When I walk from our house to the new Town Centre, about 3/4 of a mile away, I pass by a little stream in the woods – the path is strewn with litter and I’m still some distance from the Town Centre. I just feel so offended by the spoiling of this lovely walk by people who carelessly throw their litter. I have taken it upon my self to take a small bag now for my walks along that path and just plain pick up the litter (gloves on of course) and put it in the litter bin when I finally get to the town centre. My theory is that if people don’t see litter they are less likely to carelessly throw down their own litter. I haven’t done this pick up task very many times but already I am noticing a marked improvement. If only every caring citizen would do the same, I think we could go a long way toward solving our litter problem. At first I felt a bit furtive and possibly degraded by doing this but that initial discomfort is dissipating with the satisfaction I am getting from seeing a cleaner litter-free environment. I know this should be the job of the County Council or whatever……..but, the job just doesn’t seem to get done – at least in certain parts of our towns and cities. This is just a small neighbourhood but let’s, as responsible citizens, each try to do our bit. (Don’t come and enter my front door and say oh Janet what about this litter business – I’ll have to say no, it’s not litter, it’s clutter – a totally different thing!)
a nice little walk
note the shopping trolley in the little stream
Janet's thread 
Janet, I applaud your sense of personal responsibilty to improve the beautiful environment around you. Far from feeling degraded you should be proud that you are doing your bit to clean up around you. It might inspire others, as you say. And it sounds like it might already be deterring others from dropping their litter. I have heard that the longer graffiti is left on a building the more likely it is to recur. Maybe the same applies to litter. Whenever I see people clean up I feel very proud. Sometimes I clean up too and have thought about having a little pair of gloves for spur of the moment litter disposal. You have inspired me to renew the effort. Keep it up.
I have been doing this ever since I came over – but after a while I started to reduce my efforts a bit. now we are keeping our small road down to the house clean – but I gave up on doing the same on the main road. it’s useless, because people drive by in their cars and just throw everything out the window:(( I always wonder what’s going on in their minds (or rather, what’s missing in there?) – they have plenty of space in their cars, is it too much to ask to keep a bag in there, stuff their rubbish in there and put it into a bin somewhere? I am walking or cycling and have to carry other people’s rubbish around – and pay for the disposal! I’ve given up, when I saw that people even throw stuff on the road right in front of their own house!!:((
You remind me I was going to get into the habit of taking a litter bag when I walk up the lane from our house. In the summer it gets hidden in the growing plants, but at this time of year the litter shows up, obscene and alien.
My efforts were richly rewarded yesterday when I saw the heron – he/she was so beautiful. The area I had cleared a few days before was free of litter but I extended my efforts further afield and I had a big sack of even more litter to carry home and put in our bin. It would be nice to think that my efforts are doing some good but after Bettina’s comment I won’t get over hopeful. I was particularly incensed a few days ago when a big open lorry labelled Dundrum Town Centre was in front of me and there were strong gusts of wind scattering bits of litter from the lorry – how silly not to have put some sort of a mesh cover over the top of the litter container.
Great de-litterers think alike!
[…] A while ago I wrote an entry called Self Appointed Litter Warden. Yesterday I walked along that route and it was almost as bad as ever – today it was almost […]