It’s a question we get asked. So why don’t we have bins in our car parks?
It is our view, taken from experience, that bins attract more litter.
Think about it, how many times have you visited a high-footfall location and seen the bins overflowing?
Those bins are overflowing because people don’t just dump the litter they’ve accumulated during the day, they use those bins to dump all their other litter!
When we had bins on our properties (of which there were a significant number placed around our car parks and National Park Visitor Centres) people would literally empty their cars into them, and experience has shown us that bins, however large or frequently emptied, can never cope with demand.
Even when full to the point of spilling over, bins attract more litter, along with boxes or bags placed next to them. In short, litter attracts litter.
Having bins at our National Park Visitor Centres puts huge pressure on us to:
- direct staff resources towards monitoring bin levels at regular intervals throughout the day
- empty bins many times a day to stop them from overflowing
- regularly hand pick litter from our properties due to overflowing bins
- store potentially large quantities of litter until it can be collected by a contractor or the local authority
- find additional budget to pay for frequent litter collections.
Plus, we know from experience that scavenging animals and even the gentlest breeze spreads litter quickly, creating an eyesore. And the hazard of uncontrolled litter presents serious risks to livestock and wildlife.
So, to prevent enormous resources having to be dedicated to supporting bins on our properties, and to ensure we can consistently deliver a very clear and simple message that people should take their litter home, we don’t have any bins. This means we can direct precious staff resources towards engaging with visitors directly, helping them get the most out of their visit, and rangers maintaining the footpath network rather than having to constantly empty bins and pick up litter where bins have overflowed.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning that, since we removed bins from our properties in around 1990, and still to this day, we see and collect little litter from our car parks or from around our National Park Visitor Centres.
What do we ask people to do?
We have a very clear, simple message that we communicate daily, and which is at the heart of the Countryside Code. And that is.
Leave no trace. Take all your litter home with you.
FAQs
Can I leave my rubbish with staff at a National Park Visitor Centre?
Sorry, but no. We simply don’t have the facilities to take in everyone’s litter. What we ask is, as per the Countryside Code, that everyone leaves no trace and takes their litter home with them.
I have collected other people’s litter on my visit. What can I do with it?
Whilst this is fantastic and we thank you, as above, we simply don’t have the facilities to take in everyone’s litter. What we ask is, as per the Countryside Code, that everyone leaves no trace and takes their litter home with them.
All the litter is just going to get dumped outside or somewhere else!
Even when we had bins, we were still collecting a similar amount, if not more litter from our car parks and properties as we do today.
In our experience, if you are going to drop litter you will drop litter, and the sad fact is that people do! They do this if there are bins or no bins. Fortunately, most people don’t do this and take responsibility for what they bring into the Yorkshire Dales National Park and take it home with them.
But I came here by bike or on foot.
You should either take it home with you. Or if you bought food and drink locally, for example from a café, then you should return the waste to the outlet from which you bought it.
I disagree with the policy.
We’re sorry you feel that way. The Yorkshire Dales National Park is an incredibly beautiful landscape that is free for everyone and anyone to visit 365 days of the year. It’s not an ‘attraction’ in the sense that you should expect to find bins and other facilities.