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Discussion Forum - Environment Matters - Litter


Author: Peter Steckles
Posted: Fri 5th Oct 2012, 20:03
Joined: 1998
Local Group: East Lancashire
eat them

Monica does...
Author: Dr. John Batham
Posted: Sun 19th Aug 2012, 21:58
Joined: 2007
Local Group: East Yorkshire
We take the skins home and put them in our compost heaps or into the thoughtfully provided council bins for garden waste; that way they shouldn't get into land fill and they won't despoil the countryside by being suspended from branches or bushes or simply lying on green lanes and tracks for 3 years
Author: Elton Ellis
Posted: Sun 19th Aug 2012, 10:03
Joined: 2006
Local Group: Surrey
If you leave peels and skins behind they add nutrients to the soil as they decompose. If you take them home and bin them, they do not.

What most of us object to is when they dropped or tossed away as litter, as they are then visually offensive. If they are hidden, it is a win-win situation.

Mountain summits are a special case: too many people, few hiding places, very slow decomposition rate.
Author: Peter Haslam
Posted: Fri 17th Aug 2012, 23:36
Joined: 1992
Local Group: East Lancashire
Banana Drama makes another appearance. How can people carry a full banana up a mountain but not carry an empty one down? No one has ever explained that to me.

I promise to let the matter drop when it is proven to me that it is better to leave a banana skin behind rather than take it home.
Author: Elton Ellis
Posted: Thu 16th Aug 2012, 22:28
Joined: 2006
Local Group: Surrey
Steph, your perseverance is a lesson to us all – well worthy of a long distance walker.

Yes, I wonder about the mindset of someone who has sufficient love of the outdoors to climb Pen-Y-Ghent, but still is crass enough to drop litter there.

Some people are insensitive enough litter anywhere, but my experience in other areas of natural beauty is that many will only litter if they see that others have done so. Thus clean areas tend to stay clean, littered areas tend to become more littered. So picking up litter helps.

In lowland areas where the climate is such that decomposition takes place at a reasonable rate, I see no problem in shoving a banana skin under leaves and leaving it to the natural process of decay. Better that than dropping it in a bin and having it end up in a refuse dump where it will do no good at all.

What really gets me is the dog walkers who carefully collect their dog poop in a neat little bag, then hang the bag on a nearby tree branch because they don’t want to carry it back. What, precisely, is going through their minds? Anything? Or is it a vacuum from ear to ear?
Author: Steph Carter
Posted: Wed 25th Jul 2012, 20:42
Joined: 2011
Local Group: North Yorkshire
I did the Yorkshire 3 peaks last Sunday. A top walk, but so disappointing to see the litter that a few thoughtless people had left behind them:
Empty water bottles: 12
Aluminium foil scrunched into balls: 2
Banana Skins: 8 (without a search around the trig points and shelters)
Orange peel: 2
Confectionary wrappers: a few
Empty energy gel sachets: a few
Cigarette butts: 1

What is it with people? They enjoy the amazing countryside, yet selfishly defile it for those that follow.

I know some say "but banana skins, orange peel and apple cores bio-degrade" Yes they do- but not instantly, and until they do they are unsightly, smelly ( and in some cases slippery) for those that follow, and they are not naturally what should be found on Pen-Y-Ghent's summit. Would these people object to me putting sheep manure on their carpets and saying "It doesn't do any harm, give it a few days to dry and you can vacuum it away?!" Too right they'd object- and be offended... possibly even more offended than I am by their litter

So a question for you all. How can we stop people littering our countryside and get them to take ALL their litter home to be disposed of responsibly?

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