The Reading Festival organisers have been grilled as tonnes of waste and tents are left behind each year.
The festival on the bank holiday weekend attracts tens of thousands of revellers to Richfield Avenue.
The event takes place with the blessing of Reading Borough councillors, who receive a report each year giving them an opportunity to scrutinise the organisers.
Festival Republic has touted figures showing a reduction in the amount of waste left from the previous year.
702.1 tonnes of waste was produced in 2024, down from the 780.4 tonnes produced in 2023.
Readers can subscribe for just £4 for 4 months in this flash sale
Of that, 71.22 tonnes of tents were left last year, making up approximately 10 per cent of the waste.
The amount of tens left was down on 2023, when 80.12 tonnes worth of tents remained when the event was over.
These figures were revealed at a recent council meeting.
Commenting on them, Jan Gavin (Labour, Caversham) said: "It's really heartening to see the improvements in the sustainability elements of the festival.
"Although I see that there is a reduction in the tonnage of tents that are wasted, I have no idea of what percentage of festival goers are taking their homes home.
"Does that tonnage only represent five per cent, or does it 75 per cent?
"And certainly the drone pictures which I'm sure we all saw after the festival, because there are plenty of people who want to put those up and tell us how dreadful it all is....It seemed to me that there was a vast number of tents left, as there is year after year."
Aerial images show Reading Festival before and after event
She then asked for an estimate of the number of people thought to be responsible for leaving behind their tents.
Cllr Gavin said: "Until you win the hearts and minds of festival-goers then that element of sustainability is going to be extremely hard to prove."
Sharing an anecdote cllr Rachel Eden (Labour, Whitley) said: "I could definitely tell the difference between what was then called the Eco Camp and the mainstream camp.
"You would not have known that there had been an Eco Camp there aside from the flattened grass versus the rest of it."
Prada bag, cash and a retainer among random items found at Reading Festival
Councillors pushed the organisers to encourage festival-goers to be more responsible.
Cllr Adele Barnett-Ward (Labour, Caversham) added: "One of the most pernicious misconceptions is that if you leave your tent, it will be donated, reused, it will go to a homeless person.
"As the last major festival of the season, you see people telling each other that."
Salvage teams made up of 195 people salvaged 6.2 tonnes of waste.
⭐Subscribe to the Reading Chronicle and save 40% off an annual subscription. Enjoy access to our ad-free mobile and tablet app, as well as the digital edition of the paper. Don’t miss out – subscribe now! ⬇️https://t.co/o5rs6Kl5ns
— Reading Chronicle (@rdgchronicle) March 18, 2025
A representative said it would be 'difficult to count' the number of people leaving their tents behind with tracking being a time consuming process.
She said: "The message is front and foremost 'take your tent home!'
"I'm well aware of the issue with seeing that misconception that people think that if they leave it behind it will be magically picked up.
"We do really work hard to say you have to physically rake it home with you, or hand it in to our donation points."
The debrief was given at a housing, neighbourhoods and leisure committee meeting on March 11.
Share