UKC

Do you pick up mountain trash ?

I can't claim to be as enthusiastic a mountain rubbish collector as the guy on 'Mountain' last night but I do find myself picking up plastic bottles,cans,wrappers etc and stuffing them in my rucsac when I'm out in the hills.

Why are there so many litter louts out there ?

In reply to Jonno:


I've noticed it's got far worse in the last 10 or so years. Crap smeared paper towels are the worst.....

In reply to Jonno: I come from the City..... and I have no idea why people litter in the countryside i guess they think that at night that the little men come out and sweep up the litter.

In reply to Jonno: Considering the number of people visiting them, the upland areas of Britain are remarkably clean. Attitudes are incredibly good compared to say, Italy.

Somewhere like the Lakes is extraordinarily well treated by the vast majority of visitors.

In reply to Simon4: True lots of ski resorts have once the snow as melted a clean up operations. You can keep what ever you find, the amount of cig butts is revolting bag upon bag of black plastic bags full of butts.

In reply to mac_climb:

Or just high Alpine valleys that are popular walking areas. I remember camping in dreadful weather for 3 days in a high valley beneath Monte Rosa, thinking the place was remote and pristine. Then the weather cleared, we immediately found tins under every rock, bits of plastic and glass everywhere.

The worst is approaching some Spanish mountain huts - you can tell when you are getting close by the trail of debris.

In reply to mac_climb:

i think the main causation of the extra litter is the incresed use of rural areas by individuals who do not appreciate their surroundings or do not feel any ownership to the environment they are inhabiting

In reply to bilbo 1:

I admit it isnt bad but not great either. I do find myself litter picking as I go to some degree

In reply to Jonno:
gives me a good deed feeling..

In reply to Jonno:

I regularly find bits and pieces of junk laying around in the hills. I found a full 2 litre bottle of generic energy drink in long grass about a 100 yards from the path near Red Tarn the other day.

It didn't seem like something your average wild camper would carry, so I think the only way it could of gotten there is if some idiot threw it as far as they couldn't into the grass. I thought it rather lame.

Seems a shame that we're doing well here compared to Europe, given that the UK hills, although probably more visited, seem to have more of a litter problem than a lot of the places I used to frequent in the US. I think the 'Leave No Trace' campaign thats been going on there for a while is quite effective - garbage strewn national parks are quite a rarity.

Cheers

James

In reply to Jonno: I always wonder what happens with the litter after Tour De Frace/Giro/Vuelta mountain stages?

In reply to mac_climb:
the bits not taken by cyling fans get sorted by local councils in the area.. Such is the financial gain of the tours passing business , im sure they dont mind !!

In reply to Jonno: I dont think there is a connection between wether you come from an urban environment or not with regards to rubbish. One only has to look closely round a farm to see the crap pushed into stream gully's away from the public eye. There is a farm in Hawes (in the Yorkshire dales national park)that backs on to the river Ure and its an absolute eyesore not to mention the dead lamb carcassess left for weeks in the fields against the law.

In reply to Jonno:

oo, we were talking about this this weekend - I picked up some random bits of rubbish whilst out wandering in Wales this weekend, but elected to leave two apparently rather freshly used condoms - do other people who pick up litter in the hills pick up johnnies or leave them?

In reply to CJD: Thankfully Ive never seen one, I do pick up rubbish, cans in walls etc. Its a kind of supersticion with me, I cant leave rubbish or I feel some bad luck will befall me, Glad you pick it up.

In reply to Fawksey:

I'm like that. I was out the other day and made both dogs carry 2 empty plastic bottles I'd foundaround the rest of the route. At first they thought it was a game, but then kept dropping them.

Glass bottles especially.

In reply to bilbo 1:


I grew up in rural Worcestershire, and the amount of junk left around by farmers always appalled me. They may not like "townies" who don't understand the country, but the I always felt there was a gross hypocrisy of many self appointed defenders of the countryside, as they let empty fertilizer sacks blow into hedges, luminous yellow clay pigeons lies around, and bits of old machinery rust in corners of fields.

They own the land, but when its their litter they don't give a shit.

In reply to Jonno:

Cigarette buts are a particular eyesore. They take ages to bio degrade. Why do smokers think its OK to just drop them wherever they go? They carry them about in a packet, so why not carry another packet or tin to take away the buts in? As well as the cellophane wrapping and empty packet.

And excrement smeared toilet paper? There is absolutely no excuse for leaving it lying aound. Put in in a plasic bag and take it away.

We should all get into the habit of carrying a trash bag with us whenever we go into the hills for our own litter and picking up other's litter - But its only a token as there is so much of it, I am afraid I gag at the thought of picking up some other b*stard's used toilet paper and having it in my sack.

Society is united in it's condemnation of drink drivers, maybe we should have a similar intollerence to litter louts? It would help though if the police became more pro-active in battling littering and the courts passed down some severe punishments. Unfortunately it's a low priority crime so far as policing is concerned, but a few high profile prosecutions might work wonders.

In reply to Jonno:
lol sorry you just reminded me of something i did a few years ago
was staying in torridon youth hostel and also present was a scout / army cadet group.
they went up beinn alligin same day as me and my mate. just after a rest stop on the way up the hill i found a can of irn bru and a crisp packet. calmly picked them up and as i walked through the group to the leader. again very calmly handed him the two bits of rubbish and politely said "i think one of your group might have forgotten these" and just carried on walking.
he waited untill we'd walked a few metres and then shouted " RIGHT which one of little buggers dropped this?" me and my mate were in stiches, was very funny.
bet they didn't drop any more!

In reply to Jonno:

Mountain locals can be a bigger threat to mountain environments than townie visitors, e.g. they tend to favour investment over conservation measures.
The best solution to littering from what I've seen is to:
1) protect the area
2) impose an entrance fee which covers costs of path repair, litter removal etc
3) have rangers that impose on-the-spot fines
4) raise awareness, e.g. signs at starting points