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Glastonbury set to be very hot with minimal mud and plastic


Glastonbury festival-goers were preparing for a weekend of soaring temperatures as gates opened, with the 49th edition of the event set to be dry, plastic free and potentially very, very hot.

There was also room for bizarre political satire as the viral anti-Brexit artists Cold War Steve and Led By Donkeys had collaborated on a billboard overlooking the entire festival site above the Park stage.

A Boris Johnson tweet from July 2017, reading “There’s no plan for no deal, because we’re going to get a great deal”, was placed next to Cold War Steve’s surreal photoshopped images of politicians, pop-culture figures and the EastEnders actor Steve McFadden.

Pockets of mud were the only remnants of a few miserable weeks of June weather, with temperatures reaching 20C on Wednesday and highs of 30C and above expected over the weekend.

“I’m afraid of mud, a lack of personal hygiene and bad toilets,” said Ilona, who had travelled from the Dutch city of Dordrecht with her children, Lucy and Charlie. She said coming to the festival was on her bucket list and she was glad the forecast meant mud was highly unlikely. “We were a bit worried about the weather,” said Lucy. “But it’s really hot in Holland now and it’s a lot better here.”

“We were hoping it wouldn’t be that hot. It’s perfect really,” said Ilona. “As long as it’s not going to rain and the famous mud stays away we’ll be happy.”

Lucy, 13, Charlie, 10, and their mother Ilona from Dordrecht in Holland.



Lucy, 13, Charlie, 10, and their mother Ilona from Dordrecht in Holland. Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian

JR, a rapper from Wapping, east London, who was attending Glastonbury for the first time, was shocked at the size of the site. “It’s amazing,” he said. “I got here on Monday and I’ve seen it all slowly coming to life. I met some people on the gate who were here in 1981 and said back then it was £12 to get in and there would be two hippies on the gate with a bit of rope that they’d lift up to let you in. The scale of it now is incredible.”

When tickets went on sale this year, 200,000 were bought in 36 minutes. The event wasn’t held in 2018 to allow the Worthy farm site to recover and two million people pre-registered to have the chance of buying a ticket at a cost of £248 for a standard package.

This year Glastonbury is pioneering a plastic-free system, which means no single-use plastic can be bought on site. The aim isto save on clean-up costs, with the removal of rubbish from the siteestimated at costing £785,000 and lasting six weeks. The last time the festival was held in 2017, visitors used 1.3m plastic bottles.

“A vast amount of plastic bottles were gotten through and when you see images of the arena completely covered in old plastic bottles it’s quite haunting,” said Emily Eavis, the festival’s co-organiser. “We are tackling drinking bottles at the moment, water bottles … and we are encouraging people to bring their own reusable bottle but there will also be reusable bottles available on site.”

A WaterAid refill station at Glastonbury festival in Somerset.



A WaterAid refill station at Glastonbury festival in Somerset. Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA

The festival has already banned food traders from using plastic cutlery and plates, insisting instead on compostable alternatives. Only paper straws are available on site, festival wristbands are made of cloth, and single-use plastic cups are not used in the bars.

Imi,17, an A-level student from Bridport in Dorset, who has been coming to the festival with her parents since she was six-years-old, was less optimistic about the forecast. “Bring wellies or boots, always,” she said. “Whatever the weather looks like, this is Glastonbury.”

After a dreary early British summer there were concerns prior to the festival that the weather could dampen spirits. But the forecast is for sun, a few showers and balmy heat – with potential highs of 31C on Friday.

Craig Snell, a Met Office forecaster, said that the festival is likely to be 90% rain free with some showers predicted by Sunday. “You might still need your wellies because of the rain that’s fallen earlier in the week but mostly it’s looking dry and sunny – especially on Friday,” he said.

Jonny Edmonton, a local from Glastonbury who has been to the festival 12 times, said he was expecting a wet edition. “I work locally and last week it didn’t stop raining. I feared the worst when I checked the forecast but it’s lovely now,” he said. “It’s very, very mundane here for the rest of the year, this is what I’ve been waiting for.”



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