Campfire Litter Etiquette

So you've chosen to go camping in the wilderness, within a national park or at a music festival in the countryside as an ideal break for yourself or the people that are coming with you to get away from all the stresses of life whether it be that exhausting job (not that it ever applies to litter picking! Unless you can't get enough sleep, that is), looking after the kids, looking for cheaper holiday options, getting away from the lights of the big city or just taking a so-called 'tech break', you just can't wait to see the most natural beauty that Earth can offer you. (e.g. Ben Lomond within Loch Lomond as seen below)

You arrive in nature to expect that the sight be clean.

In reality, it can often be like this:

In reality, it is often the mess most people will likely leave behind because of one expectation: "there are already people who clean the place up so I should therefore try keeping them in a job". To bust a myth, you're actually being the bad one by leaving your rubbish behind and expecting other innocent people to pick up after you in order to compensate for your laziness.

"Oh the bin was full" - There are plenty of other bins about; it's just you haven't found them yet. Maybe you could do with some more exercise to burn off the extra calories finding an extra bin.

"I can't take it home with me, it stinks" - GET A GRIP!! MAN UP (if you are a man)! At least on the bright side, you are properly getting rid of it afterwards.

One of my late Grandfathers, who died in 2001, always made the following inspirational teaching statement to my mother whenever the family headed up the hills for a picnic: "Always leave a place the way you first found it". In other words, if the place you are going to is not littered, leave it that way! If it is dirty, try and make some effort to get rid of the litter (except for dead animals or dangerous/heavy waste). There is advice already out there for camping etiquette but they never seem to specifically mention how you should manage your litter.

So here are the following equipment you will need to take before you go on that camping trip, apart from food, drink and tent equipment:

1) Shopping bags (like this one below from ASDA)

If you do lots of shopping with plastic bags and they still work whilst you collect more from future trips to the store, I'm sure you'll have no problem using them. In fact, they can be packed easily.

OR

2) Spare refuse sack (or bin bag or garbage bag) best in the form of a pack in case one of them fails.

These can easily be bought from almost any grocery or cheap store, big or just on a small corner of the street. They are cheap so don't complain that they waste your money.

3) Rucksacks. Although they are used for hiking, they often do have an empty space so that waste can be placed into and taken to the nearest bin or home with you.

So there you have it: all the advice you need to be one of hell of a good-mannered camper. I don't want to hear excuses from any person who thinks they should never take their waste to the nearest bin after a camping trip they'll never forget (or maybe the opposite if you got a hangover). If your fellow campers don't respect your decision to make the place clean while setting a good example to everyone around you, clean the place up anyway and you definitely need to find some new people to camp with (If you could make your revenge towards your littering 'friends' bittersweet, turn them in anonymously. I'm sure their trip will turn out to be a more expensive one with a tough-love lesson involved).