UKC

Dont know if this is on the correct forum. I was doing s nowdon as part of the 3 peak challenge this morning and was disappointed with the amount of litter near the top, there must have been over 50 empty bottles of water in a pile andanother 20 or so scattered around. I removed 15 from the hillside as this was all i could carry. Is this the future of the hill large groups or events dumping rubbish to look pollute the hills or should they be responsible to clean up?

In reply to hedgehog77:

This is a perfectly normal behaviour of the masses when they are allowed the right to enter the countryside.

They believe that there is a countryside service which cleans the countryside up overnight, or simply don't care.

Groups are probably more responsible than individuals - they are organised and hopefully there is some peer pressure not to litter.

I live on the Coast to Coast route and the litter is alarming. And judging by the number of discarded Energy drink containers these people don';t have the energy to take the stuff home.

In reply to hedgehog77:

It is terrible and saddening that people litter the mountains. However, I'm not convinced that the problem stems from whether the people are in a large group or not. People litter everywhere. They are as happy dropping things in the city street or fly-tipping in a suburban park as they are leaving rubbish on a mountain. They simply do not care. Better education might help, but also better sanctions. If every time some littered in the mountains they had the nearest climber or walker tell them to pick it up it might shame them into treating mountains with respect?

In reply to hedgehog77: Its horrible. Its saddening that theirs a train that takes the minions that can't be ars*d walking up it available to them but not only that they throw their litter everywhere.

I told a man to pick up a litre bottle of iron bru in the wind break area at the top once and he was horrified that he had to go and collect it.

Show's exactly what people think of their countryside and what they want to do to preserve it

In reply to hedgehog77: Personally I don't think Snowdon is anywere near as bad as Ben Nevis but it is still bad, especially on the summit around the cafe.

In reply to higherclimbingwales:

Litter apart, at least the new station/cafe and the summit itself are a vast improvement on what they used to be. They have done a particularly good job of tidying up the summit. Some would say it's over-manicured, but what else can you do with a place that gets visited by hundreds of tourists on a fine day?

In reply to hedgehog77: I thought Snowdon had the least litter of the 3 last weekend. Ben Nevis was utterly disgusting and Scafell not too great either, other than the very summit of Snowdon (which i deem to be the responsibility of the visitor centre) i spotted and thus picked up very little litter compared to the other 2.

In reply to quirky: unfortunately, the cafe's responsibility seem to stop at the doors!

In reply to hedgehog77: i was up there yesterday and the excess litter was due to the snowdon race event.the majority of the water bottles appeared to be at the top where the runners were re hydrated .wd have to agree with you though there should have been provision for the organisers to have a clean up at the end .fortunatly it was a nice windless day otherwise they wd have blown eberywhere .not on !

In reply to hedgehog77:

Yeah it was the Snowdon Race marshalls, giving out free water. Very surprised they didnt do a 'pick up' after the race. mental.

In reply to higherclimbingwales:

As an aside, when will the cafe admit defeat and install a bigger generator? The stinking black smoke that billows across the summit from the clearly overloaded unit installed isn't very plesant.




Rant over.

In reply to butteredfrog:

isn't very plesant.


....Like my spelling!!!

In reply to hedgehog77: On the subject of smoke. Just build a chair lift and get rid of the trains!
It pains me to go to snowdon now. Last time I walked it there was a group of men walking up necking cans of Stella and tossing the empties down the mountain. Quality

In reply to hedgehog77:

Litter is the bugbare of our nation. I've travelled a lot abroad and I'd say the Uk is one of the worst for littering.

We have litter laws in this country but you never see them enforced and it's very rare to read reports on people being fined. Why is this? Why don't the police and local authorities take this issue more seriously? it's all very well to say that they have more important crimes to deal with, but is that the right approach? If the authorities don't consider the laws worth enforcing people are bound to be lax in obeying them, and it's only the the minority with a social conscience who do not litter - they don't need a law to make them act responsibly.

In reply to hedgehog77: I was there on sat too, i didn't stay long round the top, too many hoardes, but picked up a few bits and bobs that i came across. I wish i'd had a plastic bag to chuck more in!

In reply to gingerdave13: I'd be up for a clean-up if anyone else fancies spending half a day littler picking.

In reply to hedgehog77:

I took some guys from India last year on a wild camping trip in the Brecon Beacons, they had some drinks they'd brought with them at the start to hydrate and when they finished with the bottle's they just threw them on the ground.

I wasn’t impressed but they said that's what they do at home, I told them about the litter issue in the rural area's and how we should all try to keep the place tidy, and they were only to keen to pick it up and bin it.

It's education I think, in the guys case it is education, in some people its just damn ignorance

Jason

In reply to lone:

I'm surprised thats all they wanted to leave on the floor! it's common practice in India to crap pretty much anywhere you want!

In reply to Trangia:

I seem to remember reading about someone being prosecuted/fined for throwing a fag end on the ground a few years back.
I guess it's more difficult to police such laws outwith towns and that it comes down to "us" to pull people up/challenge ignorance/educate when we see littering.

My personal bugbear is folk who throw stuff out of car windows.

In reply to SFM:


Snipers sited 2 miles down the road from every drive-thru McDonalds, after about a month, the message would get through.