=
×

Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

Head To Head
Log In
Register
The Modern Antiquarian Forum »
Geoclashing
Log In to post a reply
116 messages
Topic View: Flat | Threaded
shep
10 posts

Re: Legality of litter and all that
Jan 24, 2003, 11:12
"Waste in the wrong place caused by human agency."

Geocaches are not waste; they are placed with the intent of being recovered by subsequent visitors. There is no element of "discardment" in the placement of a cache - they are deliberately placed, usually with the permission of the land owner. Caches are accountable, not anonymously abandoned - every cache contains a note explaining what it is, who it belongs to, and who you should contact if you feel that the item needs removing. Of course, depending on your personal feelings, you might still wish to morally perceive these items as "litter", and who am I to tell you that your moral perception is any more valid than mine? However, due to their nature and accountability, from a purely legal standpoint, littering fines do not "stick" against geocaches. This is something which (as you might imagine from the very nature of the game) has been well researched by it's participants!

"if a person drops, throws, deposits or leaves anything so as to cause defacement in a public place, they could be committing a littering offence."

Again, falling back to pure legal interpretation, defacement involves an act which: "spoils the appearance or surface of; disfigures, impairs the usefulness, value, or influence of, or obliterates or destroys".

If a geocache ever did "spoil the appearance" of a location, it would be a pretty unsuccessful cache! - the idea of these things is to remain hidden (and I think the fact that you Mod Ant guys haven't spotted any of these things over the course of the last 2 years is probably a pretty good indication that this aim is usually achieved.) As far as the "obliterate, destroy, disfigurement" aspect goes - if a cache ever did this, then I can assure you that you guys would only get the chance to lynch the offender after we'd finished giving them a good kicking ourselves!!!! This idea goes against the most basic rules of geocaching. (in fact, as far as I'm concerned, it goes beyond the basic rules of humanity - but maybe I'm being a little extreme!)

I know there's many people on this site who really *want* us to be bucket-burying, heather-trampling, 4x4-driving, monolith-defacing thugs. But we're not. Sorry. We're just a bunch of people who have a rather offbeat way of enjoying a walk in the country (or even the town, for that matter!).

The first time I placed a cache, I took a plastic bag full of beercans and an abandoned 14" television home with me, which had been left by previous "visitors" to the site (anglers - grrrrr!). In exchange, I left behind a 6"x4" plastic box - carefully concealed amongst some tree roots, and covered with natural bark waste. I go back to the site every couple of months, to make sure things are still OK - that the cache isn't having an adverse effect on the site, and that the surroundings are kept clean (we cachers actually get quite proud about the upkeep of our "adopted" territory, in much the same way that I gather you Mod Ants do!). I would guess that, over the course of it's life, maybe ten or twelve people will ever find it there - then I'll take it away or move it on to somewhere else to keep things interesting. The net effect of this action on the environment will be beneficial (my plastic box is, I truely believe, doing no lasting harm at all. I can't say the same for rusting telly!).

Is this really so bad?
In reply to:
Legality of litter and all that (juamei)		 Replies:
Re: Legality of litter and all that (RiotGibbon)
Re: Legality of litter and all that (Squid Tempest)
Topic Outline:
The Modern Antiquarian Forum Index