The process, which takes more than two weeks, involves an estimated 500 paid staff alone picking litter, and several more doing other jobs across the 600-acre site.

Last year's figures estimated 48 per cent of the waste generated was recycled, in keeping with Michael Eavis' "Love the Farm, Leave no Trace" policy.

About 150,000 people are at the festival at any one time and are expected to leave behind 54 tons of cans and plastic bottles, 9.12 tons of glass and 11.2 tons of discarded tents. There are also 193 tons of "compostable material".

There are 66.77 tons of scrap metal, 0.25 tons of plastic sheeting, 41.76 tons of cardboard, 10 tons of dense plastics and 400 tons of wood.

Andy Willcott, who oversees the cleansing operation, said today: "It's the same as always. We are trying to return it back to being a farm again.

"The priority is not sending waste to landfill and recycling as much as we can. The majority of waste is removed after the festival.

"We have a few volunteers but a lot of paid staff. The vast bulk will be gone in the first week. It will then be a finer and finer litter pick.

"As the grass grows back more things will surface - mainly things like bits of paper from trampled paper cups. It will be looking a lot better after two weeks."

A group of stewards known as the Green Police were employed during the festival to try to stop people "peeing" on the ground and upsetting the water table.

But inevitably several revellers managed to go undetected.

The festival website instructs: "Use the toilets provided - don't pee just anywhere, the ground really can't take it. Remember there are 150,000 people at the Festival and all that urine goes straight into the water table and into rivers and streams for miles around.

"It isn't good for the ground and it isn't good for the fish! If you are caught peeing you run the risk of being expelled from the Festival, or at least being very publicly ridiculed by the Green Police! There will be more toilets than ever and they will be a lot cleaner too."

Smokers are also encouraged to use "butt bins" as one cigarette can contaminate up to eight litres of water.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/glastonbury/5681251/Glastonbury-cleanup-begins.html

I passed the site last night on the way to a barbie at a mates house and there's hundreds, if not thousands, of tents still sitting there!

Actually, it's slightly less than 12 months if the rumours of an expanded festival (in both capacity by 20k and length by a day as it's the 40th anniversary)  are to be believed.

This year's event was one of the safest ever, and next year's is being planned to be even safer according to this article.

So another year is over, tickets will probably follow the same pattern as last year, but we're not going to get confirmation of that for a wee while yet. I'll imagine that next year's will also sell out, even though the festival seems to have hit  it's upper limit and the fact we are in a recession and times are bad for many of us. So be prepared for registration opening in August/September and tickets on sale in October.

So, lets look forward to June 2010. Glastonbury 2009 is widely covered on the BBC's and Guardian sites for those of you returning who want to see what you may have missed.

Glastonbury 2009 closed with what looked a great set from Blur. The Guardian has a fairly comprehensive set of reviews as always.

The Guardian continues it's reviews of Glastonbury, including a lot of pissy moaning from journos with freebie tickets about Springsteen playing for nearly three hours.

The Guardian has a nice set of reviews from the first day, including Neil Young.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jun/27/neil-young-glastonbury-review