RUBBISH - From Cyclists

[simonhill]

Before I start does anyone know if Ride London do a rubbish pick up after the event? If so forget the rest.

I did ask a Marshall and she said the wagons go round to pick up the signs, but didn't think there was anyone doing the rubbish.

I was camping just off the Ride and the Women's route. Coming back from my private ride today, I rode a short section of the Ride London 100 route. In about 3kms, I saw 30 or so energy sachets discarded on the road. There were also a couple of water bottles and a few banana skins. Plus other sweet wrappers.

Strange where the sachets were as it was only a few Kms before a feeding station, so maybe people who don't stop to feed.

I fully support all cycling and was pleased to see these 2 events, but what arrogant t*ssers some of the riders must be to think they can dump their rubbish on our lovely Essex roads.

Are there any rules about throwing rubbish in these type events?

[thirdcrank]

The law is the complicated s 87 Environmental Protection Act 1990 (as amended.)

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/43/section/87

I've looked at the Ride London website and I couldn't find anything about litter. I could imagine that publicising any post-event clearing up might be counter-productive in that it might be arguable that they didn't "leave it." ie it would be cleared up by the organisers. Whether that's feasible, I don't know but anything is possible.. This was one of my first hits when I was looking at this

Lawyer's advice for anyone targetted by council's new "intimidating" litter squad

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/li ... s-12816258

I've not bothered reading that and my own free legal advice would be Take your litter home with you.

[Jdsk]

Before I start does anyone know if Ride London do a rubbish pick up after the event?

It was mentioned in the reports for 2016, eg:
https://www.richmondandtwickenhamtimes. ... t-on-2015/

"Ride London admitted a ‘communication issue’ with litter patrols meant the teams’ work was not up to standard."

Jonathan

[sizbut]

If your short of water bottles (who is?), including fancy ones with insulate liners, tools, rain jackets, gels (full one, not just the wrapper) - riding the route you can have your pick if you want to ride the route. Yes, discarded gel wrappers is disgusting, but the rest shows lack of awareness by riders of how they've stowed things.

There were also some total pillocks who had come in old sweatshirts and the like to stay warm on the way to the start and then just discarded them by the road in the first few miles. But as far as I could tell that was far less than when it was last run in 2019.

[audaxjk]

3 years ago I was in Alpe D’Huez at the same time as https://www.opgevenisgeenoptie.nl/
It’s a Dutch charity ride attracting 5,000 cyclists going up the Alpe up to 6 times in a day.
With all the support etc there must have been in excess of 10,000 people there for 2-3 days.
We spoke with the volunteers for the charity and were suitably impressed. The organisers were really conscious of not impinging on local resources and leaving no footprints of their event. They brought their own supplies/logistics from Holland including their own medical team. All rubbish/waste was collected and everything was driven back to Holland for recycling/disposal.
Once the event finished, the following day you would never have known that they had been there such was the efficiency of the clean up operation.

[roberts8]

Living in the Surrey Hills cycling litter such as gel wrappers and discarded inner tubes are constant.
It is far worse when Sportives are run, to the degree locals organise litter picks as we are fed up with it.

[Tangled Metal]

A few years ago there was a cycling event on my commuting route over the weekend. On the Monday there was one spot with rather a lot of little, air bottles. It took me a couple of days to realise that they weren't in fact part of a puncture repair kit but the remains of a legal high. I was initially most unfair to sportive riders but on the whole it is fair to assume the worst of mass participation sporting events such as cycling sportive, marathons and fun runs. There are certainly good and bad ones.

[Jules59]

I just don't understand what goes through the selfish litter droppers minds - very little I suppose

If I've got an empty wrapper in my hand whilst cycling I just tuck it up under my sleeve and until I come across a bin. How difficult is that ?

[Ron]

My completely unscientific surveys of littering in Europe have put the UK at the bottom of the heap.
It's what a sizeable proportion of our population do without a care, not only cyclists .

[ChrisP100]

You should always take your rubbish home, or put it in any bins provided by the organisers. NEVER just chuck it on the floor.

That said empty gel packs can get very messy, so you don't want to be putting them straight in to a pocket if you can help it.

I'd take a ziplock bag and place any sticky rubbish in there and then you can stash it in a jersey pocket or musette.

[nigel8322]

I was at the York Cycle Rally last weekend as a helper and participant. At the end there were 3 skips full of rubbish. Walking round the site (maybe 400m square) I found just four pieces of rubbish, not necessarily left by cyclists. Some people clearly care about the environment!