Plastic Bottles on the Camino

[janet fleury]

I have just walked the Camino in September and October, and was appalled at the enormous amount of plastic which was being thrown onto the beautiful Camino. I picked up every day at least 40 plastic bottles and carried them to villages with recycling bins . Why dont pilgrims have metal drink bottles which they can refill at the numerous drinking fuentes . It is totally unnecessary to buy water on the Camino . I walked for 7 weeks, from St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago, and estimate that I picked up 1500 plastic bottles over that time and delivered them to recycling facilities. Shame on all those pilgrims who leave their rubbish. When I arrived at the Lookout just before Santiago there was a young woman selling metal drink bottles for 10 euros to raise funds for children in Central America .Apparently I was the first of the hundreds of pilgrims who walked past her that day who purchased one .A plastic bottle will take hundreds of years to break down, please think of the Earth when you walk, the water supplies are plentiful on the Camino ,get a reuseable bottle and dont buy water in plastic bottles.Out of interest I drank tap water right through Morocco and Thailand also, with no ill effects . If the locals drink it , I will too,.

[Covey]

In the many years I have been walking the Camino, I find the amount of rubbish just dropped at the side of the track to be very depressing, especially as most of it will never degrade on its own. The basuras (rubbish bins) are emptied daily in towns, but often the rural rubbish bins show signs that they are not emptied that often, and are subject to being scavenged by dogs in the meantime.

The culprits are not always pilgrims however. I have often seen locals drop rubbish along the footpaths to the next village, but would have to agree that most of the discarded water bottles are down to our fellow travelers. Sadly the bottles do not degrade naturally, but I have often wondered if the plastic bottles that you kindly collect actually end up being recycled, or do they end up in a landfill site.

In addition to the plastic bottles, another problem which is easily solved, is the vast amount of tissue paper left behind bushes in places. Although the tissue paper will eventually dissolve, the infrequent rain up on the Mestea means that the tissue will be there for many many months before being degraded.

I use the plastic water bottles to carry my own water and carry two 1.5l each half full in the two side pockets of my pack. I refill them daily and every three days replace them with new. I never drink tap water in Spain. Spanish towns and villages usually have two sources of water. There is the drinking water supply which is supposedly treated and OK for drinking, and "town water" which is untreated and used for gardens and washing the streets etc.

Public water fountains should be treated with caution, especially in the more remote rural villages. Usually they will be marked with a sign stating if the water is potable, but it is safer to avoid. Our digestive tracts are far more delicate and susceptible to water borne bugs than the local Spanish, and trying to walk with unruly insides and unpredictable calls of nature is not much fun.

[HuskyNerd]

Thanks for your post, Janet, and welcome to the Forum. The plastic bottles and rubbish are tragic. Thank you for picking up so many bottles and keeping the Camino beautiful for other pilgrims. You are a fine example to us all.

[Covey]

I was thinking in the bath this morning of a solution to all the rubbish along the trails and came up with the idea of having a couple of Pilgrim Rubbish Days each year, one in May and one in September. The Spanish authorities could organize it and put up multi-lingual posters in all the Auberge's and hand out plastic rubbish sacks which the pilgrims could fill with detritus and leave at a designated rubbish point in the next village ( next to the bar where the pilgrims stop for refreshment!) where the local authority would collect it and dispose of it.

If it all took place on the same day, then all sections of the route would be cleared on the same day and that would break the back of the current filth lying around the countryside. From a practical point of view, pilgrims would wish to avoid having to bend down to pick up rubbish because of the weight of the pack, but those of us who carry walking poles have an excellent tool to prong the rubbish without having to bend down. The authorities could provide a stock of sticks with points for those not carrying walking poles. If the authorities emptied all the rural picnic site bins at the same time, then we would just have to clear the pathways and only for one day out of our 30+ days, it would probably only add an extra hour or so to that days walk.

[Bix]

I lived in Andalucia in the '70's for 6 years and we just drank the tap water. It never occurred to us to drink bottled water and we were never sick from it. However, the Spanish did just throw rubbish everywhere. Along the carretera de Cadiz (which was a lot smaller then) ran a ditch on either side which was always filled with plastic rubbish, coke cans, bottles, dead dogs, cats and even horses. I had hoped that 30 years on the environmental message had filtered through to Spain as well.
I am also upset that visitors to another country don't treat it with respect.
I have had a metal Sigg flask for 4 years now and it is brilliant. I am not sure if you can take it through as hand luggage though. Even if it is empty.

[Covey]

I owned a house in the Bay of Rosas and then just north of Calpe for many years and we never drank the tap water because it was of variable quality. Some days it was clear, and some days seemed to have half the local beach floating in it. The water in the major cities and towns is not really a problem now, but the public water fountain in some small village in the middle of nowhere in rural northern Spain might be a problem and is, in my humble opinion, worth avoiding.

Sadly, our internal systems have got used to totally clean water and food and much of the natural immunity we used to have against bugs has been lost, so when we drink supposedly clean water which has a odd bug to which the locals are immune, we are treated to 24 hours of misery wondering why Spain has so few public toilets!! Suffering Le Trots in the comfort of our own home is one thing, but suffering whilst trying to walk the Meseta without a bush in sight is another!!

[Bix]

What a blast from the past! A school friend of mine lived near Calpe, in Parcent up in the mountains. A very lovely place. We went to an international school near Estepona on the south coast and my family lived between Marbella and Fuengirola.
I guess I got used to drinking all sorts of water in my semi migrant past, I have also lived in Israel, Ireland and on a narrow boat in the UK. I have also been a nurse for 17 years, exposed to all sorts of bugs. I think my immune system must be fairly tough.
However, my partner is a bit delicate when it comes to bowels, so I think I will suggest your method to him.
Re tissues, are they nose tissues? pee tissues? If there are so many what do people use them for???? When I go for a walk, I never use tissues, grass and leaves do just as well and developing the rapid nose blow is a necessary skill for all outdoors people...

[Covey]

Regretfully, the tissue problem is not for the nose!

The Good Lord saw fit to equip us poor males in a superior fashion to deal with bodily functions along the Way, so the majority of the tissue problem arises from the fairer sex! There have been a couple of posts from ladies extolling the virtues of various plastic implements in an attempt to emulate the male system!!!!!

More frequent rainfall would dissolve the tissues, but in summer up on the Meseta, there is very little rain to wash away the evidence.

[Bix]

lol! This is very true! However, girls can learn to 'bounce'! Oh yes, the shewee, I have used one when at a festival and the toilets are too far from your tent in the night. I wouldn't want to carry one though.

[Bix]

the other thing ladies can do, I am sorry if I am too coarse, is use a panty liner and just change when you get to civilisation again.

[Covey]

Ahhhh......the product of a practical mind!!

Strangely enough, we do occasionally get questions about more intimate matters which are of probable concern to most females but which I suspect are placed in the "I can't ask that!!" box.

We tend to worry about which pack to choose or should we take boots or shoes, or how much money do we need and yet there are many subjects that are not explored, the answers to which might mean the difference between having an enjoyable time on your Camino, or plodding along in misery.

Subjects like diet, which medicines to carry, which kind of soap to carry, how many shirts etc etc are usual, but things like older men often needing to go to the toilet more frequently at night can be a problem. The answer is simple. All Auberge's will place older pilgrims in a bottom bunk if requested and that solves the Midnight Mountaineering problem. In the Municipal Auberge in Viana the bunks are all TRIPLE beds and ending up on the top bunk for an over 60 is frankly suicidal!

Don't be afraid to ask if you have a question!

[Covey]

On the subject of bunks, it never ceases to amaze me why the manufacturers for the Auberge bunks cannot allow sufficient height for those in the bottom bunk to sit upright.

Life would be so much easier for the bottom bunkers if we could sort out our pack and put on our boots without beating our head on the metal bars. I am sure some of the bunks along the Camino Frances were designed for children as there is so little room on the bottom.

[Gazza]

Covey

I am 6'4" & know exactly what you mean. I must be a slow learner, I got 3 great egges on my head b4 I worked out that I had to lay down all the time