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 ?

Excuses, excuses, excuses

Society at its best, as I clearly failed in my first post to come across...Let's not single just one group of people out, we are all to blame
'No I can't do that!'
'No, why should it be me!'
Let's flip it and say 'I can't do that but I can do this' and we can all live happily ever after

Off you trot then, Whiz, to do your daily litter pick.

Everybody has their excuses you know. You are just proving my point. Unfortunate really since my main point is that OP is cheeky saying it should be the dog walkers responsibility rather than joggers, whereas I think that if we are to stop the oceans being piled high with plastic tat then we all need to muck in. Particularly those who regularly enjoy the beach, you know joggers, dog walkers etc.

Again, these responses are depressing. It is everybody else's problem, because you are holding a poo bag, or because someone else is timing their run. Excuses.

Exactly Pootles. Oh and Husky, I don't live near a beach but I do volunteer litter picking at a local beauty spot, and I regularly pick up and bin litter on my way to/from the station. I don't have a dog though so I guess it's my civic duty to take the burden from joggers and dog walkers.

"Shocker OP doesn’t change her mind."

Take this: Shocker no one cares

How would you have a clue what dog walkers do or don’t do when they’re not walking their dogs? Maybe that’s when they pick up litter - ever think of that?

I saw this the other day and thought it was a great idea "plogging" jogging and litter picking combined www.core77.com/posts/72971/New-Swedish-Fitness-Trend-Plogging-Combines-Jogging-with-Picking-Up-Litter

Yep, there seem to be a lot of incredible, virtuous, omnipotent people on here. Even if you are all those things, singling out one group of people and dictating to them what they should be doing (when you have absolutely no idea what they do or don't do already) is just rather bizarre.
Wouldn't it be nice if we ALL didn't cause these problems in the first place and ALL helped as and when we can.

The reason we organise litter picks is because it’s safer. It’s still voluntary and the same people. But with the right equipment. Picking up the ids bottle or obvious piece is great and most folk I know do this without needing telling.

But I’m not going to walk along the path and pick up a used condom and carry it to the nearest bin thanks. Oh awful me with my excuses

Btw the irony does strike me that MN is often a den of lunatics when it comes to personal hygiene and cleaning, with people unable to use public toilets and the like for fear of catching goodness only knows what. But now we're being condemned for not wanting to pick up and carry around rubbish that has come from who knows where and contains who knows what.

Again, I actually do regularly pick up litter that isn't mine, not saying I don't. But the contrast is tickling me.

Dog poo bags are quite small aren't they? Would you prefer they went around with IKEA sacks to be able to pick up other people's litter?

I think it'd be better to say that everyone who uses the beach should try and pick up litter if they can. I always pick up a couple of bits of rubbish when I'm at the park and put them in one of the two adjacent bins. If somewhere looks clean people are less likely to litter IMO.

So I see the same ones (dog walkers), walking past the same plastic. Which makes me think that they could do it too.

So if you see the same plastic why havent you done it?

It would be like saying that anyone walking on the street is responsible for picking up dog poo instead of putting responsibility on dog owners.

Fine, let's all pick up any litter that we can and do our bit, but it's still not anyone's responsibility except those littering. And certainly not exclusively dog walkers.

Yanbu.
I agree that everyone should be doing their bit.
I am really surprised at the amount of 'why should I?' Type responses as if it's never occurred to them to help keep our beaches clean.

I am not trying to be goady, honest. I just think it is interesting how defensive some people are getting by being asked a reasonable question.

Agreed no litter should be dropped, tho I doubt any mumsnetters drop any litter, but if you do drop litter at the beach then STOP.

If your dog is so uncontrollable it requires all of your attention then that’s slightly worrying. But still I am sure they are a sweetie when you get to know them.

I’ll look up plogging and ask all the runners to plog. So if all the able bodied mumsnet dog walkers and runners pick up litter from the beach (and fields) then it will make a massive difference!

God, and yet again a queue of outraged posters telling me how outrageous I am for suggesting we all pick up a bit. You all want to enjoy the beach, the countryside etc but none of you are willing to take any responsibility, it's all just excuses.

I give up. Yes yes, let's leave it to the council, to volunteers, to anyone else as long as it's not you.

Oh and for the recent non thread reader I do pick up the litter and do help organise beach cleans.

And you are therefore as lovely as your user name suggests lovely. for you

How would you have a clue what dog walkers do or don’t do when they’re not walking their dogs?

You didn’t answer my question, Whiz.

Majority of the litter I see on the beach is not dropped litter. It’s washed up from who knows where. I don’t often see bottles, a few wrappers but mostly line or little bits of plastic sanded down by the sea.

I think a few people on here are just envisaging dropped litter.

Yes sorry I mean all the plastic, it is mainly bottles and fishing line where I am.

Someone said it shouldn’t be put in a bin but one assumes in a bin is better than in the sea?

If any of them go litter picking or give their time to help their local environment, like I do or like lovelyusername above does then I have no beef with the Husky. If you do these things then good for you!

It is the 'I'm alright Jack' attitude running through this thread that is infuriating, from joggers and dog walkers alike. YOU want to use the beach, presumably you want it to be clean and safe and not spewing plastic to into the ocean. Therefore YOU should lend a hand if you care a jot, as should all other beach users. If you do this then I applaud you.

If we want to eradicate the scourge of litter then we would need to encourage a culture of 'picking up', taking shared responsibility for the cleanliness of public spaces. This grates because we all know we didn't contribute to the litter problem, so why should we be picking up?

But the truth is that if people picking up others' litter was more 'normalised', over the long term it would discourage people from dropping it in the first place. Children would grow up seeing litter as something that has to be dealt with and not ignored.

Also, people are overall less likely to drop litter where there is none already.