This smaller geocache was simple but effective. Placed at the edge of the loch on campus where the wind naturally collected the floating waste against the shore was a great place to engage geocachers with the issue of unwanted plastic and other rubbish that can be a hazard for wildlife. The inquiry was to collect and consider the effects of different kinds of waste on different kinds of wildlife … and to collect some of it in the litter bags provided in the cache. Cache in Trash Out! (or CITO in geocache speak)
But there is a debate – which pupils should consider – is geocaching itself a form of ‘organised littering’ ? See: http://100peaks.com/2012/12/22/geocaching-organized-littering/ or http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=177646
See this Facebook page for an anti-geocaching movement
https://www.facebook.com/GeocachingIsLittering
One response is to make sure geocachers collect litter on route. Some have micro CITO (Cache in Trash out) caches which contain a rubbish bag and a latex glove. Another is Earthcaches : http://www.earthcache.org (which are not using containers at all and look at Earth science topics)