Leave no trace: Finland removes litter bins from national parks
Leave no trace: Finland removes litter bins from national parks
The practice of litter-free hiking is becoming increasingly popular.
Feels like: let's remove hospitals so that less people get injured 🤷🏼♂️
Litter bins in the middle of a forest still have to be emptied by someone. And while they are there, they can be accessed by wildlife.
The correct solution here really is for the same people that bring the trash, to take it back with them, and discard it elsewhere.
If people won't do that, then yes, the litter bin is the better option, but if they do, removing them is the better option. Especially if they aren't even being filled anymore.
This is the locigal next step for an already improving hiking culture.
Japan is very similar but not exclusive to parks, even in the middle of Tokyo. Pretty much EVERYWHERE in Japan expects you to carry your own trash.
The only exception to this really being at restaurant's, street food markets, and "some" vending machines (which will have recycling for cans/plastic).
And you know what? There's very little trash on the streets. The dirtiest areas I experienced was Osaka near Amerika-mura (young trendy area) which was mostly just stuck gum, cigarette butts, and in the early AM maybe an empty can of beer.
and if people throw their trash on the ground, they themselves should be removed instead. litterers are literal scum of the earth.
You are totally right and I never wanted to imply that people should be able to take trash into the wildlife. I'm just not sure if it's the best way to just remove the litter bins. Many people that didn't get the note will throw their trash into nature because of the lack of a trashcan.
If the trash is already there, it's too late. There should be a way to enforce that in a way were ignoring or not knowing about the rules will not result in an even worse outcome.
the bins can be designed to prevent wildlife from accessing them. I guess they don’t have any other facilities nearby that would need maintenance as well. So bring your own water and porta potty as well.
I am not sure how removing the littler bins will help. Sure there are disciplined people trying to abide by laws and such, but the more a place gets popular, the more it attracts trash? It’s an odd choice to remove the means for people to dispose of their litter properly.
Perhaps there’a another angle to this?
I guess it speaks more to how many fins are cleanly by nature when it comes to their travel and camping?
Because, yeah, sure, above a certain critical mass this is good. Less animals plundering bins and so on.
Try that over here, and it's the opposite. We need more bins so people stop throwing trash everywhere when there's always a bin within arm's reach pretty much.
Not in the slightest. It's not exactly a massive burden to take your rubbish home with you.
It's not about burden, it's about the ststistical possibility this happens.
Not stealing a car isn't s burden either, would you let your car sit on the street unlocked though?
Good laws/rules should avoid problems instead of hoping everyone would follow them, which never happens anyway.
That's why you don't just outlaw hateful speech and hope for the best but try to instill in young people why hateful speech is bad.
You need a solution that scales and isn't depending on good will is all I'm trying to bring across 🤷🏼♂️
I can't speak for Finland, but I think Sweden has a similar culture and the "leave no trace" motto is strong here since nature is considered a communal resource.
I have never seen bins even on major trails here, but I have never seen anything but miniscule amounts of litter either.
If there is no need to pay for the upkeep of bins, why not put those resources to better use like conservation of the park?
Success will definitely depend on if the number of people who take their stuff with them outnumber the people who will just litter instead. There are some trails by my parent's house, and when they took away (most of, not even all of) the trash cans to try to reduce litter and garbage from animals getting into the trash, the amount of litter on the trails noticably increased.
They've done this in South Australia too. Still not sure whether it promotes littering or not.
Japan is probably the cleanest country I've ever been to and you rarely see a bin on the street. Easily accessible bins promote carelessness with the trash you produce. If there are no bins you need to think ahead and plan how you'll dispose of your trash.
Or you end up with rubbish strewn all over the road, sidewalks, pathways, and open spaces like you see in NYC after they removed trash cans for fears of bombs.
It’s not even there are no bins, it’s a faux pas to use a bin that isn’t yours (like even vendors in a market). You have save everything for a 7/11 lol
I went to Hawaii and they added MORE trash cans on a particular hike.
I asked why and it was because foot traffic tripled. I said is it because of all the littering, and he said, "People accidentally drop things. Baby bottles, tissues."