Over the last week I have spent 20 minutes a day picking up garbage from the street.
There are a few things that stand out. For one; if you just glance down a street, you may think it's really not littered with garbage. But if you start looking you will realize it will take you 20 minutes to move 3 blocks. Secondly, there is a ton of paper out there, you might as well call it city tumbleweeds. From Old receipts, parking tickets, to newspapers, I've seen it all. Finally, the main bulk of the trash is plastics, from wrappers, bottle caps, bottles, coffee tops, gloves, face masks, to cigarettes. Plastics in cigarettes you say? Yes, plastics are in the filter.
Let me give you a small tally on what I picked up this week:
For a short 2o minutes I picked up:
16 cans
14 Coffee cups
19 Plastic Lids
475 Cigarettes (plastic)
20 Dryer Sheets (plastic)
22 Plastic Gloves
Always small tid-bits of styrofoam...why is this still around?
6 glass bottles
12 Rubber bands
tons of paper.
oh yea...and those super gross dog-poop-bags, that totally bum me out.
Also, three Thank you's and zero people joining me.
All of this was found within three blocks from where I live. And I cross the same streets every day. I change it up, but really, the garbage collects fast.
Are you guys getting out thee to beautify your neighborhood. I'm not doing this because it's fun. I actually think it's pretty gross. I don't enjoy it. But I want to be a better citizen and not assume that the government will take care of this problem. If I want to see change, I might as well act. And guess what? My little street is just a little bit cleaner than how it was when I first started. What if everyone spent 20 minutes a day working just 3-6 blocks. That would be one clean city.
So what Age do you think we're in? I agree with Shrimp 'n Lobster, we should be moving from the Plastic Age to the zero waste Age. See why scientists think we're currently in the Plastic Age. Check it out HERE
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