I remember being surprised, some years ago now, when the issue of littering came up during a pub discussion with work colleagues. When a number of them happily admitted they threw little on the streets regularly. I’d always thought that those who did were low-life scally types - the sort who smashed up phone boxes, and the like, for a laugh.
But these people (or so I thought) were above that - normal law abiding types. One socialist line they came out with was the: it keeps someone in a job (picking it up).
I’ve been known to fling trash into the back seat of my car, cram gum wrappers into my purse, and crumple up used paper napkins in my pockets rather than throw them on the ground. I’ve even run after my trash if the wind catches it, and I’ve picked up paper towels off the floor in public restrooms where, apparently, some folks were unable to deposit them in the can.
ZERO patience with litterers. ZERO regard for smokers who dump the contents of their ashtrays in the road, to say nothing of flinging their butts out the car window. Maximum contempt for people who leave their trash on shared public tables, whether in restaurants, parks, or the office break room. Didn’t your mother teach you any better???
I try hard to not litter. I think of littering as a little violation of the social contract, and a lack of respect for both the planet, and the quality of society.
My house is on a corner lot; the side yard has a somewhat busy street running alongside it. I have to go out into the yard once or twice a week (particularly along that side), and just pick up trash that has made its way into the yard. The trash items are usually beer cans and beer bottles, empty cigarette packs, and non-winning scratch-off lottery tickets, and I have to assume that most of it is getting tossed out the windows of passing cars, by rude or ignorant people. Grrr.
As a former smoker who threw butts on the ground consistently in my younger days, justifying my actions with the same lame logic, I now recognize the complete stupidity of it. If littering promotes employment, well then so does theft. All crimes promote the employment of law enforcement officers, so why not go ahead and do whatever you want resting assured that your actions are helping the economy by employing people? :smack:
I was once riding with a friend for whom I had much respect. He rolled down his window and tossed a bunch of fast food wrappers out. I was astounded and said, “Did you really just throw your trash out the car window?” He replied, “What was I supposed to do – leave it in my car?”
I too chase after paper that wind blows out of my car. I try very hard not to litter.
I’ll even dump out the ice from a soda and keep the cup in the car. Throw it out at home.
Litterers action’s are inexcusable.
I think society needs to do their part. Supply trash trash receptacles on street corners. Every fast food place needs several trash receptacles in their parking lot. Empty them often. We shouldn’t be expected to lug home trash in our pockets.
My front yard (on a busy road) is a litter-catcher for jerks who throw trash out their car windows. Popular offerings include fast food detritus, empty bottles and cans, cigarette boxes, and newspapers.
I am tempted to place such people under citizen’s arrest and detain them until such time as the authorities can haul them off.
I, too, will not deliberately throw my litter on the ground, out my car window or leave it on a table. It shouldn’t sound so “high horse” to say that my mom raised me better than that. A couple weeks ago I noticed that someone was leaving empty water bottles and soda cans on a conference room table at work. The second day in a row I noticed this, I said “pigs” out loud in front of witnesses. They chuckled sort of uncomfortably like I was being undiplomatic. But the trash can is next to the door and the pigs could have simply dropped their trash in it as they left the room.
It’s one of the few sad points about living in Virginia. It’s a gorgeous state full of beautiful woods and forests. And all of those woods and forests are covered in trash because so many people here are utter pigs.
I can’t say I’ve ever known or seen anyone being gainfully employed as a litter picker-upper. Changing trash cans at businesses and parks, of course. But anyone who thinks there are people hired explicitly to pick up trash from the ground outside is mistaken.
(I do know that trash on the movie theater floor kept me employed for a summer but that trash is quite different than food wrappers out your car window!)
I was once one of those rude people. The last time I intentionally littered was in the 1970s, and involved dumping beer bottles out of the car to avoid detection if we were to get stopped (and before we got home).
It was reprehensible on many levels (drinking/driving/littering), and I am sorry. I’ve picked up my share of litter since then, and no longer drive around drinking beer in my car. As a reformed offended, I also have no tolerance for littering.
I don’t get paid to pick up the litter in my front yard. :dubious:
I live on a relatively busy street that also has a ton of pedestrian traffic. I find trash in my yard on a daily basis, and I regularly say to myself, “What kind of person DOES that??”
I also have a corner lot, and the roads in my tiny neighborhood are unlighted. The side road along my yard seems to be a favorite place for (I assume) kids to park and drink and whatever. I have to be very careful mowing the right of way, on the lookout for bottles, cans, and fast food garbage. One ass even flung a glass bottle into the rock garden on my hill - thanks for the shards!
I used to be one of those people whose world was his ashtray. Future archaeologists will puzzle over the billions of tiny tampons they find everywhere. As a reformed smoker, I’m a total asshole about the nasty habit. Oh, and I don’t otherwise intentionally litter.
I will admit to, on occasion, tossing a wad of gum out the car window, but other litter stays in the car until I get home. Same around the house, any litter gets picked and trash-canned.
