Rubbish in the bush and idiots.

I like the really careful litterbug who collects all his rubbish in a bag ( probably because someone is watching ) then leaves the bag behind a tree when he leaves .
That is a real TURD .

Andrew,

Mate I agree 100%. I was out at Sofla NSW a couple of weekends ago, the rubbish at the "Ration Point" campsite was nothing short of being criminal. To top it off, the amount of broken glass(beer bottles as usual) on the gravel, right ajacent to the rivers edge was unbelievable. Normally I take my chances and not swim with foot protection on, but on this occasion no way, it was sandles on every dip. Myself and my mate spend a good hour cleaning up the immediate area where we wanted to pitch the tent and only made a minor impression on the surrounds.

With that said, I think that most readers will agree, the majority of the so called "idiots" are the once a year yobbo campers who go out with the intention of having a booze up and couldnt care less about the enviroment, let alone fellow campers who do the right thing!

Macca

Andrew,
I've done the same in the High Country, and like you, I get really miffed by it all.

I could point the finger, but might get crticised for singling out the young hoon brigade, bike riders and the like, so I won't say it ;-))

One of the other problems is the lack of places where you can dump rubbish - Dargo tip is the only reliable place I've found. Licola doesn't possess a rubbish bin last time we were there.

Unfortunately, you get the same problem at roadside stops all over Australia, and at common campsites out in the desert.

But I think the EO forumites are more enlightened when it comes to rubbish

Cheers
Phil

I always carry one of those canvas bags that tie onto the rear wheel, and have no difficulty in filling it at various camps sites around NSW, even if I have just stopped for a cuppa.

Now I *know* that a cuppa and a couple of biscuits does not generate a canvas bag full or rubbish. Pretty sad really, and I agree, I suspect they are once a year campers.

Wish there was something more we could do.

Jack

Last time we were at Dalhousie, near the toilet block there is a very polite sign informing all who camp there that there is a rubbish dump about 1km down the road and was free to dispose all rubbish at the dump, but then there are morons who leave there rubbish in front of the sign.........no bin in site!

If you think it's safe, and be bloody careful about this, bring it to their attention before they leave. If you don't think it's safe then either clean it up yourself, PITA, or maybe start a 'Shame file' here if you actually SEE them littering. Don't assume they left the rubbish unless you actually SEE them deposit it.

Things have improved immensly in this regard. Back a few years no one ever took any rubish with them buried it or anything. Nowadays these spots are historical places of intrest. it seems the differnce between a disgracefull mess and a tourist attraction is about 60 years

Hi All,
For starters if your going to acuse someone..point the finger in the rite direction!!most of the 4wdrivers I know..are actively involved in clean ups such as the monthly Menia cleanup..we also go around filling up dangerously deep bog holes..wich I might add make 35's look like small boat trailer wheels..the people who do this are volenteers they get no pay for their back breaking work..the only thanks they get is from gratefull organisers..because thanks is all we can aford to pay them..we..in that I mean they anyone who has ever given of their liesure time to try keep tracks opened for everyone to enjoy.When we are back at camp recovering from our labour you see the dirty #$%$#@@so an so's litering riding like there's no tomorrow not giving a shyte about the next mans rite to peace. You start to see where a lot of the rubbish come from but what do you do if you aproach these people they want to rip your head off..I find it frustrating to say the least..I might add some riders do clean up after themselves..but the majoritie do'nt..most 4by's clean up aswell but sadly some don't..get active...take out what you take in..Help keep our tracks open for us and our grandchidren.
JD

some people are born dumb had a lady at double island walk up the beach and threw her rubbish in the bush beside our camp when confronted the only thing she could say was get %^&*( I wish is was my lucky day) . What give me willies was there’s an industrial bin on the beach 100 meters away. You would like to think people had common sense. But I think it’s called rare sense because I don’t think it’s common. Went to birsdsville bleep along the side of the road. the northern territory has a greening Australia policy its with vb cans mate I think the problem is every where I just hope the more we teach our kids and friends the better it will get we have a great country lets hope people start to realize it dags

Hi Andrew,
I totally agree with your sentiments. I have posted on this site in the past about our experiences with other campers and their rubbish. We were unfortunate enough to go camping one long weekend and actually expected that the place would be busy. What we didn't expect was the ute the drove in and dumped a couch out the back and drove off (numberplate noted and passed to Parks Vic) then the group of young people in the next camp up all night smoking bongs, radio blaring, dirt bikes up and down the steps over to the beach and then their clean up the next morning involved them disposing of their esky, tents, you name it, anything they didn't want to take out they dumped down the pit toilet. Every single food scrap you can imagine was thrown on the smouldering fire so the poor goanna they had been chasing up trees try to catch for the past few days arrived along with just about its entire family from half of victoria...
If we were not so fearful of their reaction we would have said something. As it was I took a handful of old shopping bags over and 'nicely' commented that they appeared to have forgotten theirs and that they might want to use ours to pick up all the empty stubbies left on the beach that the tide had not taken away. They did go and pick them up but after they left we found the bags full of empties thrown into the bushes by the path. I figure these days that we head to places that only a 4WD can get to. I know it's stereo typing, but I figure that if you spend that much effort to get in there it's generally for the things that most of us on this site appreciate. There is still rubbish around, but far less of it.

on my first mountain climbing adventure in the southern alps of new zealand i was awestruck with the beauty of the place. the extreme lungbursting, tortured tendons and aching muscles required to do this sort of activity makes one think that only the real hard core respectfull outdoor enthusiast will venture into these places. but no , high up above the treeline in the rocks and snow where only few people are crazy enough to go, wedged between some rocks i found plastic food wrappings...you just cant escape it anywhere....there should be insanely large fines for those responsible.. a 10 000 dollar fine is not out of place for someone who throws a coke can out the window as he drives along...are we really likely to feel sorry for some slob who does that with no respect for his country or others around him? NO! keep australia beautiful

I dont think there is any need to confront people if your not comfortable, all you need is a licence plate and as mentioned, give the EPA a call. The other day my family actually witnessed some people stop on the side of a normal suburbian road, get out, dump a full plastic bag of rubbish on the foot path, and casually drive off. THIS MAKES ME ANGRY!!!

This is now so bad on the Gibb River Road that a team of over 100 locals from Broome and Derby have to clear it up each year.

This whole road is through pastoral leases and there is increasing risk of the entire area being closed - as water sources are now being seriously polluted.
Collyn Rivers

Just came back from 2 weeks in New Zealand (South Island).

Australia has a lot to learn about camping, caravan parks and dump stations.

I think people should also take care of their personal waste and have dump points every 200 km or so.

Regards Derek

I'm going to Rainbow Beach this weekend and hope it is clean. I'm sick and tired of people digging holes on the beach to bury no.2.

Wish me luck.

Regards Derek.

We have to attack litter from the other end too. What I mean is strongly encouraging manufacturers to reduce packaging and to use materials that are less damaging to the environment. - Encourage companies to be good citizens.

Some of the hot food takeaway chains have already reduced packaging, but more could be done.

We allow new industries that create enormous waste and a good example is the bottled water industry. Dozens of plastic bottles from this industry can be seen in drains and water courses.

Ferals are Ferals, whatever they drive and wherever they are.

The same type of Neanderthals that leave rubbish behind also tend to drink until they are totally out of control and abuse anyone who challenges them.

Solution?.......A dose of lead.

'Idiots' isn't a stern enough word. I do alot of camping on the NSW North Coast and the Yobbo's are appalling. We usually camp from a Monday until the Friday of the following week so that we only experience one weekend in 12 days. When the weekend comes around you expect crowds but the 'hoon' element is unbearable. If you stay around Crescent Head you get the Kempsey locals. Further North it's the Grafton locals. The 'townies' use the coastal camping areas as overnight party venues and after you've gone fishing or surfing the next morning you find that some of your gear has gone walkabout.

I've been to 99 per cent of camp site around weipa and I like to drink So when I'm at camp it gets a bit messy with empty bottles all over the place but before we leave we clean up every single bottle lid empty bottle ciggie butt etc we can find and theres always about another large garbage bag full of extra rubbish that we have to take home it just makes me sick the idiots who dont give a shi* and the main roads up here a just covered in rubbish actualy on my camera I have a picture of a lizard I saved that I found on the road with its head in a xxxx tin. (I mean I would have given the poor bugger a bear if he had of asked :-) )

Hi,

Totally agree with most comments here but I reckon that unfortunately it is almost a lost battle. It seems to me that some people are just grubs and you only have to look around home to see that. My two sons seem to think that accumulating garbage is a key quality to independence (at 26 and 29 you would think they should not feel so insecure), some trade people I know happily throw rubbish on a work site (not their job to keep it clean) – unfortunately they do this at home as well. I also know smokers that feel it OK to throw butts anywhere they like. The good news is that most of these do not make it out bush.

My real beef with some of the comments here is the suggestion that it is just travellers that create this problem – this is not true. Equally any suggestions that as a consequence of this mess ALL travellers should/could be banned from remote areas are absurd. It is a fact that little can be done about the fraction of 1% that create this problem, the authorities (who ever these are in various areas) just don’t want to know, after all there is very little that they can do. They would however be happy to deny 100% access to solve this problem rather than deal with those responsible. I just get angry that some people should even suggest that this is the only solution and the notion that they are possibly in a position to influence those authorities in their decision making.

We can only be responsible for our own behaviour and certainly should not be punitively punished for the behaviour of others.

Kind regards

What irks me is finding room for all the extra crap. I budget enough space for taking out my own rubbish, but sometimes I've collected another couple of big bin bags of campsite litter while we're there.

Where do you put it? - on my lap, tow an empty trailer just in case? Even carried extra crap out on the bonnet before.

In SA for years beverage containers have had a small deposit on them at point of sale. This encourages collectors to go around collecting them and some of the original purchers to recycle them through appropriate collection points. It certainly helps with the problem. I understand that the reason the rest of Oz doesn't follow suit is that the beverage lobby is so powerful that pollies shy away from introduction of the impost.
Seems to me that we could all do our bit by lobbying pollies in other states to bring in similar policies.
Camper

Has anyone actually ever heard of somebody getting fined for littering? I've certainly never heard of a single case.

:o| Melissa

lets just face it theres just to many idiots out there its just as much locals as well the wankas its still not going to stop me cleaning up rubbish at a camp site but I'm sick of it all it takes is 2 mins before you leave and its done.