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BajaVida
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Garbage disposal question
We camp just north of La Gringa in BOLA and are careful about leaving camp cleaner than we arrived.
Our garbage is placed in black plastic garbage bags. We haul them out and leave them in the roadside garbage dump between camp and La Gringa.
We have felt uneasy about this, but don't know what else to do. What do others do?
We want to do the right thing.
[Edited on 5-4-2004 by BajaVida]
No se apure y dure.
Don\'t hurry and you\'ll last longer.
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Anonymous
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when in Rome
just kidding,durning my last trip in Feb. I was amazed by the number of garbage cans along the road(now if they would only dump them) and the
billboards with the keep it clean message.bravo Mexico
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trblmkr
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You may be leaving your trash at the old dump. There are trash cans in town at the park by the train, or up at the police station. You can deposit the
trash bags there and it will be taken to the dump that is use, located out of town. We leave aluminum cans on the ground in seperate bags to be
collected as well. If I am mistaken, hopefully someone WHO LIVES THERE and reads this board will fill us in.
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David K
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If you haul it in (full), you should be even more able to haul it out (empty)!
Paper trash can be burned in the campfire, all else can be compressed a tied up in a heavy duty garbage bag... and take it home. If you dump your
garbage in a trash can in rural Mexico, it will just be taken out to the desert and dumped there... and will end up in the sea after the next flash
flood.
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Mexitron
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We burn everything except glass, tin cans, and aluminum cans, and usually drop the aluminum cans off with some locals who are usually happy to take
them for the recycling money. The glass and tin usually end up at the El Rosario dump south of town, although David K's approach sounds even
better.....pack it out!
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wilderone
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David K is correct. Consider the big picture, with thousands of tourists and their trash, with no real method to collect/dispose of it. Burn it,
clean it, bury it, re-use it, re-package it, take it home, leave it at home in the first place (over-packaging). Consider the trash problem as you're
planning/packing for the trip, and choose goods packaged in containers other than bottles, cans, like dry soups in pouches which can be burned vs.
canned soup. Powdered milk and Gatorade, dried fruits pack in baggies and compress to practically nothing. Even tuna now comes in a burnable pouch.
Buy oatmeal, dried hummus, refried bean mix, soup, nuts, from bulk bins at certain grocery stores and pack in baggies or re-usable storage containers
which you'll take back home. Eat more meals at Baja restaurants which both enrich their business and eliminate your need to bring more stuff.
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trblmkr
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Haul it in and take it out is a good theory, and could be done by some, but extended stays can get a bit stinky. Two weeks worth of garbage in the
summer heat can make for an unwelcome odor, bugs, camp dogs, Turkey Vultures, a rotten mess leaking in the back of your vehicle all the way home, you
get the picture.
We buy our food at local Mexican stores, burn what we can, throw out what can't be used again or recycled. We live in Mexico, so our trash will end up
in a dump somewhere on the peninsula. Our can here at the house is full, should I throw it in the truck and burn fossil fuel to take it to the U.S. to
deposit it in a landfill there?
Not everyone can afford to buy the Gucci food that wilderone suggests or eat out in Mexican restaurants. Where does the restaurant's trash go? Up to
the U.S. with the paying U.S. customers?
Baja Vida asked a good question about the proper disposal of trash in Bahia de Los Angeles, and hopefully as I said before, maybe SOMEONE WHO LIVES
THERE can give an acceptable answer to that question.
[Edited on 5-5-2004 by trblmkr]
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Roberto
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trblmkr
Muy Bien Dicho -  Wilderone never actually goes to Mexico, just likes to preach extremist views. And remember NEVER drive at night in Mexico.
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David K
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10-4 Paulina, my advice was for tourist/campers and not long term residents...
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trblmkr
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David,
Tourist/campers need to know where to put their trash. That's the question. Taking it home isn't always the answer.
Regardless if one lives in Baja or is a Tourist/camper, there are circumstances when one must leave garbage.
Hypothetecally speaking David, if you HAD to leave a garbage bag in Bahia, where would you put it?
I'd choose the cans sponsored by the town Delgado. The same ones that are put there for the sole purpose of enabling the public to be able to deposit
their garbage in it's "proper" spot, ie. the dump out of town, not the OLD one on the way to La Gringa or along the road side somewhere.
Paulina<*)))><
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thebajarunner
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Deliver me from my friends!
Of all the great philosophical topics to create, my man Baja Vida comes up with garbage.
Then, my friend David poses a wonderful solution, just cram the leaking, stinking, wretched stuff in your trunk and haul it home.
Yechhhhhh!
Come on guys, let's go back to talking about uplifting topics, like girls and bikinis and all the good stuff...
Baja Arriba!!
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El Almirante
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Is this the same bajarunner who attacked the entire city of San Francisco as a bunch of liberal,Clinton and Feinstein supporting liberals-over the
question of their support of Hetch Hechy reservoir-which bajarunner believes is an environmental disaster? But trying find the proper way to dispose
of garbage by gringos in Baja is not a worthy environmental issue?
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wilderone
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Gucci food? Extremist views? Never goes to Mexico? Roberto, maybe you're so unenlightened that my views are extremist compared to yours. The foods I
suggested are found in standard grocery stores and, here in San Diego, we have a chain called Henry's which has many foods sold in bulk bins, which
include the dried hummus, dried split pea soup, dried refried beans, etc., very economically. Not only is it cheaper than its standard counterpart,
it comes without packaging. Knorr makes many dried soups, as well other other manufacturers. Many brands of dried mashed potatoes are on all grocery
shelvs. Just look for them and make a different choice. Powdered drinks are sold everywhere - no mystery there. All I'm suggesting is that you
consider the issue at the time you're shopping and packing. Take the plastic bag outside the box, throw the box away, and write the preparation
instructions on a label and stick it on. Is that such a difficult concept for you to grasp? I agree that 2 weeks of garbage can make for an unwelcome
odor. But the point is, you shouldn't have much trash after 2 weeks if you'd plan on reducing it in the first place. All of the biodegradable stuff
can be buried (where would a "rotten mess" come from?). You can't make the slightest effort at disposing of your waste? I've been backpacking for 20
years - I haul it in and I haul it out, and I know of what I "preach." And "eating out" in Mexican restaurants usually costs an average of $4.00 per
meal. How cheap are you?
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thebajarunner
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Ecological garbage
Hey Almirante, remarks like that can get you reduced to Capitan...
Last year we hauled all the garbage from camp to the "camp-master" at Papa Fernandez', in the back of my truck.... fish stuff and all, not nice!
This year we hauled it to what our exalted, learned and worthy Commandante determined to be a legitimate dump site...
Learning otherwise, we will take it to the proper city dump, be it LABay, Gonzaga or better yet, San Ignacio.
And no, I ain't haulin' it home, no way...
And yes, the Feinstein/Boxcar pair are out to lunch when they support a dam in a wild river in a national park....
(next time we put the garbage in your rig)
Baja Arriba!!
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BajaVida
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part of the problem
is that there were 13 of us this year, a week of stinky garbage is just too much to bring back home
we will need to make some adustments in what we take
we cook from scratch and do not use many cans or jars
where is the garbage location that Paulina speaks of?
[Edited on 5-6-2004 by BajaVida]
No se apure y dure.
Don\'t hurry and you\'ll last longer.
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BajaVida
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and then there is the plastic burning issue
some have suggested burning everything except bottles and cans
does that include plastic?
that causes an uproar in our camp
No se apure y dure.
Don\'t hurry and you\'ll last longer.
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jide
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solutions
A good solution I learn from long backpacking trips is to limit unnecessary packaging (especially non-biodegradable).
Use washable silverware(vs disposable plastic plates, forks etc..). Get the dry bulk food in sealed in reusable containers, carry refillable water
containers, etc...
Basically. to not end up with garbage, I don't carry garbage in the first place....
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thebajarunner
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Garbage solution
The day I have to carry freeze dry and bio food to Baja is the day I fill my backpack and head for Yosemite. It is about 900 miles closer.
Part of the fun of our 10 day annual outing is the food. Baja Vida is our chef, and he is awesome. To forego that pleasure is to forego much of the
fun.
And, the idea that we Gringos cannot use the local garbage disposal site is so far out I think I will drop out of this thread and this topic right
now.
Trunkfuls of garbage?!?!?!? NOT!!!!!
Baja Arriba!!
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David K
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I think if we were all sitting around the campfire and speaking in person, this would have been resolved. But, because we type different than we talk,
it takes longer for the message to get across.
So, here is my opinion on trash when camping in Baja (or 'the Baja', if you are Canadian, eh?):
1) People who go camping should not leave garbage or trash at their camp area, right?
2) Garbage (food scraps) can be burned in a campfire, before leaving.
3) Paper trash can be burned, too. What's left? >>>
4) Cans and bottles. They can be hauled out (tight sealed garbage bag or empty ice chest). You hauled them in full, afterall.
5) If you just can't haul it back home, then at least get it to a 'city' dump bin. Anything but leaving it in the desert or mountains or beaches. Just
because the locals do it, doesn't mean we guests should, right?
Yes, L.A. Bay has trash cans and a municiple dump (just northwest of the final pass through the mountain... see the smoke).
Those of us with pickup trucks should have no problem hauling it out. However, I understand if you are in a car, SUV, or couldn't burn your garbage
why you don't want to haul it home... 
Just use common sense, and leave your camp like the way you would want it to look when you arrived at it.
Viva Baja everyone!
[Edited on 5-7-2004 by David K]
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trblmkr
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I'm over this post too,
because as usual, the question wasn't simply answered without stretching the topic.
The newer dump I refered to is out of town. I don't know exactly where, so I won't attempt to give you directions. Signs were put up at the old dump,
(on the road to La Gringa) requesting people not to use that location anymore, trash was bulldozed and the new dump was put into action. Over time the
signs went by the wayside and new trash started to reappear.
The trash cans that are in the town are emptied into a large dump truck and taken to the currently used dump for Bahia de Los Angeles. Gringos and
Locals alike use these trash cans. They are located at the Police station and at the park, next to the train.
Whew.
Paulina<*)))><
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