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Collecting garbage - A duty for conscious pilgrims?

alexwalker

Forever Pilgrim
Time of past OR future Camino
2009-2022: CFx6, CP, VdlPx2, Mozarabe, more later.
On my next camino (sept. or so, I think) I am going to bring a bag each day and pick up garbage. I have often done this, but not systematically. Why do it?

I am tired of seeing empty plastic bottles (weighs nothing), empty sigarette packs (weighs nothing) etc etc along the trails. If I put it on the back of my pack, it will not bother me at all, and I'll dump it upon arriving at the albergues. I cannot fix the stupid graffiti along the way, but I can contribute on the garbage.

It is so sad to realise that the camino is hosting so many mindless people who just throw things on the ground. What are they (not) thinking?! Better clean up after them. Payback for all the good times I have had on the caminos. Will you join in?
 
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I was thinking about that, especially now that I'm planning to use a pole (no way I'm using my hand to gather other people's used TP!). I use some very nice compostable 'plastic' bags at home that also are not noisy and a roll of it won't add much weight to my trip.

How much trash do you think it's possible to collect daily? Do you think that a 20L bag is too much/too little for a day of trash?
 
We did that last time collecting cans and water bottles (although i must say they were a minimal occurence along the CP in April). No problem in doing that for the next camino as well :)

I wonder if we should contact camino associations to put some posters like "Do not litter - next bin 2km" or something like that.
 
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On my next camino (sept. or so, I think) I am going to bring a bag each day and pick up garbage. I have often done this, but not systematically.
Triple like, Alex! The more in this club, the better!:)
I'm planning to use a pole (no way I'm using my hand to gather other people's used TP!)
You can use tongs, or one of those fancy pick-up-tools. Both work. But be prepared to go slowly while you pick...which is actually good since it makes you pay attention here and now and undercuts the goal-oriented 'getting there' mentality.
How much trash do you think it's possible to collect daily?
It depends on the route, and what part of the route you'll be walking. I take plastic bags that come from tiendas, and on the Frances have filled several over the couse of a day's walk. When one is getting full, I just turf it in the trash container at the next village and start on the new one.
Will you join in?
Please.
There are benefits: besides the slowing down...it's service, and polishes our patience and non-judgement!

BTW...Not all of the trash is from pilgrims; along roads a lot tends to be from local people. One place on the Ingles, we were picking up Coke cans on one side of the road, and Estrella Galicia beer cans on the other. We were chuckling, imagining someone drinking the coke while going to work, then the beer while coming home. Well, who knows? And it doesn't matter. Trash is trash, and there is a lot of gladness that comes from leaving a place cleaner than you found it.
 
On my next camino (sept. or so, I think) I am going to bring a bag each day and pick up garbage. I have often done this, but not systematically. Why do it?

I am tired of seeing empty plastic bottles (weighs nothing), empty sigarette packs (weighs nothing) etc etc along the trails. If I put it on the back of my pack, it will not bother me at all, and I'll dump it upon arriving at the albergues. I cannot fix the stupid graffiti along the way, but I can contribute on the garbage.

It is so sad to realise that the camino is hosting so many mindless people who just throw things on the ground. What are they (not) thinking?! Better clean up after them. Payback for all the good times I have had on the caminos. Will you join in?
Which Camino is that, Alex?
Because I don't remember really a lot of garbage along the road on other Caminos than Frances.

But I got the impression that the main litterers are actually Spaniards. I remember (on Levante in La Gineta) father and son came with a car, stopped, got into the bar, father bough a pack of cigarettes and while walking back from the bar to the car he was unwrapping the pack and threw the paper on the street. In sight of his son of approx.8 years. And that was it. Just an example for what I want to say.

And another Spanish guy told me that he is paying taxes for keeping the streets clean. Yep.

Myself I even don't throw a cigarette butt on the street in my own hometown (a fisherman once told me that the nicotine contained in one cigarette butt would kill every fish in one cubic meter of water) because the water from the street goes directly to the river. Same I act in Spain. But once again, I saw Spaniards littlering, not "guests". Which doesn't mean there are none, of course.

Anyway, nice gesture!!!
 
I probably wouldn't get involved for two reasons.

1. People are employed to clear up trash. They are paid for by tax payers.

2. Perhaps people will eventually stop littering when they see the scale of the mess they leave behind. Picking up their rubbish and they'll probably continue to litter thinking that someone else will clear up after them.
 
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I really like that Alexwalker!
A few years ago I also started to do likewise. For myself I do know that I need to keep it fun without a duty, I know that otherwise I get grumpy and judgemental to others. And the camino is too beautiful for that!

I now usually take one of these bags you get in supermarkets. When I feel like or when I see a 'gratefull to be cleaned' stretch, I take this bag inside out over my hand and pick up stuf untill it is full. I do it once a day, also only like I feel like (need to keep telling myself: it is not a duty... :cool:). Sometimes it is full in 100 mtrs, sometimes it takes 1 or more km. In the end I know that I cleaned a few kms of camino without duty, that feels good!
I know that many people do it too, and most of them 'silently'. And of course there is also Rebekah who does a lot of kms every year with her team. All together it helps a lot.

If there are 100 people a day starting from SJPdP, and everyone would clean only 1 km during their whole camino (about 33 meters a day), every spot on the Frances would be cleaned every week. There is an average of 500 people a day arriving in SdC who did the Frances. If a tenth of us.....:D

1. People are employed to clear up trash. They are paid for by tax payers.
When there is nothing to be picked up anymore, These people can do even better things!
And by the way, there are also people paid by tax payers (you and me) who raise children if no one else does. I still hope you raise your children yourself and I think we all should try.

Buen camino to all!
 
1. People are employed to clear up trash. They are paid for by tax payers.
On roads in towns, perhaps. But not along parts of the Camino that are more out of the way.
2. Perhaps people will eventually stop littering when they see the scale of the mess they leave behind. Picking up their rubbish and they'll probably continue to litter thinking that someone else will clear up after them.
They couldn't care less whether it gets picked up or not. That's why they litter. The scale of the mess won't matter one iota.

It's not 'someone ele's problem,' it's everyone's problem. Our problem. Even if someone else did the littering. We have two choices: we can complain about it or do something about it. So let's all do a little something about it - cumulative clean-up efforts by people who care can make a big difference. A lot of a little is a lot, as Thomas says so well:
If there are 100 people a day starting from SJPdP, and everyone would clean only 1 km during their whole camino (about 33 meters a day), every spot on the Frances would be cleaned every week. There is an average of 500 people a day arriving in SdC who did the Frances. If a tenth of us.....:D
 
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Which Camino is that, Alex?
Because I don't remember really a lot of garbage along the road on other Caminos than Frances.

Anyway, nice gesture!!!
Thank you. Yes, I will most likely do CF, which is the main problem vs. littering. With a 3-4 days sidetrip from Burgos to Covarubbias on the Camino San Olav:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/resources/el-camino-san-olav-a-walkers-guide.518/

This is an easy, nice 3-day walk in peace, far from the crowds. A nice break from the frenzy...

Edit: I think that the CF is populated by many "touristigrinos", while many other caminos are used by more experienced peregrinos who have obtained a closer relationship to these walks. I don't mean to offend any firsttimers, though: most walk well and clean up after themselves. It is just that the shere volume of walkers will bring some idiots as well. Mathematical statistics at work...
 
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On my next camino (sept. or so, I think) I am going to bring a bag each day and pick up garbage. I have often done this, but not systematically. Why do it?

I am tired of seeing empty plastic bottles (weighs nothing), empty sigarette packs (weighs nothing) etc etc along the trails. If I put it on the back of my pack, it will not bother me at all, and I'll dump it upon arriving at the albergues. I cannot fix the stupid graffiti along the way, but I can contribute on the garbage.

It is so sad to realise that the camino is hosting so many mindless people who just throw things on the ground. What are they (not) thinking?! Better clean up after them. Payback for all the good times I have had on the caminos. Will you join in?
We didn't see much in June, but thank you. I am thinking of bringing a small had of yellow paint with a little brush to brighten up some of the arrows when I walk next summer. Does anyone know if this would be illegal?
 
Everyone should be responsible for their own littering, recycling and living. The world would be a better place if they were but they'll always be some that rely on the goodwill of others. Picking up their trash is not getting to the root of the problem.
 
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I walked from Leon to Santiago arriving on June 9. It rained almost every day. I only saw and picked up a few chocolate bar wrappers on the trail that entire time. I know that most days I was walking a few hours behind a man who was picking up garbage but even he wasn't finding much. Was it due to the rain? I don't know. But there were a lot less pilgrims on the trail and no problem getting a bed even from Sarria. Camino Frances was a pleasure to walk even in the rain this past June.
 
... Picking up their trash is not getting to the root of the problem.

No, but it gets the trash off the Camino and out of the environment. If we would only do what addresses "the root of the problem" we very often would end up doing --- nothing.

Buen Camino, SY
 
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No, but it gets the trash off the Camino and out of the environment. If we would only do what addresses "the root of the problem" we very often would end up doing --- nothing.

So the good people clear up after the bad and so it will always be. Sometimes it's better to magnify a problem in the hope of permanently resolving it. The band aid approach will simply not make the issue go away.

Why should I or anyone else have to clean up after others? It's simply not right.
 
@long trails

The one thing that we "litter pickers" do is giving an example, gently, hopefully educating people. And no, nobody HAS to do it, some of us just WANT to do it. As somebody famous (don't remember who) said, and I paraphrase here:

For evil rubbish to prevail there is only one thing necessary, (good) people not doing anything.

Buen Camino, SY
 
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Educating them by picking up their trash? Yea like they are going to be standing there watching pilgrims all day. Come on that's not a real world solution.

The sort of people who would ruin their environment will not respond to do-gooders and being 'educated' this way. They'd respond more to signs with fixed penalty notices and other threats.

If anything, seeing others pick up their rubbish would probably encourage them to do the opposite.
 
Ok! We’re in. We will each pick up at least one bag of garbage a day and put it near a garbage basket along the way ( which will be overflowing, of course).

I agree with SYATES... most of us..especially from other countries cannot change poor habits in a foreign country except through example. If we all even pick up one bag a day and are on the Camino for 30 days =30bags times 100 people do it every day... that would be 3 thousand bags being picked up every day! Yes it would make a difference.
 
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€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
It's not a command but the insinuation is that if you do not pick up other people's trash then you are not conscious. It seems that most people on this thread agrees.

I am merely suggesting that it's not the best way to tackle the issue long term.
 
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Ok! We’re in. We will each pick up at least one bag of garbage a day and put it near a garbage basket along the way ( which will be overflowing, of course).

I agree with SYATES... most of us..especially from other countries cannot change poor habits in a foreign country except through example. If we all even pick up one bag a day and are on the Camino for 30 days =30bags times 100 people do it every day... that would be 3 thousand bags being picked up every day! Yes it would make a difference.
Are trash bags available to the "pickers up"? I can't stand the sight of trash so I'd be willing to collect.
 
On my next camino (sept. or so, I think) I am going to bring a bag each day and pick up garbage. I have often done this, but not systematically. Why do it?

I am tired of seeing empty plastic bottles (weighs nothing), empty sigarette packs (weighs nothing) etc etc along the trails. If I put it on the back of my pack, it will not bother me at all, and I'll dump it upon arriving at the albergues. I cannot fix the stupid graffiti along the way, but I can contribute on the garbage.

It is so sad to realise that the camino is hosting so many mindless people who just throw things on the ground. What are they (not) thinking?! Better clean up after them. Payback for all the good times I have had on the caminos. Will you join in?
Definitely will pick up . Pity those mindless people don't know that humans are "stewards of this world" or I'm sure they'd think twice before just dumping stuff.
 
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Why should I or anyone else have to clean up after others? It's simply not right.
So, when we see a wrong that can be remedied we don't do something? Sorry, @long trails...respectfully, I beg to differ. Very pragmatically, the people who trash the camino don't have a problem with litter. We do. So if we want it cleaned up, we do it - and then eventually reap what we sow. The fairness in the long run comes with the consequences of having done something decent versus having done something that's selfish and lazy.
Come on that's not a real world solution.
Nor is not picking up the trash. The folks who litter are oblivious and probably won't notice one way or another.
But picking it up leaves the camino cleaner and is a happy thing to do.
 
It's not a command but the insinuation is that if you do not pick up other people's trash then you are not conscious. It seems that most people on this thread agrees.

I am merely suggesting that it's not the best way to tackle the issue long term.

hello @long trails your posts make you sound very angry and you have kept coming back at @SYates posts. We are all pilgrims, whether motivated by faith or not. I recently felt obliged to apologise for post that was overly censorious. It is easy to get caught up in an argument and forget the good things about walking to Santiago. Buen Camino!
 
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It's not a command but the insinuation is that if you do not pick up other people's trash then you are not conscious. It seems that most people on this thread agrees.

I am merely suggesting that it's not the best way to tackle the issue long term.
In my honest opinion it's better that you stop with your negative talk , it's going now where.
Peter.
 
Educating them by picking up their trash? Yea like they are going to be standing there watching pilgrims all day. Come on that's not a real world solution.

The sort of people who would ruin their environment will not respond to do-gooders and being 'educated' this way. They'd respond more to signs with fixed penalty notices and other threats.

If anything, seeing others pick up their rubbish would probably encourage them to do the opposite.

I can understand that you may not want to spend your Camino picking up the trash that others have left behind. What I understand less is that you seem to be offended by and disparaging of those who do make the effort to improve the path. You are adamant and insistent that it will not be effective. Yet you offer no effective alternatives, short term or long term. Your preferred approach is to have the situation get as bad as possible and then hope that someone, somehow will solve it. (Perhaps by "stiff penalties" that can be easily avoided by littering without witnesses, easily done in my experience of the Camino, even in high season.)

I hope you will forgive me in appreciating the efforts of those who remove garbage from the Camino, their own or others'. If someone walks by and removes 10 pieces of garbage one day and other pilgrims leave 10 other pieces in their place, you may think it completely ineffective. I am happy that there are 10 pieces and not 20 on the trail.

Picking up after others may not be for you. But disparaging those who do just seems mean spirited. At least from where I'm sitting. Others may have different opinions.
 
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A positive and practical post on that older thread that is worth recycling:
if you have a plastic shopping bag at the start of the day, and you just pick up trash along the path as you see it, just enough to fill one bag, and you put that bag in a trash bin, well. You´re DOING something about the problem. Enough people do this simple thing (which also gives you a good morning warm-up stretch), and the problem would be on its way to solution. People will see you doing this. Some will smirk at you. Others will be careful not to drop their junk on the ground when you are around. Some might actually start picking up trash,
too.


Counting the plastic bottles and cans and doing the math on how bad it´s going to be in 2020 and getting steamed at the idiots who do these things will only make you peevish and ill. Getting mad and assigning blame does not help anything.

It´s very rare to actually see someone throwing trash on the ground. When this happens, I ALWAYS pick up the trash (unless it´s doodoo) and I run up to the person who threw it and I say "Hey! You dropped this trash on the ground! I know you didn´t mean to, right?" And I hand it to him. (This has only happened twice, but it was very gratifying. Until one of them just dropped the trash on the ground again. So I reported him to the guardia for littering.)

I am not usually such a weenie, but this is my pet peeve. You go to all the trouble to come to Spain to walk this extraordinary path, and then you literally shit on it.

Anyway, the best thing we can do is just pick stuff up when we see it. Simple, effective, and practically free.
Getting angry or even annoyed by the people who litter is a waste of time, as is trying to 'teach them a lesson,' either by way of example or laissez faire. We'll continue to pick up trash, @long trails, and you can or can not - as you choose.
Anything else is extra, and a waste of energy.
 
A wise prophet once told a story about a similar situation.
A traveler on a strange road was mugged, stripped, and left for dead. A holy priest saw him there, but he was booked-up that day, there was no time to stop, and besides he didn´t know who it was, it might be a non-pilgrim, a drunk! He might even deserve to be in the ditch, due to bad choices. He told the man he would remember him in his thoughts and prayers, and moved along.
A very devout person came along next, but he was carrying a heavy load already, and bending over was too much... but he took pictures of the man and posted them on the internet, saying "what a pity, this poor guy was lying along the road and nobody stopped to help him! Where are the officials? What is WRONG with people?"

What happened to the man in the ditch? Finally a stranger came, an outsider no one wanted to associate with, a guy from an odd religion, a sh--hole country. He didn´t analyze the system for long-term solutions, or figure out first if the man deserved help. He got into the ditch and lifted out the man and took him to town to get some help.

Who is the angel in this story?

Crime victims are not trash, obviously. This is a story, from the Book of Luke in the Bible, told first by Jesus and re-told by me to show that Trash Happens. Talking about it and taking pictures and analyzing it does absolutely NOTHING to help solve the problem. The solution is clear. The solution is US, me and you.

If you see trash along the trail, pick it up and take it to a proper container. It could not be any simpler.
 
On my next camino (sept. or so, I think) I am going to bring a bag each day and pick up garbage. I have often done this, but not systematically. Why do it?

I am tired of seeing empty plastic bottles (weighs nothing), empty sigarette packs (weighs nothing) etc etc along the trails. If I put it on the back of my pack, it will not bother me at all, and I'll dump it upon arriving at the albergues. I cannot fix the stupid graffiti along the way, but I can contribute on the garbage.

It is so sad to realise that the camino is hosting so many mindless people who just throw things on the ground. What are they (not) thinking?! Better clean up after them. Payback for all the good times I have had on the caminos. Will you join in?
 
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There really isn't a 'solution' to source of littering. And even the junta does little to alleviate (like putting in trash cans and portapotties).
That said, I spent too many years as a Scout and Scout Leader to not spending a few days on every Camino picking up others trash. I do believe that every bit helps the environment at least a little.
And it makes a nice activity--including the stretching of a body spending 7 hours per day with a pack doing repetitive walking.
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
I have decided to take a small box of 15 draw-string plastic bags. I will be emptying the contents into bins that I pass or in the albergues. When they get too dirty, smelly, or torn I'll throw them away and get a fresh one.

Buen and Clean Camino
 
received_1563602240377320.jpeg
There is already a Spanish initiative to encourage pilgrims to pick up litter. I was given this sturdy nylon bag by the hospitalera in Villambistia, it has a slogan printed on it about saving our environment and comes with a small brochure. I picked litter for a day, without a pole, and my knees were hurting the next day. I forgot I had 9 kg on my back! I would definitely do it again, but with a pole.
 
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There is already a Spanish initiative to encourage pilgrims to pick up litter. I was given this sturdy nylon bag by the hospitalera in Villambistia, it has a slogan printed on it about saving our environment and comes with a small brochure. I picked litter for a day, without a pole, and my knees were hurting the next day. I forgot I had 9 kg on my back! I would definitely do it again, but with a pole.
#ecoperegrino / Camino del Reciclaje
 
#ecoperegrino / Camino del Reciclaje
This is wonderful news.
I picked litter for a day, without a pole, and my knees were hurting the next day. I forgot I had 9 kg on my back! I would definitely do it again, but with a pole.
Brava!
And hey, everyone, look at the huge smile on her face!
This is definitely a happy thing to do, especially when you find the place of humor about the whole situation.

Meanwhile, practically:
A pick up stick is a good tool to have, but even a reobust pair of tongs works really well. And wash your hands regularly, even if you're not going near the TP.
 
On my way home from the pub tonight I picked up two plastic water bottles and a Starbucks cup ( we don't have a Starbucks (?)). Trouble was I had three dogs with me so: three dogs, three poo-bags, two plastic bottles, one Starbucks cup and now I'm looking at an empty beer can. "I've got it" said the guy walking the other way. We can all do our bit. We don't have to do it all 'cos there are good people on every path.
 
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On my next camino (sept. or so, I think) I am going to bring a bag each day and pick up garbage. I have often done this, but not systematically. Why do it?

I am tired of seeing empty plastic bottles (weighs nothing), empty sigarette packs (weighs nothing) etc etc along the trails. If I put it on the back of my pack, it will not bother me at all, and I'll dump it upon arriving at the albergues. I cannot fix the stupid graffiti along the way, but I can contribute on the garbage.

It is so sad to realise that the camino is hosting so many mindless people who just throw things on the ground. What are they (not) thinking?! Better clean up after them. Payback for all the good times I have had on the caminos. Will you join in?
I feel very strongly about rubble on the Way, please please pilgrims, just pick up a few items, especially plastic, it weighs nothing and as alexwalker says, just dump it in the next refuse bin.
 
#ecoperegrino / Camino del Reciclaje
News report of 2 August 2018:

Ecoembes will distribute 165,000 reusable bags among pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago to promote recycling during the fourth annual edition of the 'Camino del Reciclaje' campaign, in collaboration with nearly 400 albergues in Castilla y León, Asturias, Galicia and La Rioja, and to fight against the bazuraleza, ie leaving waste in the natural environment.

The distribution of these bags happens mainly in high season (June to October). However, the material remains in the albergues throughout the year and the initiative will be expanded in 2019. There are yellow and blue bins for separating and recycling waste.

See http://www.europapress.es/sociedad/...no-santiago-400-albergues-20180802145547.html
 
Just because I won't pick up other's rubbish does not mean I am not a conscious pilgrim.

I find this particularly irksome about this thread - the suggestion that if you do not pick up anything you are somehow a lesser being and even as bad as the litterer themselves. That's really not fair. I respect other's choices to do actions that might or might not help the situation. It's a shame the respect is not reciprocated.
 
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Just because I won't pick up other's rubbish does not mean I am not a conscious pilgrim.

I find this particularly irksome about this thread - the suggestion that if you do not pick up anything you are somehow a lesser being and even as bad as the litterer themselves. That's really not fair. I respect other's choices to do actions that might or might not help the situation. It's a shame the respect is not reciprocated.

I think you're not helping and in some situations that would imply you're actually harming.
 
You are potentially encouraging them to litter again by cleaning up after them. Now that could be seen as harming the situation too.

There is a serious 'holier than thou' attitude being displayed here.
 
You are potentially encouraging them to litter again by cleaning up after them. Now that could be seen as harming the situation too.

There is a serious 'holier than thou' attitude being displayed here.

You are right that there is abholier than thou attitude being displayedvand sometime thatvis accetable andvappropriatevas in this case as farvws l am concerned.

Have a nice day (s).
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Gently pilgrims, gently. There is a difference between disagreement and dispute. Members are free to disagree.

None should be discomfited by the aspiring martyrs in this thread. They do what they do because they want to and perhaps with the zeal of the convert they seek to proselytise their new found, or even deeply held, beliefs. Others are free to follow their own beliefs.

As for encouraging others to litter... I've often thought that it is the sight of pristine wilderness itself that inspires so many to rummage their backpacks in search of something to discard; in the same way that a newly prepared seed-bed will inspire all the neighbourhood cats to crap. Nevertheless I till and toil and work my soil to plant the seeds I hope will grow to give me sustenance and joy. ;)
 
I was talking about the local people littering.

If they see their mess being cleaned up by 'conscious' pilgrims then they'll probably have no qualms continuing. If they see their mess accumulate so much then they might think twice and the council might pull their fingers out and do something. If they see signs warning them of harsh penalties then they'll probably think twice again.

I don't honestly believe pilgrims are the culprits here. You only have to drive through Spain and see the state of the verges along the highways to know that the Spanish do not take littering seriously.
 
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AlexWalker great idea! I will say we walked the Camino Frances from SJPD last May and it was very very clean compared to the Frances in 2012 and 2013. We still saw a little bit of tissue but very little plastic along the way. We did divert to the Invierno at Sarria, but were amazed how much cleaner the trail was. Somehow the message must be getting out and also a lot more services along the way helps.
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
I like the recyclable bag thing - combine that with an old fashioned "stick with a nail on the end" and you can pick up a fair amount of litter without bending and little impact on your time.
 
I will be picking up trash when I go but I'm taking some latex disposable gloves, which weigh next to nothing, because I don't want cooties and I will have enough poles with my walking ones to worry about.
 
Perhaps people will eventually stop littering when they see the scale of the mess they leave behind.
On the contrary. Studies show that people are more likely to drop litter in environments that are highly littered. It's a vicious cycle:
 
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I do not think it is a "duty" of any pilgrim to pick up litter left behind by others along the Camino and to do so or not to do so is no indication of the type of person or pilgrim they are. I do believe that littering anywhere is an indication of what type of person anyone is, anywhere. Same for those that damage property along the Camino, by graffiti or theft (km markers, shell markers etc). Unfortunately we just have to put up with these inconsiderate, selfish people.
Having volunteered in litter cleanup's (rivers) before at home, I do applaud the pilgrims who do pick up litter.
 
Thank Reb's Ditch Pigs who clean up every year, a "litter" bit at a time.
To anyone who does want to pick up litter along the way, I would strongly recommend investing in a pair of kitchen tongs, there will be less stress and strain on your back.
The saddest thing is the rest areas the local govenments construct end up becoming open latrines, I have no idea what possess people to take advantage of what should be looked at as an act of kindness to the pilgrims.
Here is an idea, wouldn't it be wonderful if the Pilgrim Office had a big collection bin for used tongs to get redistributed to starting points along the Camino.
 

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