When is litter not litter?

Now,

IF YOU had thrown it out it would probably be considered litter !! <(:-)

Hi SDG

Our council in their wisdom have decided that we should have another recycling bin to put all our waste in such as food scraps so it can be put into a compost heap at their depot.
So I suppose the NPWS Ranger is right in saying that it's ok.

Cheers keep recycling;

Young son,
I have no problem leaving fruit and veggie scraps away from the maddening crowd as long as it can't cause problems with the spread of fruit fly or disease.

Sometimes we just strive to be to squeaky clean which we are not.

I laughed once at Chambers Pillar when some of the local children were throwing tissues around in the wind while their dad was showing the rangers around. The tissues would have broken down quickly so who cares. They were having a great time.

RA.

I used to think fruit beaks down really quickly but one day my wife and I, whilst walking on the Bibbulmun track, sat on a log and had lunch. I dropped several grapes and left them there on the assumption they would break down or get eaten. We did the same walk two months later and stopped at the same log. The grapes were still there and looked pretty fresh (it was winter). So it looks like native animals in that area don't eat grapes, and possibly not a lot of other fruits.

This thread got me thinking. If an animal did eat, for example, an apple. It could travel some distance and poop out an apple seed or two along the way. In reasonable growing areas there is a good chance they will germinate. So now there are self seeded apple trees in the bush. I would rather that didn't happen. Burying potato peelings results in potato plants, which will regrow every year in the right conditions.

Also, I know when I walk the Bib Track or even drive in the country I don't want to see human refuse.... I go to see Aussie bush as unsullied as possible. So, I rekon, if you carry it in then carry it out.... always. Its the polite and reasonable thing to do.

Three problems I see with it.
1. If it is a popular area and everyone dumbs their scraps of food the place soon becomes a tip. You imagine all the people staying in a caravan park dumping their scraps under a tree over christmas break. Also it could encourage rodents to the area (not all animals in our bush are native or good). This could then encourage snakes to the camping ground.
Food these days are so full of preservatives so not all food breaks down as quickly as we think.

2. Where do you stop. You start throwing out food scraps, then someone throws out there left over Mcdonalds burger, before long people are throwing everything out. We already have enough trouble with rubbish in the bush to add to it.

3. Do we really want an apple tree growing in our wonderful native bushland.

Josh

"Don't panic it's organic" was the reply I got from a NP ranger on a high school camping trip when he threw some orange peel in the bushes. I suppose its a matter of courtesy. I wouldnt leave organic food scraps at a place where other people might want to stay even if it does not harm the environment but have no issues with tossing a core into the scrub on a bush walk somewhere.

I reckon if you can carry it in, you can carry it out. I don't see that introducing vegetable waste to a site can help.

It only takes a piece of spud peel to take and you've got a crop of spuds! Not a good look in a NP.

How many people on here throw their vegie and fruit scraps on their front lawn at home??So why do it in the bush??? Take it in, take it out, not hard really.

Josh

OMG!!!

Miners in the late 1800's disposed of the tins used for blackberry jam across the gold fields of the high country.

What harm could it do?

At least the tins have long gone.

QUOTE - Can cooked seeds sprout? - UNQUOTE

Honky - It depends on the seed type. Many vegetable seeds are ruined by cooking, but quite a number of the hard seeds, such as many Australian native plants from semi-desert regions, often need heat to fire them up.

The seeds we've found that survive the heat of the compost bin are mainly pumpkin & tomato. The vigorous plants, the ones that are easy to grow, are the ones that will sprout in the wild.

However, the rainfall frequency and the soil moisture are critical to fruit & vegetable survival. If the ground dries out, even for a short period, they're buggered.
Then there's the factor of the amount of animals/pests in the area that like chewing on nice tasty fresh shoots.
It seems like anytime I try to grow anything like fruit or vegies, I might as well have a flashing traffic information light on the shoots, saying to the pests - "Over here! - this is where the tasty shoots are!" [:-)

Cheers - Ron.

I used to think along these lines - it is natural, some animal will eat it etc, but when you know the density of foxes in this country - ranging from 1 per 3 sq km in the desert areas to over 800 per sq km in cities, I no longer throw or leave anything. Foxes and pigs are omnivores and will eat anything, so my view is to let them starve..... The last thing this country needs is an outbreak of Foot and Mouth or some other nasty exotic disease which would decimate the domestic and export meat industry.

Things like apple trees require another tree for the fruit to set, but if they do, a feral treee will not be tended and is a potential base for all sorts of diseases and pests to breed from.

We should all be responsible for keeping our backyard clean and tidy. Australia isour backyard. Keep it neat.

Looks like I opened up a can of worms. Some say it's fine, others not.

Plenty of room for thought.

From my bushwalking days, the ethics for rubbish removal was always if you carry it in full, it's a lot less bulky and lighter to carry out empty.

This is easily carried over to 4wd'n, and of course it's even easier !
All you need is some hardy rubbish bags.

Someone mentioned orange peel . . . this and mandarins etc take almost an eternity to break down, and remain a scar of the aesthetics of an area for all who pass by.
So too would other scraps, even if they do break down within a week or two.

With toilet procedures, you should indeed bury solid waste, nothing worse than walking out of camps into the bush and finding huge amounts of paper and carp left on the surface.
A hole in the surface soil about 30cm deep, enough to not be attractive to animals digging around, and it will break down very fast in this more organic soil layer.
In rocky terrain, look for fallen trees for better soil at the root ball, and it makes for a great start on getting the hole dug.
Burning the paper is a good idea, like DickyBeach said it burns very subtlety.

There are some places in Australia where carrying out toilet waste is the done thing, kayaking the Franklin, and above the snowline are certainly two places this is done routinely.

Now, on this, what about campfires.
I now have a campfire where permitted when camping with the 4b.
No problems with burning anything truly paper, but on some group trips, I've seen MANY people putting plastics, foil, and cans into the fires.

These of course will not break down, but be buried in the ashes and covered over with dirt, out of sight out of mind for many.
Until they are dug up by another person or animal, or soil washes away in heavy rain etc.

Anyway, great topic and hope it gets people thinking about what they and others in their groups do, never too late to correct what one does out there.

Cheers,
Les

Gday,
Have you ever thought of using a bit of common sense?