I’ve written about my dislike of litter before. I only have a few pet peeves, and one of them is people who have a need to throw their garbage out their car window. Not only does it make our land look disgusting, but throwing items onto the ground can be dangerous to pets and people.
This morning I cleaned up the trash that I found on both sides of the road near my home (two bags worth), and once again I wondered how I might be able to get people to stop doing this.
I’ve always been of the opinion that people throw their stuff on the ground because of laziness. They can’t be bothered bringing the hamburger wrappers and soda cans to their next stop to be disposed of correctly, so when they’re done eating, they just open the window and throw it out. And I still think that’s a huge part of it. But then I remembered what someone said to me when I was complaining about this problem.
This person said, “Yes, but most of it is biodegradable.”
I must have had a confused look on my face, and I said, “HUH?”
Well, they were serious! They explained that it doesn’t matter if they throw garbage on the ground because it’s biodegradable.
I sputtered.
“NOOOO,” I replied. “Bio-degradable doesn’t mean you can throw stuff on the ground! So my front lawn should look like a dump until the garbage disintegrates years from now? REALLY?”
Perhaps the reason people just throw things around is not ONLY due to laziness. Could it really be a lack of understanding about what does or doesn’t happen to the items that are dumped? Maybe if I understood what caused this problem, I might be able to help fix it.
Much of the garbage thrown out car windows is NOT biodegradable, although perhaps it is recyclable. Either way, it does not belong on the side of the street. It belongs in the dump or recycling plant.
OK, now that I’ve cleared that up, I don’t expect to see any more garbage near my property. Until tomorrow that is.