Fed up with seeing litter on my dog walks - WWYD?

[PacificDogwod]

I am thinking about having a plastic bag with me when I take Ddog for his walk and pick up litter that we come across.
I just hate seeing empty cans/soft drink bottles/bags/crisp bags etc lying along the path of the gorgeous riverside walk we do daily v close to our house. It spoils the whole experience for me tbh.

Do you think I'd look like some kind of prissy loon if I started picking stuff up?
There's plenty of bins along the way to dump the collected at the end of the walk.

I am already picking up other dogs' poos because I'd rather pick them up than scrape them out of my shoes….

I am a loon, aren't I? [embarassed]

I think its a great thing to do - didn't someone start a 'one bag' initiative to clean up an area by asking people to just fill one carrier bag.

I pick up any other poo I see while out too

Oh good, I am not alone

There was a guy on the news a while back who was a one man cleaning the countryside crew: I thought what he was doing but he was also a loon rather eccentric

No not a loon, rather lovely I think! If everyone did this it would be great! I do collect stuff as I walk about but I haven't gone so far as a rubbish bag yet!

At DS's school we had a litter pick one weekend around the nearby lake and it was enjoyed by all - and taught the DC's a good lesson. You could suggest this to the PTA? We did it through the school environment club - also did bat walks and mushroom forays it was fab!

Oh, that's a good idea, getting the kids' schools involved!

I think I will get in to the habit of having poo bags AND rubbish bags with me

You are so not alone. I regularly use poo bags for rubbish collecting as well. This time of year it's not so bad, but I lost count of the number of nappies I picked up on summer weekends before DDog3 could get to them . Also frequently pick up other dogs' poo as I don't want to get the blame.
A friend of mine asked the Forestry Commission who run the park if we could organise a regular litter pick but they said it was against 'elf & safety rules,so we carry on with our unofficial cleanup. :(

Thing is, if you leave it it's there annoying you the next time you walk.

It is infuriating having to pick up someone else's crap but once it's done you have a nicer walk.

Thing is, if you leave it it's there annoying you the next time you walk.

This

Just back from a walk and deposited a full carrier bag in the nearest bin

I bring home metal rubbish all the time (flattened drinks cans mostly). Metal is the most valuable thing you can recycle.

I know walkers who bring home bags & bits of rubbish on their regular outings.

We have an organized Sunday morning 'wombling' group. A few dog walkers with bags collecting rubbish and a coffee when we have finished. The group started with a few of us then on Facebook for volunteers.

Litter gives me the rage and I always pick it up when I'm out walking the dog and I often pop out anyway just to collect litter from the park opposite our house. I have definitely noticed that by keeping on top of the problem there does appear to be less litter dropped.

Keep up the good work fellow litter pickers!

This annoys me too, for many reasons including that my dog often tries to pick rubbish up! Littering isn't only disgusting it's bloody dangerous

I took bags once and filled two with rubbish, glass, cans etc being the worst. Went to find a bin and it was over flowing with rubbish so left it by the side so it was probably a pretty useless thing to have done as the foxes would've had it straight out again. It really, really annoys me the rubbish that is left around but it also annoys me that bins aren't emptied more often.