Cleaning Up Litter

[wvbreamfisherman]

I pick up stuff all the time. It's amazing the crap that people leave around. Especially popular fishing areas.

It's annoying to have to do it, but I feel better leaving an area cleaner than when i arrived. YMMV

[EmberMike]

Originally Posted by shaun

I will not clean up litter left by other people, as a matter of principle. Why should I clean up other people's rubbish? I will tell the people responsible to clean up their mess. People who leave the environment in a mess disgust me, I'm not afraid to speak my mind and tell them to clean it up.

I get your principle, but I don't think the people leaving the trash do, especially when they're not around to hear it. Let's face it... someone who will leave garbage in the woods or at a campsite isn't likely to be the kind of person who camps regularly and respects nature. They probably aren't coming back, so it's not like you're doing them any favors by cleaning up their mess. You would, however, be doing a favor for the next person who comes along that trail, site, etc.

I'm not saying it's your responsibility to haul bags of trash out of the site. But it's not the next person's either, and you'd be doing everyone a favor by picking up a few bits of garbage that aren't yours. I'm sure someone has done it for you before you arrived somewhere, and you'd never even know it.

I grew up with the old boy scout mentality of "leave it better than you found it." That's stuck with me to this day.

[Grandpa]

Well said Ember Mike. You're going to fit in real good with this crowd.

[mccallum]

I usually pick up trash at the camp site simply cause I usually end up dropping stuff as I do things and, well, Kansas has this wind issue; things blow so; you pick up my blow away and I'll pick up the guys up wind of me!!!!!

On the trail/road walking I pick up can$ but that is about it!!!!

Jeepthrils; I understand. Look careful, use a corner and place it in a trash bag.

[West Texan]

I carry a bag to keep my trash in and will normally pick up other trash in my campsite as well. The lake I go to is bad about people leaving their trash everywhere. Last time I was there, I picked up everything that was left out there at my campsite and believe I made an example to the people camping down the bank from me. If everyone took the example and did the same, eventually we would have cleaner places to camp.
My biggest concern for it though is my dog goes with me a lot and he tries to get into everything until I can get it all picked up. I keep him tied off close till I can scout the entire area to let him have a little free reign.
WT

[Grandpa]

Most of the wilderness' I backpack in are very clean. We all will pick up any errant litter but I seldom find any. I have, on occasion ran across deliberate left behinds. Last year in the Winds, we were a very early group before the passes opened. After setting up our first nights camp, I wandered into the woods and found a burial ground that had already been found by the critters and it was very fresh wrappers.

You dump your trash or leftover oatmeal in the bushes and think nothing of it. A bear or other critter finds it and the next person to come along gets greeted by that hungry bear looking for more of the same. To me, littering in the wilderness is akin to involuntary manslaughter. That may seem like a harsh judgement, but to me the litterbug is baiting bears to attack the next group.

[ppine]

Shaun,
It is important to pick up other people's trash if you have respect for the outdoors and respect for your self. It is a necessary evil. It is a point of pride. It relates to self-respect. Some people pick up your trash for a living. Some people operate a waste-water treatment plant with your sewage for a living. None of us are isolated and innocent of creating waste. You are either part of the problem or part of the solution.

[46u]

My children now grown and having children when they where young we always police the area and they would tell me daddy that is not our trash, I would reply does not matter pick it up. I would tell them if every one would pick up one piece of trash that was not theirs there would not be any but in the trash cans.