A New Zealand law that allows people to defecate in public as long as you think no one can see you needs to be tightened. So says an association of campers after they are mentioned as the cause for a large part of the human excrement in nature.
It is currently an offense to defecate or urinate in a public place, but if the person can show that they had reasonable grounds to believe that they were not being watched, they could avoid a $200 fine.
The Responsible Campers Association argues that the law should also require people to demonstrate that they conducted their business at least 50 meters from a waterway and that the waste was buried at least 15 cm deep. “It’s not so much the action that is of concern, but the visible after-effects,” said Bob Osborne, the group’s spokesperson.
The group has been arguing since 2017 that camping should not be targeted, but individuals who behave badly. Wild camping has made headlines in recent years because of concerns about its impact on the environment, especially in terms of campers’ personal waste.
Banned
Local media regularly reports that wild campers are associated with the increase in feces and toilet paper in popular tourist destinations, while some city councils have chosen to ban campers from hot spots altogether.
Frictions between campers, locals and the government peaked in late 2020, when Tourism Minister Stuart Nash told national broadcaster RNZ that wild campers are “putting vehicles on the side of the road and shitting in our waterways”.
Osborne said it was not fair to blame wild campers for the country’s public health problems. “There is no evidence linking any specific group to this undesirable practice.” The group believes that minimizing “the more unwanted aftermath” would be the most appropriate way to tackle the problem in the short term, but more toilet facilities for travelers is the best long-term solution.
In 2021, Nash announced that the government would crack down on wild camping, including tougher fines for misbehaving and stricter restrictions on where campers can park. The rules will be presented to parliament this year.
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