Glastonbury waste cleaned up by Viridor (From Somerset County Gazette)

Glastonbury waste cleaned up by Viridor

4:05pm Wednesday 27th June 2007

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It's dirty work, but someone has to do it .. and it is a truly mammoth task!

Taunton-based Viridor Waste Management has been playing a key role in the running Glastonbury Festival, as the company responsible for handling all the liquid waste from the site.

Glastonbury toilets may be the stuff of legend, but it is quite a job to deal with the human waste from nearly 180,000 people.

There were more than three thousand toilets on the vast Glastonbury festival site and they were all emptied and cleaned regularly.

The effluent was pumped into a huge lagoon where staff from Viridor transfer it into 5,000 gallon tankers and transport it to sewage treatment works either at Avonmouth, Trowbridge or Glastonbury.

Viridor is one of two companies working to transport the liquid waste from the site. The company has six tankers based at Glastonbury and around 12 staff.

Paul Sellick, Viridor Depot Manager, said: "It is hard work but there's a real family spirit on site and the guys love it. They get to hear a lot of the music and soak up the atmosphere, so you don't find them complaining!"

Around 40 trips a day were made to move the waste off the site, with lorries running day and night.

Paul added: "We've been doing the job for the past two festivals and it's become a really slick operation.

"I'm sure the paying guests have little idea what goes on behind the scenes to keep the festival running - and perhaps that's the way it should be!"

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