WOAH WOAH WOAH -
Wait just a minute...
Nobody sees the disconnect here? Someone who digs up trash and leaves it lying around complaining about other people littering? Wow, I thought I'd seen it all.
Now this isn't targeted at Needler, but to ANYONE who thinks it's okay to leave their trash lying about. If you're willing to go out and swing a detector and dig up targets for hours on end, it's not too much work for you to dispose of your trash properly instead of littering up the place. This is exactly what gets detecting banned. Getting rid of trash is as much a part of the hobby as digging it.
I will admit, I have left large objects in the ground before, for one very simple reason. Once I've determined what the object is, I think about whether it would cause more harm to leave it or take it. If it's sharp and dangerous, I will take it with me. But if it's some great big, yet harmless, object like a plowpoint or something, it would do more damage to the grounds to pull it out and leave a great big messy hole than to simply fill in my small plug.
It's all about respect. Respect the property you're hunting (public and private) and respect those around you who also use that property. On your own land in the middle of the woods and don't care? Sure, leave it about, doesn't bother anyone but you. In a public park or on another person's land? Seriously, it's not that hard to throw it out. Leaving your trash lying around is disrespectful to the land, to everyone around you, and to our hobby in general. Plus it's just plain lazy.
Some of you may complain that stuff is too big or heavy to carry about with you. If that's too difficult for you, don't dig the big targets!! But if you do want to dig them and not have to carry them around with you, get a bag (I use a canvas type messenger bag) and leave it in a central location to your hunt. When you trash pouch gets full (or if you hit something big like a license plate or sharp like a hunting arrowhead), take it over to your bag and empty it out. Repeat until it's time to go, moving the larger bag as needed, and then head out with it. Don't complain that you can't throw it out at home because your trashcan is too full - there are plenty of places to dispose of it, or you could *gasp* just pay for it to be removed like you ought to. If you can't afford to throw out your trash from metal detecting, don't go metal detecting (and my advice would be to find a better paying job).
Common sense and respect, that's all I'm asking here. And I don't think that's too much to ask. If that simple thing is too much for you, you really ought to think about getting a different hobby, before you ruin mine.