UKC

after a recent trip, i have started to develop a serious problem with climbers that smoke, at most belay stances and also at the bottom of the crags around north wales and also in the lakes, were discarded ciggeret ends, do you smokers not see them as litter? (i no its not all smokers but hay,) whats your defence, any other thoughts is it just me?

In reply to Gazwhite: Pardon me? How d'you mean it's not all smokers that discard fag ends? You think that non-smokers take up bags of cigarette butts to scatter round at belays? No offence but where on earth did that thought come from?

In reply to Gazwhite:

its not just you, it also seems to me that a lot of the smoking people doesnt think of it as litter they seem to just thrown them where ever they are without thinking about it.

i remember beeing on a weeks holliday to Mallorca when a kid and beach was literaly made up by sand and fag ends, yiks.

In reply to chris j:

I think he means a lot of climbers collect there fag butts.

In reply to chris j: think you misunderstood me mate. i ment not all smokers throw away the ends, some take them home or dont smoke on route i didnt mean that non smokers leave them. that would be silly.

In reply to nz Cragrat:

They will do, or I did anyway (now, this is very difficult for me at the moment, very recently gave up, still hurting) but I have never smoked in the hills (something just was not right about it) apart from in the middle of an outright running war against midges, you will find even the biggest antismoker asking you to light up at this point. But I always made sure it was put out safely and went into my pocket. Be it a fag end or any kind of mess for that, you just doesn’t leave it behind.

In reply to Gazwhite: Ah yes, two obvious meanings and I picked... the wrong one! Typical. Too late at night now, shame I've another hour at work before i knock off.

In reply to Gazwhite:
You are not alone.
I climb with smokers, and if they need their fix, well OK, but fag ends are litter and they should take them home.

In reply to chris j:

i assumed you were taking the piss!

In reply to Gazwhite: Don't need a defence. I put all mine in a little film cannister and take 'em home to bin.

In reply to Kenny: Damn, there goes the last shreds of my dignity... Too tired to think, too late, work finished, time to sleep.

In reply to Gazwhite:

I know some that make a distinction between rollies and ciggies. Rollies = paper and baccy = rot. Ciggies = mad plasticcy filter = not.

I used to take all mine home when I was a dirty person. Got a special little flip portable ashtray for the purpose.

Curly

In reply to chris j:

Perhaps these are leftfield tactics of anti-smoking groups? Designed to tarnish the good name of our puffing brethren.

In reply to Carnage:

Good idea that film canister, I usually have an old ciggy packet for dimps. Arrived at the crag the other day and found I had nothing to put them in so carried them round till got back to car where the rubbish bag was.

Plastic bag that will take more than your rubbish may be a good idea, people I was talking to threw banana skin into the shrubbery to decompose. I would have taken it home if I had a container. They had sacks so no real reason not to pack out their rubbish as I said to them. Took no notice.

I would love to start a lond rant about the sins of snoking, but that would hijack the subject away from it's initial purpose so I will resist.

Yes fag ends, dead matches, the plastic sleves from fag packs etc. are all non-biodegradeable litter so if you must smoke take it home with you.

As for biodegradeable litter such as apple cores and banana skins, given the time taken for them to rot down where practicle again they should be brought home for responsible disposal. However at least they will (eventually) rot and are less harmfull to our wildlife than plastic/synthetic litter.

In reply to JC: they do no harm to the enviroment, they make it for fertile. the fruit im talking about

In reply to mac_climb:
Which is not necessarily a good thing. Some plants will only grow in poor soil. Also, food residue can encourage non-native (ie not usually found in the place where you're dropping your litter) animals to move in, upsetting the balance for the life that was there already. Fruit peel is unsightly. There's no excuse for leaving anything, though I will confess to burying my Number 2's.

<rant> You often come across accounts of litter being dropped/found in mountaineering. The excuse seems to be, it was a really hard route mate, we had to do it. IMHO climbs/routes should be graded for a litter-free ascent and descent, and using public transport to get there from your house. Otherwise it doesn't count </rant>

In reply to K9: what's the difference between burying shit and burying fruit cores?

In reply to Iain Ridgway:
One is brown and comes out of your bottom, and the other is the seed-bearing part of a plant. Hope this helps.