elvis15 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 http://metronews.ca/news/vancouver/1433135/the-morning-after-clean-up-efforts-underway-after-pemberton-music-festival/ The Pemberton Music Festival might be over but massive clean-up efforts have only just started for the event’s organizers. Before headliner Kendrick Lamar had even finished his late-night set Sunday, an estimated 200 volunteers and 50 sanitation workers already started the four-day process of picking up the tens of thousands of plastic bottles, discarded food wrappers, lost shoes, abandoned tents— even an inflatable raft— that more than 115,000 festivalgoers left in their wake during the weekend music event. The goal? To leave the pastoral farmlands of the Pemberton Valley so pristine it appeared as if the music and comedy event had never happened. Volunteer Wala Chebbi from France, who was among the volunteers picking up litter in the early morning hours Monday, said the sheer amount of garbage scattered across the festival site was overwhelming. “Honestly, this has been the third day for me and every day I’m just so shocked that people throw things away like this,” she told Metro. “It’s like, people pay to come to festivals and they don’t care about what happens after.” In exchange for volunteering, Chebbi received a free ticket to the music festival. She said she worked daily four-hour shifts cleaning up litter. Part of her volunteer role included educating festivalgoers on how to dispose of garbage, compost and recycling. Still, Chebbi said she witnessed many festivalgoers leave bottles and food wrappers on the grass. “I’m kind of shocked. Me, if I go to a festival, I have one bottle and I keep it with me,” she said. “I just think it’s important to clean up after. It needs to be done.” The mess didn’t go unnoticed by campers, including Keith Harasymiw, who posted a photo on Facebook of the mess taken the morning after the festival, where it has since been shared more than 8,000 times. Fergal Barrett and Daragh Herron from Ireland were among a group of about 50 sanitation workers, dubbed the “Clean Vibes” team, hired by festival organizers to handle garbage and recycling throughout the festival. The pair said they began their 10-day stint last Tuesday before the festival. Working 10-hour shifts every day, they expect to be finished with the clean up by Thursday. “It is insane, absolutely insane. The bags are overflowing every night. It’s kind of hard to keep on top of things,” said Herron, adding with a smile: “But you know, we’re the dream team. Clean vibes, hey?” Barrett added that he had worked from 5:30 p.m. Saturday until 7:30 a.m. Sunday trying to tackle the massive amount of garbage. “Just rubbish everywhere,” he said. “But someone’s got to do it.” It's insane that people are so irresponsible. I can understand some little, but coolers, tents, chairs and everything. Bring out what you bring in. And how simple would it be to have a refillable bottle that you reuse throughout the weekend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devoted Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Yeah its not pretty, but fairly typical post-fest carnage. They have great clean up crews who partied for free all weekend in exchange for their hungover elbow-grease. Bonus! Free camping gear all over the place! Edit* I'll definitely agree with the waste of plastic.. that is never cool. But leaving behind expensive gear for the sake of your haggard body is very prevalent in the testing world. I myself scored a nice camping stove after Pemby last year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thejazz97 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Some people... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johngould21 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 What a bunch of pigs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken kaniff Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 the garbage cans were almost always full so im not surprised people didnt clean up their stuff. me and my friends just put all our trash in garbage bags and left it at our campsite cuz there was literally no place to put it anywhere else. as for keeping ONE refillable water. try waiting in the lines there for the water stations in the heat when youre already super dehydrated. they need more water stations. i agree this is disgusting that its that messy but there needs to be more systems and processes in place so the lazy people just dont leave their sh!t everywhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMapleLaughs Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Dibs on the chair/tent/cooler combo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etsen3 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 It's insane that people are so irresponsible. I can understand some little, but coolers, tents, chairs and everything. Bring out what you bring in. And how simple would it be to have a refillable bottle that you reuse throughout the weekend? Perhaps some context is required before people who were not there judge. First of all there were not nearly enough water stations, having a large supply of water is essential with 40 degree temperatures and lots of physical activity. Secondly, the campsites were nearly an hour walk away (minimum, if there was no lineup) from the parking areas. Maybe it would have been smarter for people to pack light, but you can see why hungover, exhausted people wouldn't want to carry all this heavy gear for an hour through, again, 40 degree temperatures. There were also hardly any garbage cans and what was there would have overflowed within 10 minutes with thousands of people throwing things away at once. We didn't leave anything behind, but I can see why so many did and I bet some of those that are so angry about it would have done the same in those conditions. I think people would have prepared better if they had known they would have to hike over bark mulch in extreme heat, carrying everything by hand because carts barely worked over the terrain. I agree that the amount of garbage is disgusting, but the organizers planned for this, and the cost of cleanup was included in the ticket price. No different than paying taxes to have the garbage man take your stuff to the landfill every week. As long as it gets done in the end, no harm done. On a slightly related note, how incredible was Kendrick Lamar at the end? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-AJ- Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 as for keeping ONE refillable water. try waiting in the lines there for the water stations in the heat when youre already super dehydrated. they need more water stations. Personally, I prefer large water bottles and if necessary bring at least two. That can hold you over much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tortorella's Rant Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Not really surprised. Even if adequate garbage disposal was provided. People sometimes don't respect the host's property at his/her house party. I used to see people making a mess all the time and not even giving a shat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken kaniff Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Kendrick was insane. He killed it. I met the guy who got his shoes after at a chicken fight. Such a lucky guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KFBR392 Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 It's amazing how many people in this day and age still feel ok about throwing their garbage on the ground. Granted, it does sound like the event had some disposal issues - and I'm sure many of the patrons did things they wouldn't normally do. But you see this type of stuff on smaller scales all over the place. I recently saw somebody throw a full McDonald's bag full of McDonald's garbage out their car window into the middle of the street. Like.. what makes anyone think that's acceptable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swedish elite3 Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Instead of attending this festival I was at the Armstrong Metalfest with about 800-1000 people considerably smaller but the grounds were neat when we left them them we piled our garbage up or in trash bags and left them in a pile by our sites.. sickens me to see such a nice area littered with crap... I realize most people probably cleaned up there stuff but still sickening to see the valley a dump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down by the River Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 People who don't grow up in nature, whether it be hiking up a mountain, swimming in a lake, river, ocean, or just walking in a park, don't learn the importance of treating their environment with respect. I'm not a "the Earth is mother Gaia and has feeling and blah blah blah", but I definitely believe that the people who litter are: (1) people whose parents didn't take the time to take them on outings, or (2) people who didn't grow up in areas where they had opportunities for outdoor activities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsedin33 Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 What a cesspool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diesel_3 Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Definitely some young woman's pride and dignity strewn about it that rubbish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Realtor Rod Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Ah, the good ole days... how can anyone be surprised by this? It's been happening since Woodstock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elvis15 Posted July 22, 2015 Author Share Posted July 22, 2015 Instead of attending this festival I was at the Armstrong Metalfest with about 800-1000 people considerably smaller but the grounds were neat when we left them them we piled our garbage up or in trash bags and left them in a pile by our sites.. sickens me to see such a nice area littered with crap... I realize most people probably cleaned up there stuff but still sickening to see the valley a dump Yup, even if there were issues with trash not being emptied fast enough or too few water stations, you should plan on bringing items that cause less waste as well as having your own source of water to refill from during the weekend. Using the provided options is great but a little planning goes a long way. I understand there will be some issues, but it should never approach this scale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grapefruits Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 It's typical. Lots of people are just pigs. It's no different than campers. I grew up in the woods so to speak. I was told you always take out more than you create. Basically you leave the place in better condition than when you got there. Lots of camp sites ended up trashed from people who didn't care and now a lot of them are shut down. Pick up your crap people or the festivals will become a black eye and they will stop coming here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nucklehead Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 250 people 4 days? That's the unbelievable part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etsen3 Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Yup, even if there were issues with trash not being emptied fast enough or too few water stations, you should plan on bringing items that cause less waste as well as having your own source of water to refill from during the weekend. Using the provided options is great but a little planning goes a long way. I understand there will be some issues, but it should never approach this scale. Is that meme really about cleaning up garbage? Or feeling superior because you happen to like a particular genre of music? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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