OK, curious, be honest...

[forest dweller]

I feel that I am VERY good when it comes to "leave no trace" principles...

I HATE when people litter or cut live trees in the backcountry...

I leave a campsite as good or better than I found it...

but I DO have campfires...

and occasionally I'll burn gooey trash rather than packing that out...

I'm curious who else does...

or if nobody does and I'll be looked at like a guy with 3 heads if I went backpacking with a few of you and tossed some trash into a fire!

So, be honest...

[Brookie hunter]

I burn the trash

[madmike]

I never make a fire.

[Zach]

I never make a fire.

Me neither.
Zach

[Justin]

I usually have a campfire, and always carry out my (and other's) trash, including the half burnt and melted garbage that some folks choose to leave behind in the firepit.
Honestly.

[forest dweller]

Well I LOVE a campfire while camping, and if it's a good one and I can disintegrate trash in a nanosecond I do. Probably not best for the air, but it's probably leaving nothing behind in the ashes that wouldn't be there anyway.

[redhawk]

No Fire here.

[Justin]

Originally Posted by forest dweller

Well I LOVE a campfire while camping, and if it's a good one and I can disintegrate trash in a nanosecond I do. Probably not best for the air, but it's probably leaving nothing behind in the ashes that wouldn't be there anyway.

To me, the smell of burning plastic in the backcountry is just as bad as the sight of litter.
Both are considered pollution imho, which I am strongly against. How hard is it to carry out your trash?

[Swamp Booger]

The only trash I ever burn in a campfire is an occasional paper plate or napkin when I'm at a DEC campground. Can't recall a time ever having done that in the back country, since I don't carry paper plates.

[Bob K]

I have a fire often, and yes if it is roaring, i will surely burn paper and most plastic (don't breathe those concentrated fumes). Using a paper plate (in a Frisbee holder) is a luxury that I allow myself to minimize cleanup. Cooking (or heating) with the fire does offset some fossil fuel otherwise burned. The light also helps reduce battery use. I know this probably doesn't make the fire low impact.

I always have a trash bag however, and anything that won't burn completely comes out with me. The campsite is always cleaner when I leave including taking a surprising # of bottle caps and bits of foil or glass.

Most of my camping is by boat and I have taken out many items found in the woods from discarded camping supplies, to empty cans (mostly beer), rope and even a few milk crates and other containers. Most of these from campsites I check out while paddling. Can't remember how many balls, plastic beverage containers and other flotsam that comes home with me on local river trips on the Kaydeross creek, Mohawk or Hudson rivers. A few 55 or 15 gallon drums too.

[KeanGrad]

I never make a fire & I always pick up trash laying around and carry it out. Commonly items like plastic bottle caps and candy wrappers.

[Rickie Little]

I burn it. Burn it all!

I don't have much trash to make a difference. I do more for the enviroment keeping my car tuned properly and sharing rides that I ever cause damage by burning a few wrappers or paper products.

I pick up garbage too.

[yayabrazie]

I never ever litter. I go to school for environmental studies for crying out loud.
I might burn paper to get the fire started, usually in wet conditions, but I do not ever burn plastic. I take everything back with me, and recycle what I can.

[Justin]

Wow, after a day and a half of voting, most folks on this forum would rather illegally pollute the air with chemical toxins, than put a plastic wrapper or bottle in their pocket, or in their carry-out garbage bag.
Very surprising, and I must say, disappointing!
After all, we're not just talking about paper plates here are we?
Not a great message to send to people. Again, just my opinion.
Goodbye.

[yellowcanoe]

With a sample size of 18 you can't reach that conclusion. Nor can you state that everything burned is toxic. You just don't know.

I was surprised to find that open burning is illegal in NYS. Its perfectly legal here. We however do not have landfills and most people have to take garbage to a transfer station. It then goes somewhere..probably to New York and a landfill.

[cuterocky]

I voted yes but my yes has restrictions. I will only burn things such as paper products in a campfire. I never burn plastics of any kind, that get's packed out along with anything that didn't burn completely in the fire (or anything anyone else had previously left behind)

[Rickie Little]

Originally Posted by Justin

Wow, after a day and a half of voting, most folks on this forum would rather illegally pollute the air with chemical toxins, than put a plastic wrapper or bottle in their pocket, or in their carry-out garbage bag.
Very surprising, and I must say, disappointing!
After all, we're not just talking about paper plates here are we?
Not a great message to send to people. Again, just my opinion.
Goodbye.

Big illeagle or little illeaagle?

How much trash is being burned while camping VS the polution generated by other actions of daily living?

Are we talking about burning a few food wrappers and paper products or am I missing something?

[Justin]

Originally Posted by Rickie Little

Big illeagle or little illeaagle?

How much trash is being burned while camping VS the polution generated by other actions of daily living?

Are we talking about burning a few food wrappers and paper products or am I missing something?

Just to clarify...
I mentioned earlier that it's something that I'm against. I do not freak out if and when I see or smell someone burning a candy wrapper or paper plate, even when it's done while I'm trying to roast a hot dog.
I myself do not practice: "If you carry it in, burn your flammable trash instead of carrying it out".
I cannot answer your second question, but yes, we are in fact talking about burning your garbage while camping. I assume in the Adirondacks.
Perhaps the forest dweller can clarify where, and what he means by "gooey trash".
Maybe the votes would look a little different, which is still more than half, which I think is surprising, and sends a negative message imho. Nothing positive about this poll, other than looking for assurance that it's ok to do something you really shouldn't, instead of doing what is really easy to do.

[yellowcanoe]

I carry it out. Simply because I am a fire making klutz and campfires have never been important to me.

[forest dweller]

Clarification - "gooey" trash - any trash with a liguid food mess on it that I don't want to get on anything in my pack.

Also, I usually don't save one big hunk of trash to toss on the fire, it's usually some here, some there, in a good campfire - it practically evaporates.

For those of you that don't, would you be strict LNT snobs that looked at anybody who did this in a "repulsed" way?!