Member - Blue (VIC) replied:

Unfortunately there is little you can do other than make the effort to clean up your own mess, confronting the pigs usually leads to fisticuffs(personal experience). I now take my and if I can fit a little extra I take that too... I'm not making much of a difference, but it eases my concience
Blue

Crackles replied:

I know it's un Australian to dob people in but that's the only way to change these bad habits. Most states have litter lines or in Vic the 'Bush Telegraph'. A fine or summons in the mail should get there attention. Our group witnessed a toilet in Wonnangatta being run over by a 4x4 as a joke. We later rang the Police & following court proceedings was fined & ordered to pay damages.
From the Vic 4x4 Assoc.............
"The HOON element
Parks Victoria in a special announcement by the Minister John Thwaites advised of the set up of a reporting process based on the Neighbourhood Watch. The program called Bush Telegraph allows the public to report inappropriate behaviour in Parks and Forests. The number to put into your mobile memory is 132874. It is time for Association members to put the hoon element out of business."

Craig.....

Member - Bob replied:

I think one of the reasons people do this is because they believe that in the group travel with it is acceptable to leave rubbish. You only need one member of a group to lead the way by picking up rubbish when breaking camp for the others to soon realise that maybe it isn't OK.

Spreading the word on a forum like this is an excellent way of changing the culture out there.

Believe it or not, there are people reading this item who routinely leave all there waste (from bottles to bodily) without a care in the world.

Maybe some simple guidelines would help. How about these?

1.Take a rubbish container with you. It has to be big enough to take all your rubbish until it can be dumped properly (its as important as your fridge). A large plastic box which seals can be carried in the vehicle if necessary.

2.Bury yourbleepe (you will need to take a small shovel with you, and instruct less experienced members in your group on the requirements)

3.Burn your dunny paper before it blows around leaving those lovely white streamers everywhere (check out the Mt Sonder lookout near Glen Helen Gorge for a fine example)

4.If you can't burn them, take disposable nappies away in the rubbish box (these are a particular favourite of mine)

Member - Graham T (VIC) replied:

Hi Guys,

I didn't realise that there are so many like minded people out there.

Shawn, rule 303 is good but messy
Blue and John, Breaking the breeding cycle and eradication program sounds good.

While we were at the Keep River National Park I collected some very attractive fruits from a tree. Better half said don't eat them yet, let's find out what they are first. Back at the camp site we broke out the Bush Tucker Man book by Les Hiddens. Guess what, the fruits I had picked were from Strychnos lucida, the Strychnine Tree!!!

Maybe we should promote Bush Tucker to these animals and throw away the book.

Rule 303 however sounds good.

Davoe replied:

Things are certainly not as bad as they used to be and most people do the rigth thing. I spend a fair amount of time out bush and come accross qite a few old camps and it is perfectly obvios that nothing at all was buried or taken away. There is however about 40 -60 years difference between a disgusting pigsty and an historical attraction

Member - Jeff M (WA) replied:

I may very well be dreaming, but I like to think that the majority of us happy campers do clean up our crap (so to speak). And I'm a strong beliver that if we all take a little extra with us that it WILL make a difference. When the kids are out with us they are very carless and leave stuff lying around. The minute I find something of theres they have to clean it up as well as somthing someone else has left there. That way we are helping clean up past mess and learning how to clean up after themselves and that it's just what you do in the bush.

Member - Errol (York WA) replied:

I holhartedley agree with everone , but . It,s not just us 4wheelers that do the damage . On a last trip up north on the GRR , we came across a broken down party of locales from one of the missions . Thay wanted us to tow them into Gibb River , i said no becoures it was to far over them roads , but i did the right thing and let Gibb know thay were there . The point is , the amount of rubbish that was around them was amazing . After that , we begain to notice similar little area,s of rubbish in quite a few places along there , and also down the Tanmi as well . So , it,s not all 4wheeles that leave there rubbish along these roads . If the locals do it in there own back yards , so to speak , what chance have the rest of us got . So saying , we need to keep trying to get the masage out there , maybe oneday it will get through .

Member - Rick (S.A.) replied:

While I agree that there are many who don't clean up after themselves, I do pick up what I can of others' mess. I often mention in passing (to the locals) that I have cleaned up after others. The purpose of doing this is soley to convey the impression that there are some responsible travellers, and hopefully those who grant us access will not tar us all with the same brush.

Here's how I carry & deal with rubbish:

1. Bury the toilet matter. Burn all dunny paper. The paper roll is carried with a gas powered lighter. the wind then is not an issue Vs using matches.

2. Use recycled placcy bags for the campfire rubbish. They hang from the light pole, so are central to the fireside work station/tables. Tie them off when full. These bags get carried in my super size rubbish bag. This is then emptied at a council bin or similar. The super size bag was made by sewing 90 % shadecloth into a bag shape. This bag accepts a standard green garbag. The smaller Coles type placcy bags go into this. That way, when emptying, it is all mess free. The garbag can be used many times, & spills from the smaller bags won't dribble over the goods on the roofrack.
The super size rubbish bag sits on the roof rack, secured by some occies on whatever else is on the rack (wood, chairs, swags, whatever). This keeps rubbish out of the way of normal vehicle based activities.

Hope this helps.

Bitsumishin - Mike (WA) replied:

I'm sure those people accidentally dropped the "waste" & had intended going straight back to their car to get a suitable recepticle. they probably just got side tracked. Being a helpful little camper, I bet they would have really appreciated you scaping it up and placing it conveniently in or on their vehicle. That way the aroma (over time) would remaind them they had forgotten it and be extremely grateful that you were able to remind them. (suggested places: If you are leaving before them - around the door handles, roof rack etc. If they are leaving first under the engine bay or around the roo bar although this message may take a little longer to get through)

ev700 replied:

It has always been a problem - when i was 8yr old I jumped off a sand hill and landed on one of a number of broken beer bottles. Left behind by boozers who had had a beach party. Nearly bled to death and was fortunate not to be crippled. Wiped out all of the holiday for me.

What kind of person leaves bottles strewn over parkland, beaches and waterways?

The grass verges of many highways have been covered with broken beer bottles and cans as long as I can remember.

I will pick up rubbish and I will take a registration number (car or boat) and report it to the police. Nil tolerance is the way- report but do not intervene personally. Also, beer and common alcoholic drinks should be packaged in biodegradable plastic, not glass. Or put a big desposit on the glass (eg $0.20 per bottle).

I will add that rubbishing Australia is a national problem and it requires national solutions. It is a very great pity that some State Governments are sensitive to the lobbying of certain packagers and breweries and refuse to introduce a deposit on bottles.

jules15 replied:

G'day apropos of this subject - doesn't always happen "out there" - few years ago we were camping at Kings Creek Station (great spot) - there were some "Britz" travellers making a lot of noise until somebody pulled their power plug - but the worst thing was their toilet habits - in the campground mens toilet - s##@@@t all over the seat - up the walls - paper everywhere - none used to clean up their mess. Of course they denied it when confronted by Kings Creek management - but the campers around them knew it was them - put a bad feeling amongst us all about certain nationalities -
jules

Member - Paul J (ACT) replied:

I love me stubbies/longnecks/very tall glasses of homebrew (getting thirsty now)etc, but if im out camping, i will take cans, easy to flatten, easy to take away with you when you leave camp. Nothing worse than worrying about letting your kids run and play on the beach, dunes, etc. and possibly cutting themselves on broken beer bottles left behind by gooses that dont give a flying %$#@ about the consequences.
See it all the time at Stokton...

Paul..

Wombat replied:

We've got one of these Rear wheel rubbish holder and we simply store everything until it is feasible to dump it.

GUPatrol replied:

The problem lies with all of us, there's just too damn many people, and where there's more people there's more idiots who do the wrong thing, and more rules to curtail the idiots.

Coops (Pilbara) replied:

to give a positive slant to this topic - I've taken a group of 50 campers out to the scrub for 3 days and the place was absolutely spotless when we left, yet not a word was said to anyone about cleaning up. We just took a trailer and heaps of garbage bags and everyone followed suit.
As a consequence we're welcome back to this wonderful spot whenever we ask yet it's been fenced off to the general public just recently.
I can tell you there's more and more places being fenced off and closed to public here in the Pilbara that you'd count on and you can't blame the station owners one little bit.
I love to read that we forumites are setting the right example and really that's allwe can do is lead by example or use Bush telegraph.