Do You Cito As Much As You Should?

[+PandyBat]

Just wondering if Cache In, Trash Out is as much a part of geocaching to others as the actual geocaching game? The topic doesn't seem to be talked about much in cache logs or in other forums here. I try to do it at every cache. Granted there are some in need of cleaning up more than others but if every geocacher CITO'd at every cache, alot of places could be cleaned up real quick. I feel guilty leaving trash at a cache site anymore. I never really thought about it until I started geocaching. CITO is part of the game for me. It's a way of making a good impression on others about the game. Do you CITO as much as you should or could?

[+Bull Moose]

I find I do the most CITO when I'm waiting for muggles to leave the area of a cache. It gives me something to do while waiting and makes me look not quite as weird lingering around.

[+sept1c_tank]

I CITO as much as is practical, given the circumstances.

 

Often, I would like to be able to take more, but it is impractical and overwhelming. I think CITO events are a great way to clean up many ignored places.

[+PandyBat]

Just wondering if Cache In, Trash Out is as much a part of geocaching to others as the actual geocaching game?

Hmmmm....I guess not. Not many responses about it.

[+SixDogTeam]

no.

[+nfa]

Hi,

 

I don't know if I CITO as much as I should, but I know that I do it about as much as I did before I started geocaching.

 

I've always carried a plastic bag (normally a couple of grocery store bags) with me when I go for a walk, hike, canoe, or ski...it's just a part of the stuff that goes into my backpack or fannypack. I pick up trash when I think of it, almost always when I see stuff like broken glass or soda/beer bottles/cans. I do not stop for every cigarette butt I see.

 

I do the same thing when I am caching, maybe a little more when I am getting close to the cache (I'm paying more attention to the environment by then).

 

nfa

[+briansnat]

I usually do. I was doing it before I was geocaching, so is ingrained in me. I just won't touch anything gross, like the ubiquitious bags of doggie doots left behind by irresponsible dog owners.

[Toron]

I don't as much as I should, but now I feel guilty. Thanks for bringing up such a painful subject. Next time why don't you just give me a papercut and pour lemon juice in it?

[+TeamK-9]

If there's an unruly amount of trash, and I have a bag, I'll CITO a bit...

[+Gazza&Girls]

Always. Usually on the way out if we're leaving by the same route.

We have plastic grocery sacks with us, and will usually stop at one sack. Some places get a couple sacks. If by chance we're sackless, I've a pocket just for garbage in my pack or coat.

We've packed over 100 film canisters with sacks to drop in caches and carry along to use. I've got a few that have a vinyl glove inside also.

[+nfa]

sometimes I'll TICO (Trash In, Cache Out) which means I bring trash into a set of coordinates, and take the cache home with me.

 

NFA

Edited May 8, 2004 by NFA

[+harleycache]

If there's an unruly amount of trash, and I have a bag, I'll CITO a bit...

I hate when trash gets "unruly"

[+New England n00b]

I try to CITO on my way out, but I usually carry a large backpack (gotta get used to it for along hike) which makes it hard to lean over to get stuff. i think I need to redistribute the weight a bit.

 

That, and I have trouble remembering to load my pack with the trade items and CITO tubes, so I'm kinda an idiot that way. The last place I CITO'd I was able to fill up a Walmart bag - but it started tearing out on me.

 

Anyone know of good CITO bags that will fit in a 35mm film tube? By good I mean can hold a reasonable amount of weight and/or somewhat pointy objects?

[+Gazza&Girls]

 

Anyone know of good CITO bags that will fit in a 35mm film tube? By good I mean can hold a reasonable amount of weight and/or somewhat pointy objects?

Very carefully I managed to get a 30gal. kitchen garbage bag in a 35 mm film can. It's alot of trouble. ANd I would guess if it got banged up a bit in a pack the lid would pop off.

Perhaps a good wastepaper basket size (15 gal.?) would do better.

[+Pobre Rico]

The question, as I see it, should be "Do you Cache In, Trash Out?"

 

Who is to say how much is "as much as you should?"

 

I take a bunch of trash if I remember a bag. Or I take a can or two if I forget a bag.

 

I figure if I pick up one piece of junk along the trail I've left it better than it was before I got there.

[+PandyBat]

Thanks for the responses, guys! I really wasn't even keenly aware of all the trash until I started geocaching. It's kinda of like the Yellow Jeep locationless cache......you never notice how many of them are around until you start looking for them....lol

Geocaching and CITO has made a deep impression on me. I try to CITO almost everywhere I go now, not just geocaching. I got my daughter into geocaching and CITO and she notices it even more than me. She even comments on all the trash she sees in places. She is only 5! She wants to pick up so much trash sometimes that I have to tell her we can't pick it all up in one trip. I'm very proud of her. She and I have taken a notice in our enviroment that we never had before because of geocaching. It's a pretty cool feeling.

 

What's CITO canister consist of? I haven't seen one yet.

[+New England n00b]

What's CITO canister consist of? I haven't seen one yet.

 

An empty 35mm plastic film container. Your local Wal-Mart or other photo developer will have them by the truckload, for free. They just throw them out.

 

Anyway, slap a walmart bag into it, cap it. Label it if you so choose - toss a few in your pack and you've got CITO bags all neat like and ready to go. Some people even drop a few in caches as part of their 'thing'.

 

I find the walmart bags to break pretty easy. I'm gonna try that 15 gallom bag idea from above.

[+PandyBat]

Cool...thanks n00b! The film canisters and the bags must be the only things that I have ever seen WalMart contribute for free. And they don't even know it! LOL

[+Cache Viking]

I have been pretty fortunate so far to run into alot of trash. We do pickup what we find but that is the case even when not caching. Always try to have at least one grocery bag with us.

[Black Mage]

CITO was actually the inspiration for a project that some class mates and I did a few weeks ago.

 

There is/was a cache not too far from my house called "Steed Pond" (GCH1M6), located, conveniently, at Steed's Pond. This place is a popular hangout for kids and families in the summer, a lot of kids from Holt Elementary next door go there after school too. It is quite beautiful, a little patch of "wilderness" in the middle of the Wasatch Front suburbs. The only problem was that that the place was trashed up the wazoo. Styrofoam worm cups, beer bottles, soda bottles, old shoes, and even condoms littered the pond. Luckily I was in a "Small Group and Interpersonal Communication" class and each group had to do a sercive project. Immediately Steed's Pond came to mind.

 

So a few weeks ago everyone in our group (all 3 of us at this point in the semester) spent 8 hours cleaning the pond to the best of our ability. In the end we filled over 20 full size garbage bags.

 

Though there was no "Cache In" involved that day, it was definently a "Trash Out."