Caching Cleanup

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caughtatwork
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Caching Cleanup

Post by caughtatwork » 17 November 11 11:07 am

In the same vein as CITO, the Two Hands Project and the "bag in a film canister" highlighted by Norkmeister I would like Geocaching Australia to both be seen to be AND actually be involved in helping to keep the world clean.

I think of this for 3 reasons (not necessarily in order).

1. CITO is a wonderful activity that demonstrates to land managers that having geocaches on their land can be a benefit to the land they manage by having people come in and take away garbage when they come to find a geocache.

2. The general principle of "clean up the environment" in line with the "leave no trace" ethic is appealing to many people and the geocaching community specifically. Lots of logs mention garbage at some cache locations and if there was a method that people could use to clean up at the cache site, I think people would embrace the concept.

3. We might be able to flog 35mm film canisters with a plastic bag inside them and generate another small revenue stream for Geocaching Australia. The canister is reusable once you've got it and inside a film canister your bag doesn't get torn / ripped inside your caching bag. You can also leave them behind in geocaches as trade items or as "donations" to the next cacher to take and use. It turns into a win-win for both the environment and Geocaching Australia.

I started a discussion in the Senate in February this year and the Senators were interested in pursuing the goal of helping to clean our environment. This is especially pertinent in considering the NSW NPWS and the QLD NP rules and guidelines on geocaching. If we can demonstrate good will and intent to assist in keeping the regulated areas clean and free from garbage, then they may perceive that geocaching in the regulated areas actually provides a benefit to the area and not just an inconvenience.

A couple of things emerged from the Senate discussions that I thought I would provide as background information.

I approached the Two Hands Project with intent to use their tagline and name for the activity. They were interested in having Geocaching Australia involved in the concept and then they decided that they wanted 50% of the profits of any goods we sold. Given the nature of the goal, the "bag in a can" would be produced using as inexpensive materials as I could source. The majority of the effort would be my personal time in sourcing the cans and bags, stuffing them, printing the labels, sticking them on, getting them into the shop, then the nightly enjoyment of fulfilling the orders through the shop. I am not willing to pay another organisation for my time, even if it provides a mutual benefit to both parties.

I also considered using the existing CITO concept which has been well implemented, but CITO (logo and tag line) are registered trademarks and cannot be used without permission from Groundspeak.

Hence the idea of creating our own name and tagline was born. Actually I started with the idea of our own name and tagline, then considered we would be placing the idea into the same restrictive covenant that Two Hands and CITO have. So my latest thought was to create a "world wide, geocaching themed, 'bag in a can'" concept that could be adopted and adapted by any geocaching site in the world (think the opencaching network). The ideas would be made available under a Creative Commons licence so that it could be adapted and anyone could make derivative works. The question over commercial use comes into play and I'm not sure how to handle that. Geocaching organisations should be able to make a commercial gain out of the idea (like selling the things) for their own site benefits, but not necessarily to take and use for commercial gain personally. In this vein, I can't think of a Creative Commons license that applies. We can cover that as the idea evolves. Let's face it though, if people want to steal shit and reuse it, we have no hope of stopping them, but if we release it under a CC license, they may feel they can use it, add to it, create for it without the need to feel dirty.

I'm still enamoured by the ideas and the Senate agreed to put the idea to the community come up with:
Name
Acronym
Slogan
Logo
Cleanup kit (kit, ha!)
Promotional materials (pathtag, posters, stickers)
Webpage / website dedicated to the concept

This will demonstrate to the various government bodies that geocachers are serious about cleaning up the environment in those locations less visited at the small expense of a few footprints.

As I mentioned up front, I am primarily coming at this from a point where we can influence geocaching restrictions in PWS areas, not generate income / revenue. A groundswell of like minded organisations and people can then take the ideas and use them for the benefit of the community, the parks and the environment.

By the way, I could just as easily sell the devices through the shop without a tagline (assuming anyone would buy them), but I would very much like the whole Geocaching Australia community, and the opencaching network communities to be involved in the idea.

Just imagine if you were part of the initial community that came up with the ideas and they spread around the world. How would you feel when your input was used as a concept that took on a world wide activity to clean up the world?

Of course, you get nothing out of it, just a level of personal satisfaction.

So I'd like to solicit your feedback, ideas, discussions, concepts, etc, etc. You are free to have a go at the idea, especially if there are things I haven't made clear. We'll keep criticism on the idea, not personal attacks though. Having a go at the idea is worthy; having a go at a person is not on.

I would ask that if you're going to pop in and say "this idea sucks", then if you give a sentence or two on why it sucks, we can further understand the hundreds of different ways people will perceive the idea. By the same token if you pop in and say "great idea", the same would apply. Let us know why you think it might be great. Your feedback and comments will help to shape the end result.

At the same time, I would also like think that there might be some people out there who are also interested in the thought leadership of this concept. I am certain there will be a lot of people who support the idea provided it's "done by someone else". "Someone else" may not have the time to devote to this idea and its growth, so if the idea really appeals to you, get involved, provide leadership, and help to make it happen. Don't just leave it to "someone else" otherwise I'm almost certain nothing will happen.

There is no approval process for thought leadership or ideas, concept, designs, taglines, etc. i.e. I am not acting as default "Chairman of the Board" to approve anything. I think as a community we can take that role on amongst ourselves. The more ideas we generate the better the end result. The more things we think of and put forward the more synergy (I hate that word) we can get. You've seen how the GCA pathtag designs go. An idea is put up, someone has suggestions, modifications, feedback and the end result is better than one person can come up with.

So let's all get together, act as a community with community leadership and see if we can create a movement.

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totalube
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Re: Caching Cleanup

Post by totalube » 17 November 11 4:43 pm

This is a very good idea, but one point is that is seems unfair that you need to do all the physical work for this. Is there anyway to offer some sort of incentive for people to pitch in.

ie, If could I sourced some cans and bags and prepared them and send them to you, some token could be sent back, a GCA sticker, pathtag maybe. Something that would not impact too much financially on GCA.

This way maybe more people could get involved in the production side. I am sure that there are many people with access to 35mm film canisters and bags

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noikmeister
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Re: Caching Cleanup

Post by noikmeister » 17 November 11 4:46 pm

1 thing to consider. I rarely find caches big enough to hold my 35mm film cans. So if you can come up with something smaller it would be better. Basically you need a minimum size cache of a 400ml sistema and they often don't have the spare room.

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caughtatwork
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Re: Caching Cleanup

Post by caughtatwork » 17 November 11 5:18 pm

totalube wrote:This is a very good idea, but one point is that is seems unfair that you need to do all the physical work for this. Is there anyway to offer some sort of incentive for people to pitch in.

ie, If could I sourced some cans and bags and prepared them and send them to you, some token could be sent back, a GCA sticker, pathtag maybe. Something that would not impact too much financially on GCA.

This way maybe more people could get involved in the production side. I am sure that there are many people with access to 35mm film canisters and bags
That's not an issue (really). Get the cans, stuff a bag in, print the sticker, attach the sticker. Takes a moment or two for each one.

Sourcing the film canisters is the biggest challenge. They're either not available or hidden somewhere full of water :mrgreen:

Postage for a large number of canisters might make outsourcing of the creation a little expensive. I live in Melbourne, so check the postage for the number you are proposing and see what it comes to.

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caughtatwork
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Re: Caching Cleanup

Post by caughtatwork » 17 November 11 5:20 pm

norkmeister wrote:1 thing to consider. I rarely find caches big enough to hold my 35mm film cans. So if you can come up with something smaller it would be better. Basically you need a minimum size cache of a 400ml sistema and they often don't have the spare room.
Trouble is that anything much smaller and you can't shove a shopping bag into. We could get custom bags, but them you can't refill them yourself.

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Richary
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Re: Caching Cleanup

Post by Richary » 17 November 11 5:31 pm

Can we put a "Not to be used as a geocache" note on the sticker? :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Otherwise I think it's a great idea - as long as you can get enough shopping bags these days with more people using green bags most of the time.

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noikmeister
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Re: Caching Cleanup

Post by noikmeister » 17 November 11 6:10 pm

Richary wrote:
Otherwise I think it's a great idea - as long as you can get enough shopping bags these days with more people using green bags most of the time.
Good point. Those bags have just been banned in the ACT

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totalube
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Re: Caching Cleanup

Post by totalube » 17 November 11 7:16 pm

norkmeister wrote:
Richary wrote:
Otherwise I think it's a great idea - as long as you can get enough shopping bags these days with more people using green bags most of the time.
Good point. Those bags have just been banned in the ACT
May cost more but you could use some cheap rubbish bags.

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hgl
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Re: Caching Cleanup

Post by hgl » 17 November 11 7:49 pm

totalube wrote:This is a very good idea, but one point is that is seems unfair that you need to do all the physical work for this. Is there anyway to offer some sort of incentive for people to pitch in.

ie, If could I sourced some cans and bags and prepared them and send them to you, some token could be sent back, a GCA sticker, pathtag maybe. Something that would not impact too much financially on GCA.

This way maybe more people could get involved in the production side. I am sure that there are many people with access to 35mm film canisters and bags
Sounds like you could organise an event to collect together the materials and put them together.

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caughtatwork
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Re: Caching Cleanup

Post by caughtatwork » 17 November 11 8:51 pm

norkmeister wrote:
Richary wrote:
Otherwise I think it's a great idea - as long as you can get enough shopping bags these days with more people using green bags most of the time.
Good point. Those bags have just been banned in the ACT
A full sized garbage bag is simple too large. It can be squeezed in with careful folding and rolling, but then you have a great deal of trouble getting it back out. However :idea: take a garbage bag, cut the top 3rd or half off (gives you the same basic size as a shopping bag) and ... tada. Fits perfectly. So those who wouldn't have shopping bags can use garbage bags to refill their can.

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Papa Bear_Left
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Re: Caching Cleanup

Post by Papa Bear_Left » 18 November 11 2:23 am

Just as long as no idiot comes up with a stupid acronym like, say, GIGO or something equally moronic!


(This was C@W's original name, and I'm only teasing!)

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Zalgariath
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Re: Caching Cleanup

Post by Zalgariath » 18 November 11 11:00 am

Once Im back in Sydney at Christmas Id be very interested in helping push this along. One initial thought: Plastic bags are one of the biggest parts of the problem. Purchasing a plastic bag, even for the purpose of filling it with rubbish seems counter intuitive :( Recycling a bag that would otherwise just be chucked... all good :D But as stated, most places are phasing them out. Soon (lukcily!) it may be harder to source free bags to recycle then the film pots to shove them in ;)

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Re: Caching Cleanup

Post by Philipp » 18 November 11 11:27 am

Richary wrote:Can we put a "Not to be used as a geocache" note on the sticker? :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Just drill several holes into it.

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Team Wibble
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Re: Caching Cleanup

Post by Team Wibble » 18 November 11 11:57 am

I know of a packaging supply shop in Adelaide that sells batches of "shopping bag" style plastic bags. I wonder whether a small zip lock bag with the plastic bag folded and stuffed inside might be a smaller, easier to fit into cache style (and easier to source than film canisters)?

Laighside Legends
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Re: Caching Cleanup

Post by Laighside Legends » 18 November 11 12:08 pm

Plastic bags have been banned is SA but each week I go to foodland and pay 10c for a plastic bag that labeled as "biodegradable" - go figure? #-o
As such I have a pile of about 50 plastic bags...

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