A reckless minority of Danes throw more and more refuse away in the woods. It comprises all kinds of objects from beer cans and ice cream paper to construction waste, refrigerators and caravans. The quantity of refuse has increased to insupportable proportions for forest visitors and the situation is still worse for forest owners who also have to cope with the problem and bear the costs for removing the refuse.

If the refuse has been thrown from public roads, or if the cost for cleaning individual lots does not exceed 1 000 DK (ca 745 €), the forest owner has to pay both the cleaning and the waste tax. This is manifestly unreasonable.
Last autumn the Danish Forest Association asked Ms Connie Hedegaard, Minister of the Environment, to consider the problem. The Association presented the following proposals:
1. Refuse thrown away from public roads into private forests and nature areas must be removed without costs for the forest owner. This arrangement should be financed by revenue from the waste tax.
2. Refuse in private forests and nature areas should be removed at regular intervals, at least a couple of times a year, depending on the quantity of refuse. The present removal system with occasional operations from time to time, one lot at a time, should be abandoned.
3. The forest owner should no longer be required to make an official report to the police for the removal to be paid by public funds. A photo ought to be sufficient evidence.
The Minister of the Environment responded by calling the Association, other organizations and several politicians to a meeting to discuss the waste problem in a larger context. The result was the following:
• Local Government Denmark will request individual municipalities that collect refuse on public roads to enlarge their waste collection to include refuse on the roadside and in forests - even though the municipalities are not liable for doing that.
• The Ministry of the Environment will review the regulations and the administration for preventing fire, theft and damage in forests, for example the requirement that forest owners shall report all individual lots of refuse the police.
• In co-operation with the authorities, organizations and other communities the Danish Government will start a campaign for reducing the quantity of refuse thrown away.
The Danish Forest Association is happy to see that so many interested parties pay attention to the refuse problem.
Forest owners should now follow up the application of these proposals. They should draw attention to the problem on local level, show the refuse, take photographs of refuse thrown away in the forest and send the pictures to local newspapers, call the local radio station and ask it to raise the problem in its broadcasts.
All parties are prepared to help. They agree that forest owners shall not be left alone to cope with the problem.