No you cant Burn your trash
If anyone has spent any extended amount of time in the backcountry or just visited a National Park, they will be familiar with the term “leave no trace” in reference to preserving our wild places. This term is often thrown around as a law, but it is rather a code to be followed, and at times an inconvenience, as it requires more work than to leave a trace. Growing up, leave no trace was a principle that was taught like it was in the Bible, and as the son of two outward bound instructors, it might as well have been. What I have noticed is that while many know the principle of leave no trace, and are even tested on it in order to obtain entrance into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, I think that one can appreciate nature but still fail to truly leave no trace.
As a teen on the trail, I rejoiced at the fact that aluminum cans and freeze-dryer bags, when lit ablaze, would produce green flames and even blue smoke. I did this on the same trip in which I stood ankle deep in Sanford Lake, unable to move, overtaken by the beauty of the water just north of the Turtle River, which was so clear I could sight cast for bass over one hundred yards away. What I didn’t realize at the time is that my actions directly worked to destroy the clarity on which I was so enamored.
While bathed in ignorance, I assumed burning plastic justy effects the ozone layer, something easily justified as yet another drop in the proverbial bucket. This is whole hearteldy ignorante and a break from the ethic of leave no trace, a choice to consider the bigger, more inconvenient picture. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has reported that burning trash has a highly local effect, spreading Volatile Organic Chemicals. While some of these compounds are naturally occurring, they are highly concentrated when burning plastic and are spewed across the campsite and the water. This act leaves an invisible but irreparable impact ones envornent with plants contaminated with Volatile Organic Chemicals, causing a cascade of health issues to both humans and animals.
Leave no trace is about doing the potentially inconvenient thing to ultimately uphold the health of the land. Know, instead of burning my trash, I will pack out, making sure to utilize containers that can house and silo trash produced by preparing meals. On longer trips, I will distribute food so one pack has all the meals for the first portion of the trail, taking up the responsibility of packing out trash once it is empty. These practices take more thought than just haphazardly tossing a bag into the fire, but are ultimately our duty as those hoping to recreate responsibly.
