295. The astonishing garbage thrown into England's canals 

The sheer amount of rubbish is just appalling. I hate to imagine what it would look like without the effort of those awesome volunteers and organisations. Great video mate.

Don't suppose they found your camera?

I have heard a story about some bloke who just tossed his perfectly good video camera in the canal. Madness. 😂

Your ability to make a delightful video out of most any subject matter, never ceases to amaze me. You really do have a gift

What a fantastic bunch of people!! I take my hats off to them. Keep up the good work 👍🏻

Fascinating insight into maintaining the canals. Amazing effort.Too bad it's necessary because inconsiderate slobs are using the canals as a rubbish tip

"A nitrous oxide container . . . No laughing matter!" I laughed out loud on that one.

If 'H&S forms' stopped these awesome volunteers using power tools then they have the wrong H&S advice; H&S is my day job and, well, I certainly would not stop these awesome volunteers from using power tools.

Unbelievable! I will likely never cruise the canals but do so enjoy several of the vlogs. Thanks to all who work to keep the canals safe and clean.

Unbelievable the rubbish people throw in the canals. Some have no respect for the environment. Those volunteers are do amazing work. Well done them.

I'm guessing people think canals are the same as railway boundary fences. Both some how lead to a magical recycling plant where anything thrown in or over is miraculously turned into pretty rainbows. I'm a train driver and the volume of rubbish along the track side is deeply depressing. Everything from sweet wrappers to wide screen TVs and climbing frames. There's even an old caravan with a child's slide hanging out the window.

I must say That's pretty disturbing how people have no respect for things others use. But it's no different here in the US. I see it all the time.

What a load of rubbish! But great episode David 👏

This felt like watching TV (and I mean that as a compliment), fantastic quality production!

The metal too contaminated to recycle? 🤔 The steel should still be fine to salvage. It would get shredded and melted down. At 2700 degrees f any contamination would be vaporized! 😬😁👍

Hats off to IWA for doing this horrible job. I lived on my boat in Milton Keynes for 3 years and it was a really good place with pleasant moorings all the way. I enjoyed seeing all the Wyvern Shipping boats coming through and it is great that the owner gives his time to keep the canal free of rubbish.

It's not the boaters leaving most of the rubbish. It's the scummy non-boat owners who are too lazy to take stuff to the tip!! You know who you are!!

It's a great pity that all of that effort results in it all going to landfill because it is 'considered contaminated'. There was a decent amount of metal scrap there which, in the process of recycling is heated up to temperatures even above that of a cup of tea... I'm told.

This does not surprise me at all. I am part.of a group of around 15 people that clean up our local streams and ponds. It's nothing for us to pull out about the same amount as shown weekly all through the summer. I live in a small city of about 50K and there are countless miles of creeks and streams as well as 12 decent sized ponds at local parks. It is mind boggling the amount of random things people just dump into the water ways. Litterally anything you can imagine, we have found. We find guns regularly and have twice found deceased persons, assumingly from one of the homeless camps where drugs and violence are a regular occurance. We've recovered stolen property, boats, vehicles, you name it. No matter how much we clean up, there is always and endless supply of trash to be hauled away.

I truly admire these good folks for their efforts. Before I sold my hobby farm in northern New England USA, my land was in a program called Current Use. I also accepted the 10% additional recreation adjustment to my tax bill because I allowed sportsmen access to the land. NEVER did we have a problem with these folks leaving behind any refuse. Twice a year I did a roadside walk in the front of my property to clean the ditches at the roadside. That is where I harvested many cans and bottles from passing motorists. My reward beyond a clean roadside was some of the cans and bottles had a deposit refund on them. My state did not do that but several neighboring states did. Whenever I had reason to travel to a state that offered the refund, I cashed in my hoard for the 5 and 10-cent deposits.

That solar panel will still be usable. Metal is always recyclable so it should be separated out.

I have not watched one of your videos in a while (a year), and I realize that not having watched one of your videos in so long, how great your narration is. Well done and well enjoyed!

It’s disgusting how humans treat this planet we live on we don’t deserve to be on this beautiful planet

Humans at their WORST. Humans at their BEST. That canal system is a marvel and NOT a garbage dump !

Found a passport floating in the cut the other week. Turned out to have come from a burglary some sixty miles away and somewhere on the bottom will be the missing safe it came from.

10 miles, 16 kilometers. And so much garbage! It's just shameful to know that there is so many people that act so neglectful and careless! But a huge thumbs-up for the cleaning crew! Good job well done!

What an amazing video! Thank you so much. Showing both sides of what we humans are; careless selfish entiled types and caring considerate types. How can we swing the balance in favor of the latter?

The amount of rubbish on that small stretch was astonishing. Well done to all those volunteers.

Seams people everywhere just don't care ,WHERE TRASH IS BEAUTY DIES JUST SAD

But no misplaced RU-vidr cameras? 😇

Litter and illegal dumping in waterways is unfortunately caused when city and town make it all but impossible to legally throw out over sized trash. My county just put a dumper at their service shop for people to dump their over sized trash. The scrap metal along pays for it.

People can be pigs -- I 'm probably defaming pigs with that comment!

Scrap is £165 / Ton at the Mo' 😨 Try Smiths of Bloxham, Contaminated My Foot 👍

You deserved a "Cheese" sandwich after the Nitrous joke!😆

A "Star Wars" and a "Star Trek" reference in the same video--impressive, David! (Another great video, too--thanks again for all you do!)

Thank you all to the workers, i think the canal system is a beautiful part of England's natural environment and should always be protected. I would love to visit there in your summer, please continue the work you are doing

Why landfill? Just burn the combustible stuff for power and district heating (like you said of the pallets, "firewood") and give the metal stuff to a metal scrap dealer.

THANK YOU for raising our awareness of this issue.

In the USA, Tennessee is known as the Volunteer state... well, in Britain - the folks along that stretch of canal should be known as the Vols too!! Job well done! Cheers from Tennessee, USA

Love this cleanup work, and love that it's such a volunteer effort. I HATE that people throw trash in there like that... but I LOVE that people give time, effort, and work to clean this up. Good for all of them! What an inspiration and show of love for their communities.

Bless those volunteers, they are the finest people out there. But looking at the hopper - "you're gonna need a bigger boat"! Well done the catering boat too :-)

Seems they should be doing this every quarter.

What a trashy vlog that was!!! Over 20 years ago, my home state here in the US began a spring-time tradition called “Green Up Vermont” The entire state would come out and clean up the roadsides of trash. Getting it early before the plant life would be obscuring the bottles and cans meant we were all out around this time of year. It has become a great tradition with contests, assemblage art competitions, picnics and pot lucks at the end of the long week-end. Gives one a great sense of community spirit. Lovely to see a similar tradition on the canals. Great video!!!!

What the heck is wrong with people? Sadly, it's the same story here in the states.

I don't understand how people can be so inconsiderate littering! 😢

I live on Aquidneck Island, in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, USA. It an island of 3 communities connected to mainland by 3 bridges. Every yr, the grass roots organizations, boaters, community groups, individual people come out in spring and do a shore line clean up of the entire Estuary system, beaches...We've even banned single use plastic bags and straws....

They should have game cameras on the canal, and when a dumper is identified, the judge can volunteer them for community service cleaning the canals. 80 hours for the first offense should do.

Interesting video, David! (Of course, as an American I was slightly amazed that the crew didn't come across a single corpse. :] )

In Germany most plastic bottles are worth 25 eurocent … so people don‘t throw it away . And when there is one to find … it will soon be found and put in the next Pfandautomat☺️

Oh dear me what a shame to see the lack of respect for both the environment and all of the people who travel those waterways. I`ve no doubt measures to prevent this from happening could be difficult to implement .Without the help from volunteers, the mind boggles at what could /would lay at the bottom of the canal systems throughout England.Are there then, any measures in place to curb and prevent this wanton, senseless, environmental vandalism? Thanks for the video Highlighting this issue

Sickens me that such a beautiful areas is spoiled by idiots who don't care. Very nice job to one and all.

Solar Panel?????????????? Shopping trolley's and bikes I have seen but Solar Panel's....Speechless 🤬🤬🤬

A chipper shredder mounted on a hopper barge would greatly reduce the plant matter to a manageable pile. Junk goes in the other barge.

Thank you David for a very informative, interesting vblog 😊 sadly it is disgusting how many people use the canal for dumping their rubbish 😡 Well done to all involved in the clean up 👍

The variety of trash dose not surprise me. In parts of the country we have people that I think the yanks call trailer trash.

why would anyone throw there garbage out in nature???

Something deeply satisfying watching a clean up 😊

It seems to me that they could separate the hopper into 2 compartments. One for garbage and one for wood. For the wood one, they could use a wood chipper which would blow the chips into it's compartment. Those wood chips can then be recycled and even sold as mulch. They money from the sale then goes back into the canal trust fund to offset costs.

"a bottle of nitrous oxide was found, that's no laughing matter" that gave me a chuckle

well, this was fantastic! thanks so much, this gave a real sense of just regular folks in community! :D

Great job at cleaning the camel. Too bad people can dispose of junk in a more responsible manor…👍

it breaks my heart to imagine we live in a culture where we share space with thoughtless people who dump all this rubbish into the canal. it really is depressing.

Thanks for showing us that there are people who do care enough to clean up what they can.

I am always dismayed at those who think it is ok to dump their rubbish wherever they feel like it. Brilliant work by the good folks clearing up.

In summary...there are people who could care less about the Earth, and there are people who Care much about our Earth. Thank you for this video.

I worked at a m ajor scrapyard in Connecticut,there is no reason at all that every piece of metal could not be recycled....thats part of the problem with overburdened landfills....no such thing as contaminated scapmetal, unless it is radioactive....thats fkn sad...you say you care so much but wont seperate the metal to recycle so just be lazy and dump it in the landfill your complaining about

Makes me chuckle a little every time you've said 'Grand Union Canal.' We had a grocery chain here called Grand Union. And it was pretty trashy at the end of it's run.

The amount of tat you will find in the canal systems is unbelievable, it's the exact same on my local stretch of the Lancaster in Preston bikes, cars, mopeds, guns you name it has been pulled out over the years

Imagine how the country would look if nobody cleaned up after the pigs.

It seems that there is no end of usefull ideas for a good vlogger ... thanks!

This is why I generally dislike people. Sounds harsh, but just can't help it.

People are PIGS throwing trash, stolen items etc. I clean my areas where I fish on the Chesapeake bay. I located a stolen government lap top and a military drone in the shallow water 50' from the beach. As a retired lawman on the I-95 Bridge between MD and VA many a gun are tossed . The saddest thing are bodies. Keep our water way clean good job volunteers. Have you thought about a atv towing along the canal paths with trailers to help collect large item ?

Just wondering what causes it to be “contaminated”? How sad it can’t be recycled.😢

Nice to see everyone "chipping" in to help clean up the waterways. Supporting the community and just making it better. Plus, getting out in good weather is good too.

It's a world apart, isn't it. That Tea-boat looks a bit flashy, the speed at which it is travelling and it's unique design. Cheese sandwiches on demand. This is very much England. Volunteers doing their community good deed. It's organised just like the local cricket match on the commons and cucumber sandwiches. (Don't some people have a deplorabe lack of responsibility. Pity you can't instill a sense of pride in these wayward litter-bugs.) Wonderful sense of community.

Kudos to those volunteers. Thanks for showcasing them and their work. The perverse love of many people for waste and breakage should never be underestimated. I have to remember to balance that pessimism with the (also true) fact that there are many lovely, generous people who enjoy making the world around them a better place.

The Country is a pig sty. Next time you are on the train going in or out of London, just look at the embankments and tracksides and see the massive amount of runbbish people simply through over their back fences and on to railway property

where would we be without volunteers! I have been for many a day for many things. It's very rewarding!

Good job! Theres perhaps a small amount of value to be recalimed from scrap metal by the bikes and things like the BBQ, the trollies, scooter and definitely its motor. Only a few quid bit still. The state of littering by the roadsides also seems to have got steadily worse over the last few years.

The metal waste could be recycled, they don't care that much about biological contaminants. They could just feed it into a metal shredder which also sizes it down to a uniform size and then scavenge through the chips with covalence electromagnets for the various recyclable metals. There's definitely got to be something better than just putting it in landfill. Development of recycling of waste products from places such as canals or rivers has already developed methods of sorting and recycling it, so why not ask them if they would take the contaminated waste and develop a decontamination process for most if not all of it?

Always great videos David ... how rude and disrespectful people are in dumping their rubbish for others to clean up. Love all the volunteers too!

I wonder if, back in the day when that canal was a working canal, they had to do the same thing? Horse drawn barges and man powered barges and people in row boats, dragging for the detritus of those days, including sunken barges, dead horses and drown boatmen. Probably not a lot of bicycles, probably a lot of build up horse manure and coal and tree branches.

Holy Carp! I saw a few volunteers under 60! There's hope for the future.

This is why dumb tourists like me come to the UK and admire the relative cleanness of your country, not knowing it's the work of so many people volunteering :)

"The astonishing garbage thrown into England's canals" - and only 11 miles of them here in this cleanup! Has to be the result of neurological disease, to callously trash a beautiful public waterway and environs. Regardless, two cuppas and a cheese sandwich are not an unworthy reward for a good day spent! Cheers.

Makes sense that you get clumps of dumped items, presumably close to access points. No-one's going to go for a walk along the towpath to dump something. Still lazy/greedy/stupid/annoying!

Flytipping is such a selfish and shortsighted thing to do, there are free rubbish tips in every neighbourhood, theres no excuse for it except short minded laziness

The people living in MK should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves ( apart from the volounteers of course )

The people volunteers and paid staff doing these clean ups are definitely among some of the most important unsung heroes of the canal network keeping it going , i have a real disgust for people using the canal as a rubbish dump it shows absolutely no respect for our historic canals , our nature and it shows no respect to the people who live on the canals

1) Thank you for sharing this great video on a great project! :-) 2) I would suggest (to the people of this and similar projects) that separate barges be used: one for the organic stuff (branches etc.) and one for the rest, if possible with a smaller compartment for harmful (like toxic) waste (including refrigerators) and a larger compartment for the rest (like bicycles). This way, the organic stuff could be mulched or so, then recycled into nature or gardens, the harmful stuff could be "disharmed", and the rest (including the "disharmed" stuff) could be disposed of in "proper" ways. For comparison, maybe even inspiration: 3) I live in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The canals here have been considered waste deposits for centuries, and both dredging and skimming have been part of city life for quite a while. Countless bicycles, sometimes fire arms or grenades. Some ten years ago, "plastic fishing" (should I say "fishing plastic" in English?) became a project. Would you believe it: people are (apparently) willing to pay to participate (equipped with grabbers and nets on sticks), and it's promoted as a "team building" event for businesses! Last time I checked, "plastic fishing" in Rotterdam cost as much per boat (sloop) as in Amsterdam per person... (Update: see below.) I have twice participated in "plastic fishing" as a member of political teams. I must confess that (the weather permitting) it's a great way of viewing (a small part of) the city, and "plastic fishing" does awake one's hunting instincts. (Plastic tends to drift a bit below the surface. As narrowboaters are likely to know.) I remember at least one of my occasions to coincide with beach cleaning on the North Sea coast. As I remember it, the Plastic Whale Foundation, plasticwhale.com/plastic-fishing/, started it, but there may well be others. PS: Before you ask: all house boats in Amsterdam are on the sewage system. ;-)

Unfortunately the boaters are the main culprit they tend to throw rubbish in the bushes and in the water around where I live and then simply move on to new pastures

A meaningful day spent doing something good. I just don't understand why so many have no love or respect for nature and shared environment. Disgusted with such folks.

I already stopped measuring how much garbage I take out our waters every year, being an angler and doing it privatly and organized with my club. ... just too depressing how much is being dumped. Also a shame how laughable inefficient laws and controls are when it comes to environmental protection ... even when the culprit is found out it barely ends with a slap on the wrist. And I am talking about Germany, where these things are taken more seriously already compared to the sewage dumping UK.

I'm afraid, at 73 years of age, no garbage that people throw anywhere astonishes me. Nice work as usual. Cheers from largely but not completely canal-free Vienna, Scott

I understand Russian sleeper spies will throw their shortwave radio into a canal to prevent them from being found. Also something about a stuffed monkey named Boris.

This Episode was a bit rubbish. Good to see decent people donating their time to clean up behind the Idiots. Well done IWA Team (and volunteers)

The waterways over here " across the Pond" are just as nasty and it gets me why. Take your trash and stow it in a bag on board your craft and add it to your chores on lockage jobs

My husband works for James as a carpenter.was good seeing Stuart and Shaun .a good job done all of you

Well done IWA.... Your voluntary work to clean up the canal is just awesome..... it beggar's belief how some people treat the countryside as their own personal dumping ground 😥... but thank you Dave for bringing the sterling work of these and many other groups trying to keep the countryside clean for everyone to enjoy....

Dumped mattresses are a problem in the US too.