No to Wet Wipes!

[notion900]

This is an appeal to people to NOT use baby wipes, wet wipes, 'moist' toilet paper and the like on the Camino. If you have to do a doody out in nature, normal toilet paper will rot away in a few days, especially if it is the cheapest sort. But the more substantial 'wipes' sit there for MONTHS. It's horrid, it's litter, so please - you can manage without them!

 

[Tia Valeria]

Wet wipes not only don't biodegrade they can also (indoors) clog up the sewage system, and in many Spanish toilets you are not expected to put even the paper down. Wet wipes are for waste bins!

When in our caravan we use toilet roll by Cotton Soft. It is made from cotton waste not wood pulp and biodegrades very quickly in our Porta-potti. It is not easy to source but can be found in some health shops etc. Cotton Soft also make small packs of hankies which will fit in a back pocket.
I took a pack of the latter 'just in case' but never needed it.
For use in a toilet with no paper we took an Andrex mini roll (100 sheets with no centre cardboard - £1 each in Tesco). That was ideal for us and was needed occasionally.

 

[Anniesantiago]

Excuse me but I disagree 100 percent with you.

Normal toilet paper will NOT degrade... it will sit and rot and draw flies.

If you would not like a dozen strangers to take a crap in YOUR yard and leave their poop and paper sitting there, then people do not do that on the Camino!

CARRY OUT YOUR POOP!
CARRY OUT YOUR PAPER!

Or better yet, as has been suggested many times, carry a hankerchief and wash the thing with your laundry every night.

People's manners seems to disappear when it comes to toileting on the Camino and it's really disgusting!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Anniesantiago's photo illustrates the need for "leave no trace" camping.

However, I think we need to be practical here. My forest escapades always involved diarrhea. Without a shovel, that is not getting transported out, and if I have a shovel, I can bury it. Unless a large percentage of the pilgrims sign on for "no trace," the trail-side appearance will not change in my lifetime. The xuntas should station chemical toilets regularly, in my opinion.

Wet wipes are far less biodegradable than toilet paper, which will eventually biodegrade. Right behind blisters, "after burner" chafing is the most uncomfortable condition on the Camino. I take along a good supply of Handi-Wipes for my hands and other places. When I use them, I fold the soiled side inward, and return it to the foil wrapping. Into the next dumpster it goes. By the way, don't flush the wipes either. They are as hard on septic systems as they are on the environment.

 

[Anniesantiago]

I realize this is a very touchy topic for me I just get so angry when I see places like the one in my photo (and there were more than a few).

I think what REALLY upsets me is people's total lack of regard for their Spanish hosts and for their fellow pilgrims. To scramble into a shelter to get out of the rain, only to be greeted by piles of poop and paper is simply disheartening. :x

I have to wonder where people's brain is, who brought them up, and where they learned such disregard?

I am serious when I ask how people would feel if strangers began using their yard as a toilet. It really should be something a pilgrim considers. It is the ulmost insult, to poop on someone's path or doorstep! :!:

However, I agree with Falcon. Sometimes nature just calls and when you have to go, you have to go. Please be respectful and clean up after yourself! I don't care what type of toilet paper or wipes you use.. WHATEVER you use... CARRY IT OUT! :!: :!: :!:

Chemical toilets seem like a good idea. With the amount of traffic, I'm amazed it hasn't yet been done, along with trash barrels. However, I guess one question might be "who'd pay for it? and "who'd empty them?" Except they COULD install coin operated toilets... but then you can be sure there would be vandalism. . . people wanting the $$$.

Why not build a few outhouses with simple holes or composting toilets along the way? Well, I guess somebody would have to burn the paper and empty or re-set the toilets when they were full. :roll:

Seems there is no good answer except to turn to the pilgrim and ask them to use the manners you learned in kindergarten.

Whatever method you use ... please carry out your paper and if you simply cannot wait, dig a hole with your spade or heel and bury your business as best you can.

I believe the problem is mainly a female one. While the occasional male needs to have a BM along the way, MOSTLY it is urinating females who leave the paper.

Again, I'd advise female pilgrims to simply take a long a hankerchief to wipe up with, and wash it out each evening with their laundry. It would make the walk so much more pleasant for others.

It's the least you can do as a visitor!

---------------------

In regards to who would clean up or pay for the chemical toilets, what if a pilgrim could PURCHASE a card, like an ATM card, that would give them entrance to the chemical toilets along the way... for a small fee like 5 or 10 euro ... I think most pilgrims would pay for it, and the money could be used for upkeep. Just a thought.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Over half the pilgrims are from Spain, so they share the responsibility for their own country. I have never met anyone who set out in the morning to excrete along the trail. My toilet paper supply is in my pack because albergues run out, not for the trail.

When nature calls, few of us resist. Leave no trace is an excellent wilderness attitude and practice. I carry a plastic shovel, orange in color so I don't lose it in the high weeds, because I draw the line at packing my own waste around for two weeks on a long camping trip. It didn't happen five million years ago, and it is not going to happen today.

It is delusional to think that pilgrims will carry out their toilet paper and excrement. Any cleanup program will have to rely on something else. Pilgrims who are truly bothered by the toilet paper need to find some four-star hotels. Pilgrims will never live up to your expectations and standards.

 

[Tia Valeria]

Is part of the problem the time at which folk start walking in the morning?
If you 'go before breakfast' at home then you are probably out in the wilds on the Camino if you set off at daybreak!! Try retuning your timing before the Camino. Otherwise seek a café con leche and the facilities.
You'll still need the paper roll as it is unfair to expect to collect paper/serviettes to serve your needs. If the early comers take all there is none left for those coming along later.
We had no problems finding facilities - before we left in the morning, cafés, bars, even a small railway station in one town.
Emergencies do happen, but this thread and others like it sound as though many people are just using shelters as conveniences to the inconvenience of others :cry:
Enough :!:

 

[cajunun]

toilets on the camino

I, too, was disgusted with the toilet waste along the camino. Women, get a female urinary device - this, accompanied by a hankie wipe which is put into a sealy bag and washed at night, will do the trick for most toilet needs. For bowels, as we now expect with dog owners, if possible, pick it up in a plastic bag and take it to the next bin. However, on the flip side, I think the infrastructure around meeting toilet needs is pretty poor on the camino. There could be much more planning around this, given the numbers of pilgrims. I really don't think it would be that difficult to build and maintain facilities every so often, particularly in the long stretches between villages, but also in villages (300 people wanting to use the loo in the next village is a burden on that facility!)

 

[Annie Little]

Doing research for my camino- so this is interesting. I am considering stay in hotels or similar for this very reason - so I can attend to this matter in peace and quiet BEFORE I start walking each day- If I have to try to avoid a rush in a hostel and also feel pressure of others waiting to lose limited facility--- well it may not work for me

A

 

[jeffnd]

Over half the pilgrims are from Spain, so they share the responsibility for their own country. I have never met anyone who set out in the morning to excrete along the trail. My toilet paper supply is in my pack because albergues run out, not for the trail.

When nature calls, few of us resist. Leave no trace is an excellent wilderness attitude and practice. I carry a plastic shovel, orange in color so I don't lose it in the high weeds, because I draw the line at packing my own waste around for two weeks on a long camping trip. It didn't happen five million years ago, and it is not going to happen today.

It is delusional to think that pilgrims will carry out their toilet paper and excrement. Any cleanup program will have to rely on something else. Pilgrims who are truly bothered by the toilet paper need to find some four-star hotels. Pilgrims will never live up to your expectations and standards.

I think packing out your waste and used TP is also a bit excessive and unsanitary as well. While I haven't been on the Camino, I do camp frequently. I use a garden trowel to dig a hole about a foot down, do my business, and bury everything, paper and all. I was told to dump water on everything because this will encourage decomposition. I know in an "emergency" situation, you may not have time to dig a hole that deep, but you should do your best afterwards.

It does sound the Camino could use some porta-john facilities though.

 

[Kanga]

Chemical toilets have been tried in some places on the Camino but rapidly became disgusting. If facilities are to be installed then I hope they are the self composting ones designed in Australia - no maintenance or water required. But I really don't see that as the answer because people will always be caught short unless there is a toilet every kilometre along the track.
I agree with Annie. Carry it out to the next bin. We pick up after our dogs and this is no different.
And for the newbie who has not walked yet - it is a much greater threat to public health to leave crap and toilet paper on the trail. If you consider your own body waste a bio-hazard then how much worse for others!
CARRY IT OUT. Ladies, use a handkerchief as Annie suggests, or a feminine napkin to catch the drips and change it at the next bar.

 

[Kanga]

I can't leave this subject - YOU ARE NOT CAMPING. It is only a couple of kilometres to the next town. If you can wait, do. Bars always have toilets. Use them. If not, keep and use plastic bags. Just like picking up dog poo. Turn the bag inside out, use it like a glove to scoop the mess into the bag and turn the bag at the same time. Tie a knot in the neck of the bag. Or zip it if you are using zip-locks. Carry to next town. Put in bin. Was that difficult?
We need to start swinging our "full" plastic bags off our packs, to get the message across!!!

 

[Green Tortuga]

Carrying used toilet paper out isn't a big deal. Most of people have never even considered doing so and tend to think it's gross or unsanitary or something, but just wiping you butt is unsanitary! Get over it, stuff the used toilet paper in a sealable plastic bag, and when you're done, put that in another one. (Double bagging is a bad thing!) And use the hand sanitizer you've been carrying.

But to be perfectly honest, I don't think the vast majority of the toilet paper on the trail was used for wiping butts or I'd expect to see a heck of a lot more human poop on the trail. Men will stand around, take a leak, and not use toilet paper at all, so I kind of suspect most of it comes from women who are peeing. Unless someone is suffering from some serious bowel issues, most people can hold a #2 at least as far as the next town. But if you've had a lot to drink.... the next town might be too far to reach.

But it's still pretty easy to carry out used toilet paper either way, and there's not really any good excuse for not doing so except that people just don't want to. Any other excuse is just that... an excuse.

Carrying around the poop itself, though.... I don't really see any reason to do that. Well, once on a rafting trip we did our business in a bucket since we were rafting through a sensitive area where burying poop wasn't allowed, but that's not relevant to the Camino. And if you're suffering from intestinal distress, it may not be possible to dig a proper hole in time for using it, which I'm understanding about. *shrug*

But toilet paper.... there's never a good reason to liter the trail with used toilet paper. *shaking head*

-- Ryan

 

[Kanga]

But to be perfectly honest, I don't think the vast majority of the toilet paper on the trail was used for wiping butts or I'd expect to see a heck of a lot more human poop on the trail. Men will stand around, take a leak, and not use toilet paper at all, so I kind of suspect most of it comes from women who are peeing.

-- Ryan

Yes, you are right and it makes me so cross with my own sex because it is such an easy problem to fix. As Annie says, use a handkerchief and rise it or my suggestion of a panty liner pad to catch the odd drip.