The Glastonbury clean-up began in earnest on Monday with dozens of volunteers gathering to collect tonnes of waste left behind by tired revellers heading home.
Just hours after US R&B star SZA‘s headlining set on the Pyramid Stage on the final night of the festival, festival goers were seen leaving the site in the early hours of the morning, leaving behind mountains of rubbish.
Empty food and drink containers, items of clothing and other waste was seen overflowing from bins in the background of the iconic Pyramid stage.
Thousands of revellers leaving Worthy Farm in Somerset were urged to take all their belongings and tidy their campsite.
But gas canisters, suspicious-looking powders and tents were all among the items left behind for volunteers to clear from the site on Monday morning.
The big clean up operation began at Glastonbury early on Monday morning after a weekend of live music
Mountains of rubbish were seen piling up in and around bins as festivalgoers rushed to get home after a long weekend of partying
Volunteers are seen starting the huge clean-up operation in the background of the iconic Pyramid stage
Speaking about the perks of the job, one reveller told how those who sign up to clean up after their fellow festival goers get perks including early arrival, a separate campsite just for volunteers and two meal vouchers for each day they work.
He added they have access to their own showers and flushable toilets, as well as car parking, crew bars with cheaper drinks and their deposit back if they work all their shifts.
But if volunteers fail to turn up to their agreed working hours they will be banned from taking up similar roles in the future.
Meanwhile attendees have been told the best time to leave to avoid queues is between midnight and 7am on Monday and long waits are likely between 8am and 5pm.
Police have urged those departing the site after SZA’s set to drive safely, be patient and listen to guidance from stewards.
The American singer admitted she was ‘so nervous’ as she delivered an energetic set on the Pyramid stage on Sunday night, but appeared to have some sound issues during her performance.
Fans watching at home complained that her vocals appeared distorted or muffled, but the crowd of revellers at Worthy Farm sang along to hits including Love Galore, F2F, I Hate U and Kiss Me More, her collaboration with Doja Cat, which was interspersed with Prince’s Kiss.
The star, whose real name is Solana Rowe, appeared on stage on an elevated podium to open her show with her Travis Scott collaboration Love Galore.
She was lowered down to the stage which was adorned with elaborate pillars and a large insect, which she sat on for her rendition of ballad Drew Barrymore.
Dressed in a patterned body suit and flat boots with neon laces that ran up to her thighs, she asked her assembled fans: ‘Do I have any day ones in the crowd?’
She brandished two machetes during her rendition of her track Kill Bill, which takes its name from the Quentin Tarantino film starring Uma Thurman, before changing into a forest green gown adorned with leaves, teamed with metallic wings, for her track Supermodel, from her debut album Ctrl.
During track Nobody Gets Me, she climbed up a large fallen tree trunk and sat on an elevated platform on the tree.
She also performed tracks such as Normal Girl and Rich Baby Daddy, her collaboration with Drake and Sexyy Red, before closing out her set with throwback hit 20 Something, also from Ctrl.
Gas canisters were seen abandoned at Worthy Farm following the end of the festival on Sunday night
A huge team of volunteers gathered in the early hours of Monday morning to begin the mass operation
Stragglers were pictured leaving the festival’s campsites early on Monday morning
Packets of suspicious white powder were seen abandoned on the ground
Two volunteers take a break as the sun rises over Somerset’s largest festival ground
Volunteers wearing gloves begin clearing up rubbish with large blue bin bags on Monday
A huge team of workers will scour the site in the coming hours so it can be returned to use as farmland
Festival organisers are already in talks with headliners for next year’s festival in 2025
She told the crowd: ‘Glasto, you want to do 20 Something before we leave? This is for day ones and day ones only.’
Concluding her show, she said: ‘Glastonbury, I was so nervous to be here with you today.
‘I’m so grateful, you have my deepest love and my deepest respect. I love you always, god bless you.
‘Get home safely, my name is SZA, good night.’
Her headline set followed Shania Twain’s ‘life-changing’ gig in the Legends slot, when she performed from her back catalogue of hits including That Don’t Impress Me Much and Man! I Feel Like A Woman!
The 58-year-old took to the stage wearing a ruffled pink ensemble which she then took off, revealing a black mini-dress.
She told the crowd: ‘I find moments like this very life changing.’
Twain is also due to perform a headline set at Hyde Park’s British Summer Time (BST) festival on July 7 with special guests The Corrs.
Following Twain’s set, fellow Canadian Avril Lavigne played hits including Sk8r Boi, Girlfriend and Complicated on The Other Stage, telling the crowd she has always ‘loved’ performing in the UK.
Nigerian singer Burna Boy also amped up festival-goers from the Pyramid Stage, by getting them to jump up and down and sing along to his Afrobeat hits.
Thousands of food and drinks containers were left flattened and abandoned across the site
A man is seen carrying a show close to bins in the early hours of Monday morning
Containers marked ‘Fire’ are seen overflowing with rubbish as litter pickers begin the mammoth cleaning task ahead of them
Some of the last partiers leave the festival on Monday morning as the clean-up begins
Each year a massive army of volunteers arrives to clean up the leftover rubbish and lost items from the festival
Rubbish is left at Glastonbury music festival after the festival finished last night
The clean up comes after the festival saw Dua Lipa, Coldplay and SZA headline
Earlier on Sunday, a barefoot Paloma Faith offered relationship advice to the Pyramid Stage audience, aimed at just the men.
After leading the audience in a singalong of her track Sweatpants, from her latest album The Glorification Of Sadness which deals with the end of a relationship, the 42-year-old British singer said she had been experimenting with dating apps.
But she called that form of finding love the ‘wild west’ as people ‘don’t really know how to connect anymore’.
Faith added: ‘Try and stay together, but it’s the resentment that’s the problem.
‘So all I’m asking, this is a plea, I’m talking about (heterosexual) men, if you are married… and I just want you to notice that if a woman does the same action every single day, it means it needs doing, so don’t wait to ask to do it, just do it.’
Festival organiser Emily Eavis has confirmed 2026 will be a fallow year for Glastonbury to allow the land to rest and recover, but she is already in talks with acts to headline in 2025.
This was the first year to feature two female headliners on the Pyramid Stage with Dua Lipa on Friday and SZA on Sunday.
On Saturday night, Coldplay made history as the first act to headline the festival five times.