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I'm festering on this a bit. I've had a real bee in my bonnet for years about the number of cans strewn about the countryside and roadside from a certain energy drink. Of course, not just that brand, but noticeably more than others.
Without a "polluter pays" approach, there is of course little than can be done - they sell in good faith with the little "dispose responsibly" logo on the can, someone buys the can, drinks it and drops it. Nothing to do with the manufacturer. Right?
However, when the company is this big, has vast media resources, massive audience and reach, it's not unthinkable that they could do something to impress on their customers that littering is "not cool, bro". My feeble attempts to highlight the issue on the socials have gone unsurprisingly unacknowledged.
And then, one of their sponsoored athletes put something on Twitter about a recent trip and asked for suggestions of their next one. When someone suggested Scotland, I suggested picking up all the cans from their brand along the way. Of course, I'm being slightly facetious but again, if it was seriously considered it would be a good thing for their brand (from my opinion anyway, as they're rock bottom just now). A reply to my suggestion came "What's it got to do with them? Just because they're sponsored by Brand Z it's not their responsibility to pick up others' rubbish". True, and I don't dispute that which I explained. along with my suggestion above for utilising their audience reach for something good. The athlete only liked the response questioning their responsibility to this. A subsequent tweet shows said athlete sprawled over a sporty (polluting) luxury 4x4 espousing a collaboration of "passion and performance". So clearly, environmental responsibility isn't their thing, fine they're not alone there.
Just irks me the lack of acknowledgement and responsibility from all quarters.
There, it's off my chest.
I wholeheartedly agree.
As someone who is often clearing up broken glass round the new pump track near my house I feel your pain. The feral little shits have even been given extra bins by the entrances and they just can’t be arsed to use them.
it’s not unthinkable that they could do something to impress on their customers that littering is “not cool, bro”.
I think that would be a fantastic approach for them to take - or maybe a "don't be a dick" approach to be a bit more blunt.
But that's about as far as their responsibility can go. In the same way, as unpopular as this view is, that it's not McDonald's fault that a large number of their customers are ignorant litter louts.
Downhiller?
You can't afford to be too righteous as a downhiller, you'll lose fans. All those 12 year olds won't like being told to pick up after themselves...
Red Bull or Monster are no where near as bad as Coco-Cola, largest plastic polluter out there.
You should link to your tweet here. It might get a few more likes/RTs and therefore vaguely possible that the sponsor will pay attention!
Red Bull or Monster are no where near as bad as Coco-Cola, largest plastic polluter out there.
Its red bull, monster and various "meal-deal" plastic bottles round my way. I'd never buy a can of Red Bull or Monster purely because of the association the brands have with littering. Perhaps I should tell them. If enough people did so perhaps they might take the "don't be a tosser" message more seriously.
Yeah, nah, yeah.
My 2p, no I don't doubt blame all the RedBull / Monster Athletes for litter, plastic pollution or anything like that.
I can't even blame them for promoting a product I believe they'd never consume themselves, unless they need to be seen to drink it.
Or for promoting a product that's basically addictive poison. It's the job of legislators to stop that shit, not athletes.
But... if RedBull et al, did market the idea of not being a dick with their product, I'd really like that, but then, I don't know anyone who isn't at least a bit thick, who buys the stuff. I don't know if it's a UK thing, the only only people I see drinking energy drinks, don't seem to be the kind of people who enjoy Sport, their marketing seems misplaced.
I don’t know if it’s a UK thing, the only only people I see drinking energy drinks, don’t seem to be the kind of people who enjoy Sport
Yeah I get this. Any time I seen the likes of Danny Mac drinking Red Bull "on set" I think, really? You don't actually drink that shit?? Looks out of place.
Instagram shite of carving up hillsides in gnar and loam leads to crap digging in sensitive areas too. But you look at the ads in mags- even impact conscious pages such as STW - and it's all shralping over berms and kicking up rooster tails in them.
Agree.
Brand ambassadors are there to influence and like we see now, when times are slow there's a real opportunity to create useful and considered content, not half the sh*the that's being done at the moment.
Whilst this was pre covid and obviously a commercial piece, Remy Metallier used his influencer positioning to talk about reusables. Camelback
See also Yoann Barelli taking initiative and setting examples of trash cleanup, both during and away from his riding.
#tuesdayisfortrash
By beef with Red Bull is that they actively promote using Fixie bikes with no front brakes on public roads, which is illegal and kills people.
A subsequent tweet shows said athlete sprawled over a sporty (polluting) luxury 4×4 espousing a collaboration of “passion and performance”.
Emily Batty?
Any time I seen the likes of Danny Mac drinking Red Bull “on set” I think, really? You don’t actually drink that shit??
Only if they get the “Athlete” cans (ie water) mixed up with real ones.
In a fairly recent video from Sam Pilgrim he was visiting a skatepark and called out the locals for littering it with smashed glass bottles everywhere.
Unfortunately, this is the very definition of a losing battle.
If you think about it - if the type of person who litters, lobs cans, McDonalds crap, whatever, were EVER going to understand that you shouldn't do it - they wouldn't do it in the first place. You can't change those people.
[i]The athlete only liked the response questioning their responsibility to this. [/i]
says it all, really.
Not sure you can blame the athletes or the companies for this. It's solely the responsibility of either the adult that's doing it or the parents of the kids that are doing it. Fining people doesn't work as there's no one to police it so public beatings are the only option.
Yeah I get this. Any time I seen the likes of Danny Mac drinking Red Bull “on set” I think, really? You don’t actually drink that shit?? Looks out of place.
Don't most of these companies give them 'tour' cans that contain water.
I imagine most atheletes or other sponsored bods wouldn't actually drink the shit!
Morally, the manufacturer does retain some responsibility.
If their product is open to abuse and then they have a responsibility to reduce that. A good example is that tobacco, alcohol and solvent manufacturers need to mitigate the abuse of their products through mandatory advertising controls or increased taxes.
How much they're liable for is a massive grey area, but if their products end up littering the land then some of it falls at their door stop.
You are assuming that the people buying, drinking and disposing of this product actually follow the brand or their sponsored athletes. The only people I ever see drinking this stuff are teenage chavs hanging around the swing in the local park. Do you really think the manufacturer or their sponsored athletes have any influence over those types?
You are assuming that the people buying, drinking and disposing of this product actually follow the brand or their sponsored athletes.
They must take some notice, otherwise the sponsorship would be a waste of money
Not sure you can blame the athletes or the companies for this.
I don't blame them directly. I just think they could do more to promote non-littering.
I don’t blame them directly. I just think they could do more to promote non-littering.
But thats my point, I dont think the ones drinking this stuff and littering will get to see any of that promotion. They just arent interested in any of the activities or athletes they sponsor.
A subsequent tweet shows said athlete sprawled over a sporty (polluting) luxury 4×4 espousing a collaboration of “passion and performance”.
Emily Batty?
Yes.
Fixie bikes with no front brakes on public roads, which is illegal and kills people.
Erm no. It doesn't kill people, it just makes you an easy target to take the blame in any incident that may involve you.
Fixie bikes with no front brakes on public roads, which is illegal and kills people.
Erm no. It doesn’t kill people, it just makes you an easy target to take the blame in any incident that may involve you.
Not having a front brake impairs your control of the vehicle and ability to react to hazards, and therefore increases the chance of harm occurring.
You could apply your argument that it doesn't kill people to anything else that similarly affects vehicle control/chance of harm, such as speeding, driving under influence of alcohol/drugs, driving with defective brakes, etc. However, at the end of the day all these things, along with bikes not having front brake has been outlawed by authorities as it is deemed dangerous, contributing to the 1500 or so GB road deaths each year, and for all of these there is case law where it was judged doing these contributed to deaths.
What surprises me is the general society indifference to a high profile company actively promoting to a young easily influenced, vulnerable demographic to undertake an illegal activity that put others at risk of harm up to and including death when lots of people get outraged at far less harmful stuff.
Bottle deposits would also help.
Here in BC almost every drinks container has a recycling fee at purchase which is recovered when recycled at an easily accessible returns location.
I was making ~$100 a week on recycling alone back when when I was hosting 40x 18-30 backpackers in Whistler.
return-it rates
Whilst it may not change the attitude of those prepared to drop trash, it creates a mini solution as there is always someone prepared to recover a ditched bottle for its 5c return.
Emily Batty?
Yes.
Emily Batty's insta feed is a masterclass in made-up shit though. I don't mean that the content isn't real, she obviously has a deal with Porsche, I mean that it's just one of the most "curated" feeds of any athlete I know. Every post is so obviously contrived, it's like she swallowed a "how to Instagram" book...
Some brands have made an effort. Clif developed the "litter leash" tab on their gels a few years ago to help stop those tiny bits of plasticised foil being dropped everywhere. Of course they subsequently got roasted on here (and elsewhere) for not allowing other energy gel manufacturers to use the same design. On the one hand, you could argue that they should have been more generous.. On the other, it's a marketing advantage which lets anyone who want to control litter decide to support them or not. What advantage does someone like Red Bull stand to gain if they were to come up with a litter-saving design/technology only to be called out for not freely sharing it? There's no financial incentive and, seemingly, no marketing one either.
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Ratboy sponsored by Drink Water, not monny or redbull.
A good example is that tobacco, alcohol and solvent manufacturers need to mitigate the abuse of their products through mandatory advertising controls or increased taxes.
The relationship between Stella Artois and Steve Peat has always irritated me:
The Stella bottle even made it to STW:
https://singletrackmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/20-questions-with-steve-peat/
It's not just red bull, there is a local tri and duathlon buy me every year (obviously not this year) and every year when I cycle on part of the route they use for the bike course I see empty gel wrappers dropped at the side of the road. I've emailed the organiser in the past about it and never even got a reply back.
It's more of an urban thing IME. Bike parks/tracks adjacent/near urban areas, particularly skateparks and jump spots have problems. It seems in the main to be teenagers/children. Trails out in the sticks less so. Although lockdown and Youtube exposure has seen big increases in traffic on unofficial trails I ride, including people walking their dogs up them, where for years you rarely bumped in to anyone other than other bike enthusiasts 😀
Two of the jump spots I go to, the youths burn rubbish in little fire pits instead of binning it and obviously the local residents get pissed off with the billowing smoke, as well as the rubbish scattered all over the place.
For example this spot has been around for a long time and has seen a big increase in use in the last couple of years. It's out of the way but has got really busy since exposure on social media!
Without a “polluter pays” approach, there is of course little than can be done
I think this is part of the answer, and would solve many a packaging problem.
Just tax people on how much packaging and how recyclable/biodegradable it is. As soon as there is financial value in this litter, companies will come up with schemes.
The issue of litter, particularly when combined with outdoor sports you think might have a participant group who would care, is one that winds me up. It's a long seated cultural thing imo, and will take a generation or more to change back.