To ask dog owners at the beach why you don’t

[Lovelyusername]

pick up plastic litter ?

I run along a beautiful coastline and see the same dog walkers ignoring the plastic.

You have a bag ready and will walk past a bin. AIBU to think that this would be a help to the environment ?

I do pick up the plastic, there is enough to go around.

Lol at the idea of hailing random dog walkers and heckling them about not picking up litter. That’ll go down well!

Do you wonder why ordinary walkers don’t bring a bag for litter? They know it’s going to be there too. You can’t walk anywhere without coming across some kind of litter.

The problem is people not bothering, not dog walkers.

You’re a bit judgy OP. Wouldn’t you be better asking why don’t people who drop plastic actually not do that instead?

Hahahaha love it @HoneyDragon!

But how do you know they haven't already done their duty at some other point in their walk and picked up litter earlier or later? ;)

REPEATED ROUTES

The ol’ dog walkers, they are creatures of habit. So they go on the same route, see the same litter (tho actually new litter as they tide will have changed) and don’t pick it up.

Why?

Please lovely dog walkers, if you are at the beach (or not) take a bag tomorrow and pick up some litter from the beach.

Love

The fishes + David Attenborough

Well here's a dog walker who wages war with litter every day.I even keep bin bags and some rubber gloves in my vehicle and sometimes have cleared a whole lay by ,or parking area near the lovely woods I walk my dogs around. I also report fly tipping,sadly all too often nowadays.The sheer thoughtless and selfish actions of litterer louts makes me despair.Only today I saw a depressing amount in the verges alongside a busy commuter road and was thinking about how to organise a bigger scale litter pick.Maybe that would shame just a few if the idiots who lob rubbish out of the window as they drive past.And help some plastic hit the bin instead of the countryside.
Not wanting to be goady to any runners,some of you have impeccable manners and say thank you when I call my well behaved dogs to one side as you run past.But have also experiended some that won't even break a stride to give us time to get out of the way let alone pick up any rubbish.The great thing about walking is you have time to notice things.If I lived by the coast I'd be picking up on the beaches as much as possible. And don't get me started on the poo bags left on walls and in trees !

Hmm, it’s weird, because if ever there is a comment about dogs being kept on a lead in the winter, dog owners come out in force asking why should they when they use the beach/Park year round unlike others, who only use it in the summer! So there are clearly plenty of dog walkers who do not have their dog on a lead on the beach, who could use their free hand(s) to pick up plastic rubbish. However, so could others who are walking on the beach (I was just under the impression that this never happened in winter!)

Lol at the idea of hailing random dog walkers and heckling them about not picking up litter. That’ll go down well!

I am confused. Your AIBU is whether you are BU to ask dog owners but then when it's suggested you do then you say it won't go down well. So you have answered your own question.

In the beach route to talacre beach I've come across more fag ends then dog poos, and I'm a smoker!

So dog owners should 1) Keep dogs under control so they don't chase people/animals 2) pick up poop and carry it until you get to a bin 3) ensure that the dogs don't eat random shitty dead animals/things along the beach
AND 4) carry spare bags and pick up rubbish as well?

Yeah right, jog on!

We've been doing it for years, not just on the beach but on local commons and alleyways. Not just plastic but beer cans, fast food wrappers etc etc.
There's also a big campaign going on on SM for everyone to take a bag and pick up litter, loads of my dog walking friends have been doing it for yonks all across the country so I don't know where you run to not see it happening at all.

Please lovely dog walkers, if you are at the beach (or not) take a bag tomorrow and pick up some litter from the beach

i think its a good idea and I am going to do it. So there you go.

YABU, but only because you specifically called out dog walkers, when it’s actually something that we should all be doing.

I’m a dog walker and I end up with a carrier bag full of litter to bin on practically every walk. As another poster said, I will also pick up other people’s dog’s mess if necessary - not to mention retrieve the random bags of poo that people have hung off the trees lining the path down to the fields.

Our local park has a group of elderly ladies who walk their dogs early every morning and all of them go armed with bags to pick up the detrius left by local teenagers the night before.

I have never seen anyone other than dog walkers doing this in the area where I live and definitely haven’t seen any runners doing it.

i think its a good idea and I am going to do it. So there you go.

I don't think it's a bad idea - I just think the dog walker bit is a confusing distraction. I think what OP was trying to say was, "AIBU to ask people who regularly walk along beaches (e.g. dog walkers) to bring a bag with them so they can pick up litter as they walk?" In that case, she would not be unreasonable.

Oooh yes, targeting parents and children on the school walk is a very good suggestion. OP, why don't you target them too? :)

I do, I also pick up any dog poo I see as well as my own ddogs as do almost all my dog walking friends. If we all picked up litter and all dog walkers picked up missed poos (we all miss the odd one and I don't know anyone who deliberately ignores them) the world would be a better place

Is it a particular kind of person that becomes a runner? Like the opposite of a team player?

I work with one and he's a self-obsessed grumpy cunt who is massively-anti-social and sanctimonious.

Something about your breezy tone is just so annoying OP. You pick up the litter!

Mine would wind the lead round my legs in approximately ten seconds. Causing face plant

Mine's a lazy arse greyhound and came to us already impeccably behaved on the lead so all good totally different story off the lead but hey ho

The most plastic I seem to pick up is empty poo bags - I gained about 6 on our 30 minute walk this morning. I assume people pull one out of their pocket and then lose one as well. Still, I never actually buy poo bags as a result of this and bread bags.

I always pick up plastic on the beach, whether I've got a (borrowed) dog with me or not. It would be weird to leave it there.

Non-dog owners logic - good enough to use the beach (and clean it!) when the weather is cloudy/rainy but god help you if you dare go near the beach when it's sunny.