What happens to abandoned tents and camping gear left behind after Glastonbury Festival

Glastonbury always delivers on a huge line-up, and this year was no different.

Those lucky enough to get tickets for the legendary festival were treated to a plethora of incredible acts this past weekend, including Coldplay, SZA, Dua Lipa, Shania Twain, Cyndi Lauper, The Streets and Avril Lavigne.

Some festival goers even managed to catch the England v Slovakia match courtesy of One Direction star Louis Tomlinson, who brought a massive flat screen TV with him.

But with the party coming to an end last night, Glasto's 210,000-strong crowd is currently trying to make their way out of Worthy Farm to start the long journey home.

In a perfect world, as festival goers prepare to leave the site, they'd pack up all their belongings and take them with them.

And Glastonbury asks everyone who goes to the festival to 'Love Worthy Farm, Leave No Trace.'

"Please do your bit when you leave, take all your camping gear home and put all your rubbish in the bin bags provided by your campsite stewards," the website reads.

"Even just five minutes of effort from each person at the Festival would make a HUGE difference."

Sadly, though, this never quite goes according to plan, and every year, photos show deserted campsites filled with empty cans, paper cups, plastic bags and tents.

So what happens to the tents that get left behind?

Glastonbury asks festival goers to take their tents and camping equipment with them when they leave Worthy Farm (Matt Cardy/Getty)

In the case of abandoned tents, Glastonbury gives as many away to small charities as possible.

However, these charities can only collect a small proportion of the tents that are left behind, not least because many tents have been vandalised, according to Complete Music Update.

The rest, unfortunately, go to landfill.

However, many festival goers have implemented ways to avoid this over the years.

One entrepreneur has come up with a clever solution for those that get left behind (Matt Cardy/Getty)

Kieran Van Den Bosch now salvages festival tents that have been left behind, cleans and repairs them, then rents them out, pre-pitched, at other festivals to people who can't be bothered bringing their own.

He was inspired to do so after noticing all the abandoned tents while at Glastonbury in 2012.

Speaking to Somerset Live in 2017, he said: "I set up Camplight to clear up tents. That was the aim. It's a huge waste and I thought something needed to be done.

"This way people who don't want to put up and take down tents don't have to. It stops someone buying a tent that will only get abandoned and go to landfill and the tent they stay in is salvaged so it's not going in landfill either."

And in 2016, Aid Box Convoy, a charity based in Bristol, collected abandoned tents to give them to refugees in Europe.