The problem of solid waste on the tourist trails of Tatra National Park, Poland

Abstract

Litter left behind on tourist trails is a persistent problem in national parks, regardless of the country in which the park is situated. The present article analyses the amount of waste on tourist trails in the most popular natural park in Poland, Tatra National Park (TNP), a small area of a mountainous character which is heavily used by tourists. Tourists who use the Tatra trails leave from 140 to 180 m 3 solid waste there per year. Its presence in parks, as well as being unsightly, is a potential risk for fauna and flora. 90% of the waste collected from the trails in TNP is hard or non-biodegradable waste. The waste from TNP's tourists trails needs to be considered in its totality, as recyclable fractions make up about 70% of all rubbish disposed of, and so areas such as TNP should be subject to organized waste management. It was found that the particular strategy implemented significantly affects the amount of waste from the tourist trails that is actually collected and disposed of. The key element for the efficient functioning of the waste-management strategy is the consistent implementation of an action plan that takes into account the specific nature of the area and the principles under which it is made available to tourists. Particularly significant are the frequency and regularity with which rubbish is removed. Moreover, there is a need to raise public awareness regarding waste left on tourists trails in TNP.

Change Patterns between 1993 and 2023 and Effects of COVID-19 on Tourist Traffic in Tatra National Park (Poland)

“…Research by Religa and Adach (2020) shows that, despite an increase in tourist traffic in TNP, the quantity of waste collected in the Park is not increasing, which the authors attribute to the effect of educational programs provided on a regular basis by Park authorities [18].…”

“…Authorities managing environmentally protected areas are increasingly taking action to help protect mountain areas from human impact [15,16]. Tourists often litter along trails [17,18], generate excessive noise [19], and find themselves in emergency situations requiring intervention on the part of mountain rescue units (Tatra Volunteer Emergency Service). Transportation issues are also a growing problem in many mountain areas [20].…”

Nature-Based Tourism in National and Natural Parks in Europe: A Systematic Review

“…Analysing the development of ecotourism in relation to the demography, land use, and revenue of local stakeholders [150] can provide valuable knowledge to various institutions, service providers, and residents of parks. Research that can have implications for park management includes, but is not limited to, analysing the balance between tourism and nature conservation [138,139,158,164] or the amount of waste on tourist trails in popular parks [149]. Understanding the carrying capacity of parks with consideration for their natural and cultural resources [182] and creating an ecosystem zoning procedure to determine the suitability for human activities [189] are also important elements for the efficient and durable management of national and natural parks.…”

Managing Tourism and Environment—Trail Erosion, Thresholds of Potential Concern and Limits of Acceptable Change

“…Some walking trails are formally constructed while others are informal lines of movement where people create a direct route to a desired destination or seek to avoid uncomfortable or dangerous surfaces such as ponded water or eroded or stony ground [11][12][13]. Both formal and informal trails can have undesirable biophysical outcomes, including the direct effects of habitat-fragmenting 'corridor' creation, compaction of loamy soils, churning of sandy soils, wind and water erosion and trampling of vegetation in addition to the indirect effects of littering and its accompanying negative aesthetics and chemical pollutants, as well as visitor noise causing disturbance to birds and animals [14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. The overall effect of visitation may endanger the ecological functioning of the protected area; thus, considerable attention has been given to trail management, especially trail erosion in protected areas having high visitor numbers and minimal interventions in terms of constructed walkways or conservation measures (e.g., [21][22][23][24][25][26]).…”