The campground rules state that guests must pack out what they pack in. This is largely because I offer a free composting service, and there is no garbage dump close by.
Nevertheless there is a garbage can, along with recycling bins, in the community building, and composting buckets are provided for any organic wastes. I verbally ask all guests to separate any organic waste (food waste or diapers) as much as possible from the garbage and recycling (several bins provided for recycling). Nevertheless when it gets busy, there are guests who mix all of their garbage, recycling and organics into one or more bags and leave them behind. I usually end up immediately dumping these bags and sorting all the recycling and organic wastes out. If I don’t do that, I will need to drive 50 km to the dump within days.
I wonder if these people think about me having to clean up after them. I also wonder about the people who leave garbage and cigarette butts on the ground. Its a mystery. Do they not notice that there is not one cigarette butt or scrap of garbage on the ground? Do they not realize that I need to pick up every tiny bit of garbage that they leave behind. The worst are those that pull an old disintegrating rotten tarp off of their vehicle, leaving hundreds of tiny bits of plastic on the ground. I have to pick up each tiny bit. I will keep trying to get the message through, but until then, I just have to accept reality the way it is.
Quite a few people leave food behind. Microbes belong in the compost, not in the garbage. I love composting and other types of organic matter recycling. I have several compost streams and love examining the diversity of life in each. My various compost streams consist of fresh and aged, organic, non organic, and composts with manures in them. My problem is with the non-organic and processed foods that guests often leave behind. I don’t really want that stuff in my compost, but its better there than in the garbage.