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junk in geocaches


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My kids often come home with bouncey balls which they never play with so I pop those in. I also use stickers and cut the sheets up so about 6 -8 stickers go in. I like to teach my kids that if they want something they have to put something of equal value back in.

 

We do see a lot of caches with junk in and it's a shame but fortunately my kids don't really do it for the swag they do it for hunt :)

Edited by beckypowell
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I'm in my 30's but my mom still sends me a Christmas stocking every year. I think it's fun but most of the stuff either isn't my style or not something I can use. But it's not stuff I'd feel comfortable throwing away either because it's good quality stuff such as small picture frames (small enough to fit in the palm of your hand), a light up pen, a small turtle figurine, a Dora towel (one of those tiny ones you can fit in the palm of your hand and when you put it in water it expands to a usable size, bookmarks, a "dragon handbook" (around 4x6 inches in size) etc.), things like that.

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I hate the coupons (expired)/scraps of paper and random leaves/sticks. I keep a trash bag in the car for those occasions.

 

I've started carrying dog poo bags for junk removal. Cheap and easy to buy - every dollar store has them. They're small but big enough. Lightweight, and scrunch down to almost nothing - easy to put in a pocket.

Pet%20Replacement%20Waste%20Bags.jpg

 

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I hate the coupons (expired)/scraps of paper and random leaves/sticks. I keep a trash bag in the car for those occasions.

 

I've started carrying dog poo bags for junk removal. Cheap and easy to buy - every dollar store has them. They're small but big enough. Lightweight, and scrunch down to almost nothing - easy to put in a pocket.

Pet%20Replacement%20Waste%20Bags.jpg

Do they smell weird? My roommate buys dog poo bags that smell floral and I hate them, and would like to have another option.

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I hate the coupons (expired)/scraps of paper and random leaves/sticks. I keep a trash bag in the car for those occasions.

 

I've started carrying dog poo bags for junk removal. Cheap and easy to buy - every dollar store has them. They're small but big enough. Lightweight, and scrunch down to almost nothing - easy to put in a pocket.

Pet%20Replacement%20Waste%20Bags.jpg

Do they smell weird? My roommate buys dog poo bags that smell floral and I hate them, and would like to have another option.

 

Some do. I'm in Ontario, Canada and I find the black dog bags smell like baby powder. The type like in the photo (rolled up), that I've bought are odorless.

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Do they smell weird? My roommate buys dog poo bags that smell floral and I hate them, and would like to have another option.

 

Some do. I'm in Ontario, Canada and I find the black dog bags smell like baby powder. The type like in the photo (rolled up), that I've bought are odorless.

Neat, I'll have to keep an eye out for them.

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It's really disappointing to find a medium-sized cache and open it to find broken bits of plastic, rocks, sticks, a few coins (ordinary ones) and crumpled up paper trash. It's true that finding is its own reward, but I still feel that a big portion of the fun of geocaching is lost when I feel like I'm rooting through a trash can and not discovering a container of intentional objects of interest, even if they are juvenile in nature. It's not that hard to do the minimum. :/

 

I am new to geocaching so until now I have left that garbage in the cache, thinking perhaps there was something I was not understanding... but I think now I will toss the obvious trash and add more goodies for the next cachers.

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I think now I will toss the obvious trash and add more goodies for the next cachers.

That's an awesome plan! I often clean out all the dirt & sticks, and any nasty trash. If there's time, I dry the cache log. I leave a couple of nice things if it seems like a container that isn't being regularly raided.

Edited by kunarion
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Do they smell weird? My roommate buys dog poo bags that smell floral and I hate them, and would like to have another option.

 

Some do. I'm in Ontario, Canada and I find the black dog bags smell like baby powder. The type like in the photo (rolled up), that I've bought are odorless.

Neat, I'll have to keep an eye out for them.

 

Around here most people hang them from trees. It used to be that the poo was kicked in the woods or left in the trail, but now that dog walkers have to pick it up, they tend to use bags and toss them in the woods. It's not limited to one area, but very widespread. Nowadays a walk usually entails noticing bags of poo hanging from trees.

 

Needless to say I think they are lousy trade items.

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Do they smell weird? My roommate buys dog poo bags that smell floral and I hate them, and would like to have another option.

 

Some do. I'm in Ontario, Canada and I find the black dog bags smell like baby powder. The type like in the photo (rolled up), that I've bought are odorless.

Neat, I'll have to keep an eye out for them.

 

Around here most people hang them from trees. It used to be that the poo was kicked in the woods or left in the trail, but now that dog walkers have to pick it up, they tend to use bags and toss them in the woods. It's not limited to one area, but very widespread. Nowadays a walk usually entails noticing bags of poo hanging from trees.

 

Needless to say I think they are lousy trade items.

I don't think they intended the bags as trade items, but to use for taking trash out of the cache. I wouldn't be unhappy to find a roll of them in a cache, though. I use them for all kinds of things -- CITO, dirty diapers, dirty baby clothes. Once I used one to carry some wet (but still good) swag back from a cache.

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Hi all,

I've seen these problems in all areas that I've cached in - Taiwan, South Korea, and the United States. I'm trying to combat the problem in my few caches by making them PMO, since most of the time, those who have just started out trade "down" and eventually make a cache seem worthless. I had one cache before that was stocked full of goodies but was eventually made worthless and stolen.

 

It's crazy how the first geocache had a Delorme Topo USA, 2 CD Roms, a cassette recorder, a "George of the Jungle" VHS tape, a Ross Perot book, 4 $1 bills, a slingshot handle and a can of beans, and now caches have little pieces of trash - expired coupons, pieces of paper, rocks, rubber bands, etc. I feel as if this does make children want to go geocaching less - the disappointment of finding trash in a cache instead of SWAG.

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