THE beeping of reversing lorries and the chatter of officials in high-vis jackets were the sounds of Reading Festival on Monday morning, as 23 volunteers took part in a six-hour clean-up.
Across the site, helpers from Life's a Beach charity, were invited by festival organisers to aid in a tidy-up across the weekend.
Versace sunglasses, full tracksuits, socks, power banks and headphones were among the items cleaned up across camping areas, including White Campsite, where thousands of kilos of litter was collected.
Volunteers braved the mud and puddles, as they collected 1,413kg of recycling and waste material from the site on Monday.
Across the three four days, Life's a Beach recorded a 114kg litter collection on Friday, August 28, while there was 439kg of waste collected on the Saturday and a further 455kg collected on the Sunday, totalling 2,802kg across the weekend.
Once their shift finished, other staff and volunteers helped with the remainder of the clean up.
Charity administrator Caitlin Keeble, who took part in the clean-up, said: "There were tents and camping chairs and some of the stuff was brand new.
"We were finding loads of clothes and full tracksuits, and then the normal stuff like beer cans.
"We have a feeling that because the rain was so heavy, a lot of people left stuff they didn't want to take home because it was so wet."
Of the waste collected on site on the Friday, 59kg of the rubbish could be recycled, while 55kg was collected for general waste.
On Saturday, 215kg of waste could be recycled, with a further 223kg sent for general waste, while Sunday saw 216kg of recycling and 239kg of waste.
Caitlin said the Sophie Chappell, manager of Life's a Beach, emailed Festival Republic, having attended in 2025 and been shocked by the aftermath.
Caitlin said: "We were in there for six hours but it was nowhere near done and staff had to go in afterwards and finish.
"Some of the tents we found were damaged but a lot of them were fine and could have easily been fixed.
"There weren't as many vapes as we thought there would be. There were a lot of cans and bottles, rain ponchos and wet wipes, that was probably the biggest one.
"Some of the tents and camping equipment left behind looked quite expensive."
Volunteers were equipped with litter pickers, gloves, bags to separate waste and blue high-vis jackets.
Caitlin praised the other volunteers who helped, adding that they'd been keen to help with the operation next year, adding that it was always a 'hard issue' to tackle.
She told The Chronicle: "Festival Republic has a lot of great initiatives to tackle it.
"They had the 'Look Out for Our Planet' campaign, which was all about recycling and encouraging people to clean up and take it home, which was consistent across the festival.
"There is a lot of work being done."
Caitlin said there could be a 'misconception' for festival goers about what happens to their waste.
She added: "Some of them might think, 'I'll leave my tent, it will get collected by a charity', but I don't think people realise how much of that is going to get thrown away."
Life’s A Beach Volunteers were in addition to the 145 paid cleaning and litter picking staff who were working at the Festival all weekend.
Life’s a Beach were an integral part of the festival’s Green Team, who were in the campsites all weekend engaging with festival goers to keep their camps tidy and leave nothing behind, as part of Reading Festival's Look Out For Our Planet campaign.
Festival goers were incentivised to do this with prizes such as merch, a side of stage experience and tickets for next year up for grabs.
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