
It’s everywhere.
The massive clean-up operation for the equally massive Glastonbury music festival began in earnest on July first. Dozens of volunteers converged on the site to clean up and dispose of the many tons of waste abandoned by weary partiers who couldn’t be bothered to locate a trash can.
The final night of the festival featured US R&B legend SZA headlining on the iconic Pyramid Stage. She made her entrance on an high podium an was lowered down onto a stage decorated with a large insect and an array of elaborate pillars, where she preformed her version of the ballad entitled “Drew Barrymore.” Just a couple hours after the set wrapped, festival attendees were observed leaving the site while leaving piles of garbage behind them. Clothing items, empty containers that once housed food and drink, and all manner of other trash were strewn across the ground and spilling out of the massive waste receptacles in the area of the Pyramid Stage.
The Worth Farm in Somerset played host to the massive festival which attracted around two hundred thousand revelers. Attendees were admonished to tidy their campsites and take all their belongings with them when they departed, but the request went unheeded. Canisters of propane, white powders of a suspicious-looking nature, and a veritable forest of tents were among the mass of possessions abandoned by revelers, leaving volunteers to tackle the massive mess on the morning after.
It’s not all rot and ruin for the volunteers, though. Those who clean up after their fellow music enthusiasts receive the right of early arrival, a separate camping area, and two free meals for each day of volunteer labor. They also get access to luxuries not normally available at the festival, such as flush toilets and showers, reserved car parking, cheap drinks, and a full refund of their deposit should they successfully complete all their volunteer hours.
However, volunteers who shirk their agreed-upon duty schedule will find themselves barred from future volunteer work and the perks it brings.