r/Wellthatsucks 9h ago

Reading festival 2026

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u/After-Barracuda-9689 7h ago

I used to go to festivals in the early 2000s and never experienced anything like this. Maybe it was the festivals I was attending, but everyone packed their stuff out. I’m sure there were some thing left behind, but nothing like this scale.

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u/Glittering_End_6864 6h ago

Yeah, this is crazy. I have never seen a festival with this much garbage left on the ground like this.

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u/BarbaraBeans 6h ago

I'm just talking out my ass here but this seems like TikTok/IG behavior. People who go to festivals to snap a few pics for social media.

I go to a few different music fests and there is absolutely no littering occurring at all.

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u/SecondaryWombat 5h ago

Leave No Trace festivals are the norm for me, some smashed grass and a couple tire ruts are all that get left behind.

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u/SymbolUnderTheCaret 2h ago

same here

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u/SecondaryWombat 2h ago

Even the idea of seeing that level of trash at a festival is like looking out my window and seeing an alien spacecraft in my yard.

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u/SymbolUnderTheCaret 2h ago

yep. last event I went to, there was a large tent peg that had got stuck in a tree root. Someone spent hours struggling with it rather than leave it behind.

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u/SecondaryWombat 1h ago

Exactly. Was at a festival where a woman's bead dress exploded. She just shrugged and walked off. About 10 of us spent a while picking it all up, and then we tracked her down and put it in her trash along with a lecture to her and her camp. We don't do that here....

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u/justme002 5h ago

In 1969, cleanup after Woodstock required $50,000 and buldozers.

Edit: in today's money that's in excess of $450,000

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u/NZRedditUser 5h ago

Maybe you left early or yea was the size of event. Overnight events where tents are common you cant have a clean place cause at night people just chuck shit around, and whe people see mess it adds up

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u/After-Barracuda-9689 4h ago

Yeah, I think it was the festivals I attended. I no longer enjoy that kind of thing, but I wouldn’t be shocked if those same festivals are still nothing like this.

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u/Aksi_Gu 4h ago

Yeah I was at reading in 2003 and it looked like this.

Maybe not on the scale, but there's always been shitheads

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u/StinkyWeezle 4h ago

You couldn't pick up a new tent for 10% of the ticket price back then.

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u/Appropriate-Falcon75 3h ago

We (as a society) have brought up our youngsters to believe that individuals matter more than society and everything is disposable.

If 90% of people only plan on using something once, producing something that is high quality and last for years is pointless as it just adds cost.

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u/gsfgf 3h ago

Same. And well run festivals like Bonnaroo have trash collection procedures that work. Trash bags are handed out constantly, and there are designated trash disposal locations that people actually use.

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u/somajones 3h ago

I was at Woodstock (the original one in '94, not the one with the rapes and the fires in '99) and though it wasn't this bad there were still plenty of sleeping bags, pads and tents left behind.

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u/After-Barracuda-9689 2h ago

The original one was in 69 my friend. But I remember the one in 94.

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u/somajones 2h ago

It was a joke that apparently only amuses me.