For a not so delicate problem. Those of you that disperse camp for extended periods, where do you look to dispose of your trash that has accumulated? I mean when you are on the road
@Road 
and aren't headed back home or through a campground where a bin is located do you drive through McDonald's and throw it in theirs? Find the county dump? Bury it (JK NR)? I can see where those duffle bag thingys hanging on the spare works for a while but at some point...you gotta leave a dump! Be honest, where is the worst place you have ever dumped?
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Ha - oh boy,
@FishinCrzy, you've opened up a topic important to me. Thanks for asking.
Here's a whole mess of info on what I've learned as an adventurer who is gone for months at a time, usually off-grid and away.
The TLDR; version is:
Be Organized
Haul It In, Haul It Out
Leave It Better Than You Found It
The details, for anyone who cares to wade through it, apply more to extended-stay back country camping, long-term travel, and off-grid living. I often go several months without seeing a fast food place or stop light, so may approach things differently.
In weekend or week-long adventures where you encounter more urban and highway stops, or can haul trash home at the end of the week, it is much easier to deal with. Much of this will apply, though, to camping organization on shorter trips.
I generate very little trash when long-term camping back country. When I say long term, I mean from several weeks to several months or more. I consider it an interesting challenge to see how
little waste I can generate, and how little I have to then deal with daily or haul out.
My biggest haul out is always returnables/recyclables. I do not like trashing aluminum or plastic that can be recycled. When down on the border or up in the mountains, I regularly make it part of supply runs and exploring to haul returnables--often 50 miles or more each way--to the nearest place I can drop them off, at which time I'll drop off any small bag of trash I have, too. I take the opportunity to refill water containers, as well. It's also when I catch up with people I've gotten to know at places I've visited over the years. Becomes part of one's routine. A market day when you get everything done in one run.
MINIMIZE WHAT YOU HAUL IN
PACKAGING: What really helps is to get rid of packaging right at the market before I put it in my fridge. Buy fresh food, not canned or pre-packaged, including meats and fish. A lot of places let you bring your own containers when buying grains, coffee beans, and proteins and vegetables.
IF I have to buy Styrofoam trays under anything; those weird absorbent pads under chicken and fish (which get real smelly real fast in camp); pre-packaged cello wraps with labels; six pack holders, cardboard around beer, or any other packaging, I try to get rid of it
at the grocery before the goods go in my fridge or pantry. That crap goes in the
market's trash, not mine. Saves space to use my own reusable containers, and saves space in my trash to get rid of packaging then, not later.
Even fast food packaging when I'm on the interstate or over-nighting at truck stops; all that packaging comes off and gets thrown away at the restaurant. Just give me the burger in paper; I don't need the box, the bag, and twenty napkins.
SHOPPING BAGS: I take my own reusable shopping bags in, too, wherever I can. In Maine you pay less when you bring your own bags because we're a long time big recycling, low-impact state going back decades. So it's been a habit most of my adult life. What I use most is the black folding We Love Local container in the image below. I have half a dozen of them; they fold flat, are easy to store, and are wicked handy for a number of camp chores. I keep daily kitchen stuff like my JetBoil, coffee, utensils, & sink stuff in one, too, for easy packing.
Black carrier; folds flat; holds a lot; very handy for getting groceries as well as for general camp storage.
STAY ORGANIZED IN CAMP IN REGARDS TO WASTE
FOOD WASTE: I keep all veggie trimmings, eggshells, etc separate from other trash and try to minimize anything smelly. It's really not hard. I'm solo and a clean-plater, so easy to plan my meals to not have waste. Leftovers go in Ziploc 4oz square
mini-containers and right into the fridge. I also keep all condiments and peppers, olives, etc in those containers because they stack so nice and take up such little space in my fridge.
The organic food waste mentioned above goes in a small
bio/compostable bag in a vinyl bag that always hangs on the handle of my van's rear door. It's a simple part of kitchen routine and convenient to my work flow.
Small vinyl trash bag holder with hook-n-loop top and zippered bottom to store more bags and facilitate cleaning.
I put NO smelly food waste in the
Spare Tire Bag on my trailer. It's more likely to attract animals at night or leave behind grease smells etc that linger and can still attract animals weeks later. If you camp in bear country often, you might know what I mean. If dealt with every other day or so; the bio bag from inside my van door gets rolled up, air squeezed out, then put in a gallon ziploc with other bags like it, if need be, and there's no odor to bother. Simple to haul out when you get out.
PAPER WASTE: What little I generate (paper towels, empty cardboard rolls, etc) I use to start fires or burn when having a fire. I don't burn anything that will stay behind. If I DO have anything after a night's fire that has not burned, the cold coals get raked and anything not ash gets bagged and hauled out with food trash mentioned above. I try to minimize the amount of paper towels I use, opting for lightweight towels I can rinse for general cooking and cleaning chores.
TIP: Keep a ziploc for paper towels used to drain bacon or to wipe out a pan after cooking bacon or burgers. Helps a fire get started.
OTHER TRASH: There really isn't much after all the above, but it goes in a bag hooked to the inside of my Spare Tire Bag. Easily hauled out to a road side rest area trash can or trash at the market. As it has no food or human waste, it's never a problem. Even fits into the small openings on trash barrels at fuel stops. The reason a lot of them have small openings, by the way, is that too many people were stuffing their household and RV trash bags into them every time they filled up.
Spare Tire Bag trash bag for non-food waste. I know a lot of folks put their smelly food waste in the Spare Tire Bag. I won't.
If you're handling your kitchen right, you won't have smelly waste and your Spare Tire Bag won't be attracting bears, raccoons, or bugs, etc.
DISPOSING OF TRASH:
I do NOT bury food or trash, nor dig cat holes for human waste. FAR too much of that happening, even in the most remote of places.
With the sheer number of folks hitting the trails, many of whom just don't know better or don't care, it's disgusting how often waste of all sorts is not disposed of properly. Many places do not allow digging of cat holes for human waste anymore, because there are SO many being dug. You're asked to haul out all waste, human and otherwise. Haul it in, haul it out. Leave nothing behind. Simple, really; you just have to be prepared to do so.
Folks not being prepared to do so has become a problem in towns near popular camping and river-running spots. Way too much improper waste being dumped, and some towns people and small biz in those towns are pissed.
For human waste, I now have a
Nature's Head, but for long time used a 5 gal
bucket and liner with peat moss. Properly done, either can be used for a very long time before having to empty, as long as you keep solids and liquids separate. And, if you do it right, the end product can be spread around your roses at home. The bucket is the same idea as the Nature's Head; solids and liquids separate, just a poor man's version. Believe me, it works, with no offensive odor.
Like others have said, using small bags to put one's daily trash in, then taking it with you when you gas up or run for supplies, it's then much easier to use a trash can or dumpster without adding a big lawn bag full of stuff at the end of a week or two.
I use the
bio/compostable bags as much as I can instead of the plastic grocery bags, as the biodegradable bags break down much faster in landfill. Ever see whole fence rows flying bags, or cactus way out in the desert with plastic bags stuck to them?
I use the compostable bags for picking up other people's trash, too, which I do a lot. I keep a pair of orange gloves and a bag or two in an orange day pack I use for walking around.
Orange because it's what I have and for working on my van, though others then notice and ask "You work for the state?"
I say "Nope, just picking up trash others left behind." It most always starts a conversation about how easy it is to not generate trash when camping and what they can do, too, to lessen the impacts of camping, whether in a state park, back country in WMA or BLM, or elsewhere.
It is also easy to dispose of picked up trash when you get back to a WMA office or park HQ, etc. They appreciate that you've policed an area and let you dispose of it in their dumpster along with your own trash.
Bio-compostable bags; durable long enough to use, though break down far more easily in landfills.
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Do Your Part
Haul It In, Haul It Out
Leave It Better Than You Found It
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Roaddude - Traveling Photographer/Writer/Artist On the Road In North America. Gear, reviews, people, places, and culture.
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