El Camino trash

[Marmalade]

Am currently walking El Camino Frances and the most annoying thing so far is the amount of banana skins/orange peel I've seen along the trail.
I understand that it takes up to 2 years for skins/peel to decompose.
So please hikers take your trash with you, there's many rubbish bins along the way!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

I understand that it takes up to 2 years for skins/peel to decompose.

It does take a while, true. However, you may need to reach the non-English speaking pilgrims to have much effect with your recommendations. It is worthwhile to leave place cleaner than when you arrived, so many pilgrims take plastic bags and pick up the trash of others...

Banana peel: 3-4 weeks
Orange peel: 6 months
Wool sock: several years

 

[JabbaPapa]

Wildlife does eat this stuff, to a not insignificant extent, and what it doesn't does become mulch -- I'd be angrier about all the plastic bags, wrappers, and bottles.

 

[Hiawatha]

Take nothing but photographs , leave nothing but footprints .

 

[Icacos]

Preaching to the choir.

 

[naplesdon]

See my post about volunteering to be a ditch pig. We need an organization.

 

[HedaP]

It was the toilet paper and associated human waste behind every bush and under every tree that bothered me the most. It was a blot on a beautiful landscape and it made it hard to find shady picnic spots.

 

[Mark Lee]

Ditto.
The fruit remnants don't bother me at all. The damn plastic bottles and bags do, not to mention the people poop piles and toilet paper. Ugh....

 

[Karinhi]

Am currently walking El Camino Frances and the most annoying thing so far is the amount of banana skins/orange peel I've seen along the trail.
I understand that it takes up to 2 years for skins/peel to decompose.
So please hikers take your trash with you, there's many rubbish bins along the way!

I am worried about even going on the Camino now. With all the posts about garbage and excrement I am concerned that it will not be of any benefit. I don't want to leave my Camino experience with nothing but bad memories of the disgusting habits of humans. I can stay at home for that!

 

[Icacos]

I am worried about even going on the Camino now. With all the posts about garbage and excrement I am concerned that it will not be of any benefit. I don't want to leave my Camino experience with nothing but bad memories of the disgusting habits of humans. I can stay at home for that!

No, don't be put off by what people are saying. I walked in April and May, and sure, there was evidence of humankind's disgusting habits, but I made a point of not looking for it and certainly not going behind any convenient looking walls or bushes. As to tissues along the trail, quite honestly I wondered how so many Kleenexes could fall out of so many pockets.

 

[Mark Lee]

I am worried about even going on the Camino now. With all the posts about garbage and excrement I am concerned that it will not be of any benefit. I don't want to leave my Camino experience with nothing but bad memories of the disgusting habits of humans. I can stay at home for that!

I wouldn't let it put you off that much. All in all, it is rare on the Camino. It's just that when one sees it, it's bothersome. I wouldn't let 99% of a good experience be marred by the 1% bad.
Besides, do you think pilgrims hundreds of years ago were any better? Remember, those were the days of no indoor toilets along the Way. Or toilet paper. I'm sure pilgrims tended to gather in the same spots year after year to sleep overnight, etc. How nasty you think those places were? You think a few turds and toilet paper occasionally scattered across 800 km now are bad? Think about where everybody did their business near the pilgrim's refuges back then. Talk about the disgusting habits of humans, ha ha.

 

[C clearly]

I am worried about even going on the Camino now. With all the posts about garbage and excrement I am concerned that it will not be of any benefit. I don't want to leave my Camino experience with nothing but bad memories of the disgusting habits of humans. I can stay at home for that!

I would never try to talk someone into going on the Camino if they had doubts! It is not for everyone, and the individual should want to do it in spite of the negatives that do exist. You will encounter as many offensive people there as you do at home.

 

[Awakekiwi]

Because of the spirit of the Camino, there are not many offensive ones, hardly any in fact.. id say the last 100 kms is where most of the rubbish is dropped on the track by all the tourists who walk the last 3 days or so.. they leave all the rubbish and take all the km markers etc.. its sad to get so far and then find so many tourists in the last few days skipping along or complaining after 5 kms of how hard it is! At least the walk from Santiago to Finisterre is nice and quiet

 

[Deleted member 3000]

I am concerned that it will not be of any benefit. I don't want to leave my Camino experience with nothing but bad memories of the disgusting habits of humans.

Don't look! With a quarter of a million pilgrims, bodily functions will occur. Toilet infrastructure is non-existent in Spain (France usually has WC's in every village). Avoid looking behind bushes and behind tree lines, and you will see only the usual bottles and wrappers.

 

[Kanga]

France may have public WCs in every village (often the hole in the ground type, and no hand-basin) but many do not have bars or cafes. Whereas I cannot think of any village on the CF that does not have a bar, and in every bar there is a WC. With handbasin. Perfectly good toilet infrastructure. The only difference is that it is provided by private enterprise, rather than out of local taxes.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Many bars and restaurants, particularly in the last 100 km, have signs limiting restroom use to customers. Buy a coffee and help the owner pay for restroom maintenance. Xuntas collect a lot of tax money from pilgrims. It is a shame they don't build additional toilet infrastructure with some of it.

WCs in France have been there long before pilgrims became a force and long before Socialists became a force. Expecting private enterprise to build public infrastructure is not a French value. They have a better understanding of community needs than newer world countries.

 

[Karen Cap]

I am worried about even going on the Camino now. With all the posts about garbage and excrement I am concerned that it will not be of any benefit. I don't want to leave my Camino experience with nothing but bad memories of the disgusting habits of humans. I can stay at home for that!

Don't let this thread discourage you from walking this wonderful Way.
There is toilet paper in some places on the Camino. Generally, it's off the path behind bushes or trees. I would carry my used to with me.
Mostly, it's clean and beautiful.
I plan to carry a small trash bag with me and pick up some trash. I do this at home in my neighborhood. I think of it as giving back.

 

[Mikel Olivares]

Hi Falcon.
No entiendo en absoluto tu último comentario.
I do not understand at all your last comment.
Je ne comprends pas votre dernier commentaire
Un afectuoso saludo.

 

[Mikel Olivares]

Back to the topic
In the Appalachian Trail in the States, have a motto: Leave No Trace.
And all the hikers do it.
Buen Camino.

 

[bbates225]

Take nothing but photographs , leave nothing but footprints .

That's my motto

 

[edgard]

Am currently walking El Camino Frances and the most annoying thing so far is the amount of banana skins/orange peel I've seen along the trail.
I understand that it takes up to 2 years for skins/peel to decompose.
So please hikers take your trash with you, there's many rubbish bins along the way!

I did the camino in 2015, and ther was a man ..his name? Serge...he did nothing els than walking the camino with a plastic bag and a thing to pick up the dirt...and back Nice friendly guy

 

[Marbe2]

Indeed! Leave no trace! I bring doggy clean-up bags on the Camino! They are lighter and thinner than the plastic ziplock. I. I tie it and then place it in the first trash barrel I see! They are packed in small rolls of 15 bags
and are quite inexpensive. I use them for peels, and all trash as well!

 

[MichelleElynHogan]

Tolerance is one of the main lessons on El Camino.

Plant refuse is one thing and as many have said, not a major concern. But human waste is just not acceptable. If people cannot bag and carry out their own droppings, just like they do for their dog, go buy a small garden shovel and bury it. The best method is to pull up a piece of turf and replace it afterward.

I found a shovel at Dollarama (Canada). It cost CDN$1.25 and it is plastic so it is TSA acceptable, weighing 3 oz. Plastic bags, get them anywhere. Ziplocks are preferred but not essential.

 

[Lurch]

I realize this is an old post but having a service dog with me most of the time I always carry doggy poo bags (for lack of a better term) with me. A lot of cities put dispensers in their parks for those who 'forgot'. Maybe the cities along the Camino could do the same. I plan on carrying a roll of bags for myself, just I'm case. The thoughtlessness of some is just difficult for me to fathom. I would be tempted to give a bag to those who return without any indication of taking care of their problem responsibly.

 

[katimoyer]

I was planning on bringing with me a folding 'grabber' thing and picking up trash as I walk along. It weighs a few ounces and I figure maybe I can do some good while I'm slowly plodding along.

 

[John Finn]

I am worried about even going on the Camino now. With all the posts about garbage and excrement I am concerned that it will not be of any benefit. I don't want to leave my Camino experience with nothing but bad memories of the disgusting habits of humans. I can stay at home for that!

Don't be put off. I walked from León to Sarria a week ago and I noticed hardly any garbage on the trail. On the very odd occasion there were some scraps of toilet paper in evidence but to be honest they were very rare. I'm sure if I'd gone looking for them I'd have found more but, really, it's not a bid deal.

 

[SYates]

I was planning on bringing with me a folding 'grabber' thing and picking up trash as I walk along. It weighs a few ounces and I figure maybe I can do some good while I'm slowly plodding along.

Please do it! Buen Camino, SY