Volunteer Garbos

I totaly agree with you Bill.

I was talking to my auntie who lives at Dungowan just east of Tamworth and she said that someone had been camped in a caravan or motorhome, cannot recall which she said, down on the local common or sports field.

No problem there but they had been there a week and when they left they left their rubbish behind. She could not believe that someone could be that inconsiderate or filfthy. I have seen this location and it is a nice little spot, not much in the way of facilities but a free camp none the less. Why would anybody want to spoil it for the rest. It is that couldn't give a crop attitude which is prevalent among some sections.
Next the council will close it down I suppose. Can't blame them under those sorts of circumstances.

Another incident took place at Glen Riddle Reserve near Barraba back in may when a couple of youngish blokes (certainly old enough to know better), probably late twenties, had a camp at the far end and when they left the had chucked everything, bottles as well, into the fire and just took off.

When the council guys came around the next day I told them that they were locals, as they had taken off after setting up camp and came back about 40 mins later with a boat.
And that none of the travelers we had seen there had left their camp unclean.

I had taken a photo of the yobos down in their camp and it turns out that I have their rego number in one of my photographs.

I only discovered their mess when I went to observe a Wedge Tail Eagle which had been feasting on something at their abandoned camp site or rubbish tip.

Some people are really low lives in my opinion. Oxygen thieves I think is the correct name for them.

We should get up a name and shame thing. If you see someone doing the wrong thing then get a photo. It might come in handy.

Cheers, Bruce

There is no excuse for littering. Even when I'm out hiking with a full pack I still find somewhere to store my rubbish and other people's rubbish I pick up along the way.

I had an unfortunate experience with a fisherman in Port Macquarie a little while back. When I walk along the waterfront, beaches, jetties, breakwalls, etc, I pick up a lot of rubbish, mostly bait bags, tangled line, sinkers, hooks and abandoned clothing and rags stained with fish guts. One day, with my hands full of baits bags and line, I asked a fisherman to make sure he takes his garbage with him so it doesn't get washed or blown into the water. He laughed at me and then snarled that he doesn't need to worry about his rubbish when there are people like me to pick it up for him.

Cigarette butts are disgusting. They are everywhere. I don't know where people think they're going to go once they drop them on the ground or throw them out their windows. I often call out to people who I see drop their butt and tell them in a helpful manner that i think they dropped something and ask if that cigarette butt is their's. It usually embarrasses them, especially if there are people around who stop and watch, but they don't pick it up unless I tell them to. They really don't care that littering is a crime and damages the environment.

I do a lot of walking along the edge of the road and am about to do some more and I wish I could pick up the rubbish I find but I could fill several bin bags an hour on most stretches of road, and there is always heaps of rubbish around rest stops and sidings, even the ones with a bin. Sometimes I wonder if there was some way to fill the bags and leave them somewhere safe for someone else to pick up and take to the closest council dump but it would take me hours to walk just a few kms. I don't mind finding coins though :)

Why don't they have more crims doing community service and parole and low security gaol inmates out rubbish collecting? Bring in something like Singapore's litter laws and discipline - if you're caught littering you do a certain number of hours picking up litter. It makes sense to me.