Solution to Trash Left Behind!

specta wrote:

Geewizard wrote:

You gotta be kidding me, it sounds like you're advocating dumping your trash instead of dealing with it. That right?

I thought the same thing. At least justifying dumping trash. :M

I read his comments as explaining why people do it, not justifying. In other words if want to solve the problem, unfortunately you have to make it easier for the slobs.

It's really not a new problem it's just that the population has grown so much that the effects of the same percentage of thoughtless people is greatly magnified by the sheer increase in their numbers.

My biggest peeve is by the smallest litter. The smokers that think the world is their ashtray and toss the butts out the window everywhere including the hills during high fire danger.

every Mt bike ride, every hike no matter where I go I find myself stopping to pick up someone's trash. jut pisses me off. Even my employees leave fast food bags and cups in the work vehicles at the end of the shift...We live in a worl d that forgot take only pictures leave only footprints

Funny, you look at old photographs and home movies from 100 years ago and litter really didn't exist. Most things were reusable, returned for deposit, and there weren't plastic bottles, bags, potato chip bags, junk food packages, and the rest of it.

We've done it ourselves. Why aren't we refusing the use of plastics? Why do we allow our kids to consume junk food and then throw the empties away?

I read on Rv.Travel this morning about a boondocking site in New Mexico and the boondocker was shocked to see so many people destroying the place.

One person commented, "why should we pick up the trash?", "we clean up after ourselves".

That's exactly why the "no litter" program doesn't work. It takes everyone doing their part and if some don't comply, we need to do it for them. If not, this thread will be worthless.

Geewizard wrote:

You gotta be kidding me, it sounds like you're advocating dumping your trash instead of dealing with it. That right?

I thought the same thing. At least justifying dumping trash. :M

DownTheAvenue wrote:
Part of the problem with litter is there is no convenient place to dispose it. People dump tires, old mattresses, etc. along seldom traveled roads and other places because municipal dumping places are few and far as well as their charges for dumping are out of reach for many people. In some campgrounds, the "pack it in-pack it out" plan where you are supposed to take all your trash home with you, leaves people without any resource to discard leaky smelly trash they don't want in the passenger seat of their vehicle. Other campgrounds have one central spot for trash disposal, often quite a distance from the campsite.

You gotta be kidding me, it sounds like you're advocating dumping your trash instead of dealing with it. That right?

DownTheAvenue wrote:
Part of the problem with litter is there is no convenient place to dispose it. People dump tires, old mattresses, etc. along seldom traveled roads and other places because municipal dumping places are few and far as well as their charges for dumping are out of reach for many people. In some campgrounds, the "pack it in-pack it out" plan where you are supposed to take all your trash home with you, leaves people without any resource to discard leaky smelly trash they don't want in the passenger seat of their vehicle. Other campgrounds have one central spot for trash disposal, often quite a distance from the campsite.

The key word in your comment in "convenient"

I don't intend to be mean, but your comment leaves me wondering about you.

In my early 20s (70s) we were driving out to Anza Borrego in my Land Cruiser when a guy in a caddy tossed a full bag of garbage out his window into the desert. We stopped picked it up and tore after him. When we caught up he was driving along windows open in the slow lane. I pulled even, drifted close to his door. My buddy yelled out you dropped something and tossed it into his lap. And yes at that point the bag ripped open. it was awesome.

run100 wrote:
Love the idea of mailing trash back to the folks that generated it! I'd get a kick out of dropping the trash on their doorstep myself!

Those that litter really irritate me, even from a young age. As a teenager (many decades ago), me and my friends would go party in the desert. If a friend decided to chuck trash out the window while I was driving, I'd slam on the brakes and make him or her go pick it up. If they put up any resistance, they would find themselves having a long walk home. Not one bottle or can was ever left behind!

A group I belong to adopted a stretch of freeway and performs clean-up events a couple times a year. The amount of trash picked-up is always shocking.

Problem is, nobody feels like they should be held accountable for their actions these days. Quite sad!

“Someone I know” may have found a bunch of trashed dumped by the road near a friend’s house that happened to include a couple of different things with an address on it. That someone may have returned it, while creating a nice front yard display at that address.

My family also participates in a 3 mile section of rural adopt-a-road and pick up several full trash bags 2x a year. It’s about fast food consumption completion distance away from town as evidenced by the gifts left in the ditches. It’s so obviously not an accident when the quantity increases along the sections of the road away from any houses.

Whoever said public garbage cans are lacking in number is correct imo.
Case in point. Sons hockey showcase in MN last weekend at the Super rink. 8 sheets of ice. Probably 600-800 players plus families and staff. Players had to dress outdoors due to Rona and all families hanging out outdoors.
Not a single (&)@@)ing garbage can outside. Every night there was piles of trash.
Who hosts an event for 1000 people and garbage cans are only indoors where you can only be during your game?

I tossed trash all over there. Because they were being stupid. So did everyone else.
What didn’t blow away or get picked by birds got cleaned up by the rink Staff at night... but still.

We have had rentals for years, it is eyeopening just how horrible they can be, I guess it comes from not taking responsibility for your actions.
I guess the root causes are many, some specific come to mind.