Anger amid rise in 'dirty camping' in rural Scotland

[Janne]

All people can be educated, but it has to start early.
Thunberg.
Just as you, I do not need any lectures from the people that write her speeches. Do not start me on her either........


Poor girl, imagine puking your guts out for two weeks, trying to sleep strapped into a net cocoon, eating cans and using a bucket.....
I was in a similar boat for two days. Never again.....

If these yobs get caught, they will get punished, but it is virtually impossible to catch them. You do not want more surveillance cameras in UK, do you? Because that would be a solution, covering 100% of the road net with them.

As a child, I made a lot of cash collecting bottles people chucked everywhere, but that income dried out in mid 1970's when the 'recycling message' penetrated the thick frontal bone on people. At the end it was only the drunks we collected from, and that was only possible if they fell asleep so we could 'liberate' the bottles....

 

[Tengu]

DNA can be garnered from poop...

 

[demographic]

DNA can be garnered from poop...

Should the bears be worried?

 

[Janne]

DNA can be garnered from poop...

For that, you would need a DNA register of all inhabitants of UK...

A bit to close to 1984, innit?

 

[C_Claycomb]

The databases are largely in place to find people from CCTV and phone activity in a lot of the country, but it is costly, so is reserved for serious crimes and terrorism. Robbery, vandalism, and littering don't quite make the cut

 

[Janne]

I believe the DNA database consists only of serious criminals.
If Tengu throws away her debris in a lane she will never be caught.

Also, to retrieve DNA from a pile of rubbish is an Herculean effort.
It must contain the DNA from lots of people, and how do you determine which one is the culprit?

It is better, easier and far cheaper to prevent this by education.
It works in other countries, will work in the British isles too.

It is known from which countries the culprits are in my area in Norway.
Packaging ( food mainly) from specific countries. We help to pick up the rubbish in our neighborhood.
Also it is easy to check with the local supermarket who bought the food which is sold by weight, either type fruit and veg, or prepackaged with different weight on the packages.

It is getting so bad the local council have been discussing closing down some of the tourist destinations and spots.

 

[Keith_Beef]

Sometimes I wonder if it's a way of coping for kids today though. They're told they have no future, no chance of owning a house, can't afford education, world is ending due to climate change, mental health is a huge issue, big chance of spending your life working in a call centre taking flak for a company who don't care about customers or employees, what do they have to take pride in now?

There's a lot of truth in what you say, but I believe that individual responsibility has to be instilled in children by educators and parents. I don't accept "the kids have no future" as an explanation.

I grew up in a poor family in a poor neighbourhood of an industrial city in decline during the cold war when everybody was talking about the very real possibility of the Soviets dropping the bomb... I know what "no future" feels like.

But I was brought up with the values of leaving a place better than I found it, of not damaging other peoples' property or the community's property. Those values didn't just appear in my head, they came from family, school, Scouts.

 

[EdS]

On the up side, Loch Doon was pretty litter free this weekend.

Especially considering the issues in the past.
But I guess they've just moved elsewhere

 

[C_Claycomb]

Scotland needs to re-introduce bears. Specially trained in Yosemite.

 

[santaman2000]

Scotland needs to re-introduce bears. Specially trained in Yosemite.

Or trained in n Jellystone.

 

[Toddy]

Isn't it a pleasure to go somewhere, and it's clean, free from debris and rubbish ?

There is a culture of littering in the UK. It's so commonplace that even our roadsides have workers cleaning up the rubbish and no one comments on it anymore. Politicians don't rant agin the waste of time and money, rarely are the 'dumb dumpers' actually caught and held accountable.
Mobility means that the countryside is now seeing more and more visitors, and many are just taking their littering culture with them....after all, they're so used to someone else cleaning things up at home, why should it be any different in the country ?

That's the problem that anyone trying to change things has to face, and it's not easy, especially when you see the trash and filth and completely disposable and unvalued stuff left behind at festivals.

At this point the only thing really effective is to employ more bin men

 

[Janne]

I guess the 'dirty/filthy campers' leave behind mainly wraps of the useless 'energy bars. 'protein bars' and empty plastic water bottles and other 'hydration' aids that comes in single use plastic?
In UK I mean?

That is what we find in Norway. Plus plastic food packages of course. Not so many cans, or soda bottles, as those you get money back on when you return them.

Here on Cayman, everything is found by the roadside, or the very few public footpaths ( Beach acess paths). Everything!

The Charitable clubs ( all of them ) have 'picking up' days.

 

[santaman2000]

It’s not just the UK Mary. We have our share (and then some) of litterers. I miss the days when people actually paid at least some attention to PSAs like this:

 

[Broch]

I have travelled through countries that make the UK look positively clean - especially when you consider our population density. It still makes my blood boil though

 

[Woody girl]

When I leave a site all I leave nothing at all behind. If I have a fire it is dug in and camouflaged. All rubbish that cannot be burned (plastics cans glass etc... if I take it at all in the first place) is taken away and recycled appropriately. Body waste is buried at least 6 in deep out of the way and marked with crossed sticks. Don't know why, it was how my romany friend taught me to do it. My aim is to leave no trace of my presence ...... apart from the crossed sticks. I think that as romanies often use the same spots to camp in it acted as a warning to others not to dig in that spot!

 

[Janne]

Are the Peaky Blinders ( fantastic TV series) romanies?

One of the best Tv series EVER.

 

[Paul_B]

It happens in the lakes too. I've seen one popular wildcamping spot near Patterdale (angle tarn near boredale hause iirc) that's full of Sh1t. Basically every little hiding spot where someone could defecate with a degree if privacy there's human waste and toilet paper. The trouble is those places are typically where the various streams feeding into the tarn are located. So if you need water you might think you've checked the stream is clean but some dirty muppet might have gone further up. Toilet paper in the stream you've just taken water from isn't nice.

Anyway, I learnt why it's so bad. The nearest outward bounds centre took kids up there to wildcamp. That really surprised me since I always thought OB was a very responsible provider of outdoors education.

 

[Woody girl]

That's realy irresponsible letting the kids do that. Surely they can teach them how to " go " responsibly? What is wrong with people?

 

[Janne]

Nobody today is allowed to tell anybody else off these days.
Everybody expects to be treated with silk gloves, patted nicely on the head, and be rewarded for anything.

Re ‘wild defecation’: is nobody digging latrines anymore?
Any camp needs either a Portaloo or a latrine!

 

[santaman2000]

Nobody today is allowed to tell anybody else off these days.
Everybody expects to be treated with silk gloves, patted nicely on the head, and be rewarded for anything.

Re ‘wild defecation’: is nobody digging latrines anymore?
Any camp needs either a Portaloo or a latrine!

Deep latrines were generally replaced years ago by “cat holes.” Once you get deeper than about 6 to 10 inches the soil is too sterile for the feces to decompose.