale we’ve ever witnessed. Utterly appalling.’
One follower simply replied ‘Unbelievable’ to which Jack responded: ‘Literally that, George. We were truly overwhelmed.
Rubbish and discarded tents cover the landscape at Leeds Festival following the three day festival
Some tents had been slashed and abandoned following the festivities
The huge surplus of mess left behind led to some to blast the revellers as ‘utterly appalling’
In a video clip, Mr Lowe showed how hundreds of tents had just been abandoned at the site
In the rush to get home many revellers had decided to leave everything they came with
‘The sheer scale is hard to convey or comprehend. Even after being there for a few hours, we were still aghast as we drove away.’
Jack is one of a team who go onto the festival site after revellers have left to try and bag any unbroken tents.
They are given to refugees in France for shelter.
But Jack said he saw many of the left-behind tents had been slashed – meaning they are only fit for the bin.
The festival, which ended on Sunday, attracted around 90,000 festivalgoers and featured acts including Billie Eilish, The Killers, Foals, Sam Fender and Lewis Capaldi.
‘Surely the organisers conduct a clean up operation after the event, the cost if which will be included in ticket prices of those who attended,’ one responder asked.
But Jack replied: ‘The financial cost maybe, but not the cost to the planet.’
It is likely that the full clan up operation for the festival will take days
Thousands of pieces of litter has been discarded across the site
Before they left, festivalgoers were pictured enjoying the music and a few drinks at the Leeds Festival
The sun was only out for portions of the weekend with revellers battling the elements throughout
Many festival-goers were forced to wear panchos during periods of heavy downpour in Leeds
Festival Republic’s Managing Director Melvin Benn had previously said that the organiser’s factor in people leaving their tents into their clean up.
He said: ‘We work really hard on making sure that people recycle and take their belongings home with them.
‘Most people do, some people don’t. Some people are untidy and we have to tidy up after them.’
Yesterday there were similar scenes at Reading Festival where 105,000 people had spent the weekend.
Aerial shots showed the huge extent of the litter left behind by music fans following the culmination of the three-day festival.
A mass clean-up of the site was initiated as campers packed up their bags and set off for the home comforts of a warm shower and a proper toilet.
Reading Festival fans leave the site early on an overcast Bank Holiday Monday morning
Discarded tents and piles of rubbish spanned the landscape of Little John’s Farm as thousands of revellers waved goodbye to Reading Festival for another year