'Entitled' act by campsite revellers sparks heated debate: 'This is disgusting'
While Beyond The Valley festivalgoers have been slammed for their littering, some have clapped back.
Footage of yet another campsite left covered in dumped camping gear has sent Aussies into a tailspin, with hundreds calling out the "entitled" behaviour while others have defended it.
Beyond The Valley, a festival in Victoria finished on January 1 and "disgusting" visuals of the festival camping ground afterwards revealed mounds of rubbish and used tents left behind for volunteers to pick up.
To add salt to the wound, a camping festival in Queensland which ended on the same day put others to shame after images of spotless campsites were praised.
Footage of Beyond The Valley campsite dumping sparks divide
Beyond The Valley is a four-day festival with about 35,000 people, running from December 28 to January 1. A video captioned "Rubbish scattered everywhere and whole tents just left for volunteers to clean up" was shared online which caused a heated debate. Hundreds of Aussies called out the "entitled" group who defended the dumping — citing the festival prices as an excuse for the behaviour.
"Charge me $20 for a drink. You best believe I’m giving them something to do the next day," one person stated.
"The prices of the drinks and food was the worst I’ve ever seen at any festival plus the entry ticket. Get f***ed I’m cleaning my s**t up," agreed another.
Others were shocked by "the amount of entitled people in [the] comments" who were not "taught to always leave somewhere better than [they] found it".
"This is disgusting, do these people have no awareness," commented one person. "If you can be bothered partying for 4 days, shouldn't be any different cleaning up after yourself," another said.
'Disgusting' scenes as thousands hit famous Aussie beach for Christmas
Camping ban fears after trail of destruction left by tourists on popular Aussie beach
Stark comparison with The Woodford Folk Festival campgrounds
With an estimated 132,000 people over six days and nights, Woodford runs from December 27 to January 1. Photos of the emptied camping grounds, known by punters as Woodfordia campsite, were shared on January 2 and praised online for showing a very different story to what has been seen in recent times.
"Oh it makes our hearts sing!" Woodford Folk Festival said on their Facebook page alongside images of green grass without dumped camping gear in sight.
"This is why I love Woodfordia so much intergenerational love and respect for the land has been nurtured ever since the beginning of this magical festival," one commented. "That’s so wonderful to hear. If Woodfordians leave their festival clean then any festival goer can!" another exclaimed.
Camping festivals say they have sustainability practices in place
Beyond The Valley, like The Woodford Folk Festival, Lost Paradise and other Aussie festivals, share they have multiple sustainability initiatives in place online and state they "acknowledge" their need to "educate and empower" their festival-goers and "implement sustainable practices".
The initiatives they list include banning single-use plastic bottles, hiring staff and volunteers to collect rubbish bags if campers are unable to take them to a waste hub themselves and partnering up with Good Intentions, an organisation that can repair damaged camping gear and who campers can hire recycled gear from.
Despite these initiatives designed to "leave no trace", the aftermath at Beyond the Valley appears to show the sentiment has not translated to their punters.
Yahoo News Australia has reached out to Beyond The Valley and The Woodford Folk Festival for comment.
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
