Trash

[Jason and Jack]

I'm very new to GC and one thing that has amazed me (and saddened too) is just how much trash is in the woods here in Florida. From construction debris, to windblown trash from the road there is a HUGE amount of trash in our woods. Its sad.

 

Was anyone else surprised by this?

[+Panther&Pine]

I'm very new to GC and one thing that has amazed me (and saddened too) is just how much trash is in the woods here in Florida. From construction debris, to windblown trash from the road there is a HUGE amount of trash in our woods. Its sad.

 

Was anyone else surprised by this?

 

CITO! Which means Cache in, Trash out. It is a great excuse as to what you are rummaging around in the bushes for.

 

It is sad, but not all that surprising.

[Jason and Jack]

I'm very new to GC and one thing that has amazed me (and saddened too) is just how much trash is in the woods here in Florida. From construction debris, to windblown trash from the road there is a HUGE amount of trash in our woods. Its sad.

 

Was anyone else surprised by this?

 

CITO! Which means Cache in, Trash out. It is a great excuse as to what you are rummaging around in the bushes for.

 

It is sad, but not all that surprising.

 

I'm thinking of getting some super cheap trash bags to put in our 'cache gear' to at least police the immediate area around the caches that we find and dispose of it properly.

[+Panther&Pine]

I'm very new to GC and one thing that has amazed me (and saddened too) is just how much trash is in the woods here in Florida. From construction debris, to windblown trash from the road there is a HUGE amount of trash in our woods. Its sad.

 

Was anyone else surprised by this?

 

CITO! Which means Cache in, Trash out. It is a great excuse as to what you are rummaging around in the bushes for.

 

It is sad, but not all that surprising.

 

I'm thinking of getting some super cheap trash bags to put in our 'cache gear' to at least police the immediate area around the caches that we find and dispose of it properly.

 

Instead of buying trash bags we use old plastic shopping bags (they stuff very well into film canisters for easy storage).

 

If you live in an area that does recycling it is easy to have a number of smaller bags for each type of recycleable.

[+roziecakes]

It's a great idea to bring trash bags! We do. We also bring gloves and a sharps container. My husband and I both are bloodborne pathogen certified so we have learned about handling things like needles to CITO them. It's a certification we recommend getting. We do clean up needles when we see them. We'd hate to see someone get stuck while caching (or any time for that matter).

[+Scubasonic]

I'm very new to GC and one thing that has amazed me (and saddened too) is just how much trash is in the woods here in Florida. From construction debris, to windblown trash from the road there is a HUGE amount of trash in our woods. Its sad.

 

Was anyone else surprised by this?

 

Sounds like CITO events are the answer for your area.

 

Scubasonic

[+journey4truth]

What happens if I run across a kitchen sink?

 

I'm serious, you wouldn't believe how many kitchen sinks I keep finding in the woods, no matter where I go. It's weird.

[+Panther&Pine]

What happens if I run across a kitchen sink?

 

I'm serious, you wouldn't believe how many kitchen sinks I keep finding in the woods, no matter where I go. It's weird.

 

If you can, carry it out.

 

I scuba dive and you'd be amazed at the things you find in lakes (stoves, microwaves, blenders and no where near shore either).

[+Cache O'Plenty]

I hike in the hills around SoCal and am surprised, and saddened, by the amount of dumping that goes on once you are out of sight of the roadways. Not just trash, like soda bottles, grocery bags, small stuff. I mean DUMPING. Like construction debris, sofas, dressers, washing machines, TVs, etc. As long as the public dump sites continue to charge, there will be people that will save the fees and dump for free.

 

No amount of "CITO" will work there - you need full size pickup loads!

 

I've thought of shooting the coordinates for these large dump sites and forwarding them to the county so an organized cleanup could be scheduled - or fines assessed (really only concerned with cleaning it up - not the money from fines).

[+Panther&Pine]

I hike in the hills around SoCal and am surprised, and saddened, by the amount of dumping that goes on once you are out of sight of the roadways. Not just trash, like soda bottles, grocery bags, small stuff. I mean DUMPING. Like construction debris, sofas, dressers, washing machines, TVs, etc. As long as the public dump sites continue to charge, there will be people that will save the fees and dump for free.

 

No amount of "CITO" will work there - you need full size pickup loads!

 

I've thought of shooting the coordinates for these large dump sites and forwarding them to the county so an organized cleanup could be scheduled - or fines assessed (really only concerned with cleaning it up - not the money from fines).

 

Read about this guy! He should have his own CITO coin (not that he caches that I know of))

 

Chad- one man can do it

[+Cache O'Plenty]

That guy deserves those awards.

 

http://www.livinglandsandwaters.org/About/chad.htm

[+Chrysalides]

I'm serious, you wouldn't believe how many kitchen sinks I keep finding in the woods, no matter where I go. It's weird.

Blame it on those geocachers who believe in packing everything they might need to retrieve a cache, including the kitchen sink.

 

*cough*

 

Sorry.

[+Chrysalides]

That guy deserves those awards.

 

http://www.livinglandsandwaters.org/About/chad.htm

Hey, does a certain myopic dog knows this guy?

[+journey4truth]

I'm serious, you wouldn't believe how many kitchen sinks I keep finding in the woods, no matter where I go. It's weird.

Blame it on those geocachers who believe in packing everything they might need to retrieve a cache, including the kitchen sink.

 

*cough*

 

Sorry.

[+L0ne.R]

I'm mostly ticked off about broken beer bottles. If the forest drinkers left them intact at least they could be CITO'd out and a few cents could be collected. So why do FDs feel compelled to smash glass beer bottles?

[+roziecakes]

One thing that I've noticed around where I live is tons of dead dumped animals. Not just roadkill, stuff like dead baby lambs, leftovers from hunters and fishermen, bones from cattle, etc I didn't see anything like this in Colorado, and we cached near several ranches and farmlands. I wonder if the laws are different.

[+CJB_Crew]

CITO kits are a great trade item to drop off in the caches that you find, whether the area is trash ridden or not. Geocacher University has some really nice labels that you can print out and put onto your own kits here:

 

http://geocacher-u.com/content/blogcategory/31/56/

 

One added bonus of using these as trade items is that you'll never forget a trash bag when you're out caching My daughter is three and she is a hardcore CITOer. The best part is that it isn't limited to caching, she picks up trash on our walks as well as at the park. I've also found that CITO sooths the sting of a DNF

[+tx_brewer]

I was actually amazed by how many old discarded car tires there are in the middle of forested area.

[oakenwood]

I hike in the hills around SoCal and am surprised, and saddened, by the amount of dumping that goes on once you are out of sight of the roadways. Not just trash, like soda bottles, grocery bags, small stuff. I mean DUMPING. Like construction debris, sofas, dressers, washing machines, TVs, etc. As long as the public dump sites continue to charge, there will be people that will save the fees and dump for free.

 

No amount of "CITO" will work there - you need full size pickup loads!

 

I've thought of shooting the coordinates for these large dump sites and forwarding them to the county so an organized cleanup could be scheduled - or fines assessed (really only concerned with cleaning it up - not the money from fines).

I've long wondered if bulk trash pickup should be subsidized by the state. It would reduce illegal dumping of the kind you describe, but at a cost to us all.

 

Unfortunately, studies have shown that the bigger the container, the more trash you get-- at a micro and macro level. Sometimes it works. I lived in Newark, DE, where it was simple: small stuff goes in the trash bag; for big stuff, you call the city and they throw it on a truck on pickup day. For this and so many other reasons, I LOVE NEWARK DELAWARE!!!

 

I now live in Montgomery County, MD. Here you can throw away big stuff for free; you just have to drive to the collection center an heave it into a dumpster. In other municipalities, they cannot afford to handle your bulk trash. This leads to people seeking out-of-the-way areas to dump their washing machines and sofas.

 

There is no perfect solution.

[+BulldogBlitz]

I'm mostly ticked off about broken beer bottles. If the forest drinkers left them intact at least they could be CITO'd out and a few cents could be collected. So why do FDs feel compelled to smash glass beer bottles?

 

where do you expect bears to drink?

[+BulldogBlitz]

What happens if I run across a kitchen sink?

 

one... why are you runnning through the woods?

 

two... consider making a drain plug cache container.

[+loudy13]

I'm very new to GC and one thing that has amazed me (and saddened too) is just how much trash is in the woods here in Florida. From construction debris, to windblown trash from the road there is a HUGE amount of trash in our woods. Its sad.

 

Was anyone else surprised by this?

 

CITO! Which means Cache in, Trash out. It is a great excuse as to what you are rummaging around in the bushes for.

 

It is sad, but not all that surprising.

We have in the past carried a garbage can in our caching mobile and filled up to 5 bags on a caching outting, you are right it is disgusting all the garbage that people have left along our great country side, wear gloves and cito when you can.

 

CACHE ON

[+KevinWinkler]

One thing that I've noticed around where I live is tons of dead dumped animals. Not just roadkill, stuff like dead baby lambs, leftovers from hunters and fishermen, bones from cattle, etc I didn't see anything like this in Colorado, and we cached near several ranches and farmlands. I wonder if the laws are different.

 

Starting to see more and more of that around here too. Many moons ago the rendering plant would pay the farmer a few $$$ so they had product to process. Now they don't need dead cows, sheep, pigs to make dog and cat food, now they have HUGE processing plants processing 1500 head of beef a day. Bird processors do hundreds of thousands of birds and these old rendering plants just cant keep up with all of the producut anymore. So it's much easier just to drag the dead out to the woods and let nature take it's course.

[knowschad]

That guy deserves those awards.

 

http://www.livinglandsandwaters.org/About/chad.htm

Hey, does a certain myopic dog knows this guy?

Well, I live upriver from him, anyway. Maybe I'll toss a message in a bottle into the Mississippi for him.

[knowschad]

I'm mostly ticked off about broken beer bottles. If the forest drinkers left them intact at least they could be CITO'd out and a few cents could be collected. So why do FDs feel compelled to smash glass beer bottles?

Beer. 'Nuf said?

[jholly]

I'm mostly ticked off about broken beer bottles. If the forest drinkers left them intact at least they could be CITO'd out and a few cents could be collected. So why do FDs feel compelled to smash glass beer bottles?

Too much Beer. 'Nuf said?

 

There, fixed.

[knowschad]

I'm mostly ticked off about broken beer bottles. If the forest drinkers left them intact at least they could be CITO'd out and a few cents could be collected. So why do FDs feel compelled to smash glass beer bottles?

Too much Beer. 'Nuf said?

There, fixed.

Thanks!!

[+roziecakes]

 

Starting to see more and more of that around here too. Many moons ago the rendering plant would pay the farmer a few $$$ so they had product to process. Now they don't need dead cows, sheep, pigs to make dog and cat food, now they have HUGE processing plants processing 1500 head of beef a day. Bird processors do hundreds of thousands of birds and these old rendering plants just cant keep up with all of the producut anymore. So it's much easier just to drag the dead out to the woods and let nature take it's course.

 

Interesting, I hadn't thought of that. Ick...

[+ihorn]

I know here in Glendale, Ca all you have to do is go online, or call the city to schedule a bulk item pickup. It is nice, and doesnt cost anything. The cost is worked into our normal refuse charge we pay the city.

[+Cache O'Plenty]

Each city is different, in CA anyway. Where I am, the unacceptable items include: Tires, Auto parts, hazardous waste, chemicals, glass, concrete, asphalt, dead animals and propane tanks. Guess what I find in the hills.......

[+Proud Soccer Mom]

I'm very new to GC and one thing that has amazed me (and saddened too) is just how much trash is in the woods here in Florida. From construction debris, to windblown trash from the road there is a HUGE amount of trash in our woods. Its sad.

 

Was anyone else surprised by this?

 

*nods* Florida is really bad about it, especially because of the construction dumping. Roads have been blocked off in Charlotte County because of the illegal dumping. There's also surveillance cameras at these sites. One time we came upon four computer towers. My husband said, "Ooo! Parts!" and we definitely CITO'd that site. You can keep the scrap metal and sell it for extra cash (buy more fuel do more geocaching). And of course properly dispose of what you can. If something is decent (like a CD-ROM drive that works but you have no use for it) then Freecycle it. Nobody expects you to single-handedly clean up an entire area, but if each cacher does a little bit when they find the nearby cache, the place will get cleaned up.

 

At least until the next dumping.