New Year’s resolutions – a wide-open and sometimes controversial topic. Speaking only for myself, what a setup. I can quickly come up with a dozen ways to improve myself and my lifestyle, but what are the chances I’ll stop eating pasta or buying earrings, even though I already have enough pairs to open my boutique?
No, any resolutions I make would have to be serious, highly capable of success, and easy … like no littering. Now, before you draw the conclusion that I’m a hopeless litterbug, let me share a story with you.
Once again, I was in the Oxbow, traveling to one of my favorite woodsy lanes, where I saw a bear sign. Coming around the curve, WHAM! garbage, trash, refuse, spelled however you like, litter. Heartbreaking, maddening, and disappointing, especially since I had nothing with me to clean up a mess that size. I would have to return the following weekend with heavy-duty trash bags and a box for the broken glass.
Of course, I’d have to bring gloves and a grabber, I didn’t particularly want to cut or infect myself. I don’t recall precisely what was there, but definitely household trash, not just something left by errant picnickers.
It is hard to understand why a person(s) would intentionally create such a blight in an otherwise pristine setting. Clearly, some folks are financially hard-pressed and cannot afford garbage service, but if you’re going to use expensive fuel to eliminate your problem, then the next best/worst solution would be to bag it and leave it where it could be found and disposed of.
I’m not promoting that at all, but it’s better than the alternative.
Make a difference
So, what can be done? We may be lost if images of animals trapped in plastic containers, aluminum cans, or a foot or leg cut from glass or sharp can lids aren’t convincing. But not totally – there’s still us – “us” as in those willing to stop to pick up someone else’s trash. Who else is going to do it?
We can continue to harp (as I suppose I’m doing), yet even a three-year-old can be taught to put their candy wrapper in the trash. So what is an acceptable excuse for someone old enough to drive?
What item do you suppose is of the greatest volume in the landfill? Cigarette butts!
Unbelievable because of their small size, it’s not something I would have even thought of. The following is an incomplete list of the most common ‘out the window’ trash items and the time it takes them to disintegrate, considering environmental factors such as moisture, sunlight, and what it’s made of:
• Cigarette butts: 2-10 years
• Candy wrappers:10-20 years
• Ice cream sticks: 6 mo. – 1 year
• Soda containers: 80-200 years
• Plastic straws: Up to 200 years
• Gum: 5-1000 years
• Water bottles: 450 years
• Paper receipts: 2-6 weeks
That is astounding!
Now that I have pointed the finger at others, it’s time to turn it on myself. It had been a miserably hot day. My brother was driving me home as my own vehicle had been totaled in a hit-and-run incident. We were sweltering in his un-airconditioned work car. He decided to stop to get a cold drink and brought me an ice cream bar.
Of course, neither of us could predict what was about to happen. My bar began melting much faster than I could eat it, dripping on my hand, arm, and shirt. Finally giving up, I rolled down my window, and out it went. Looking at my brother, his mouth was agape.
I really had no answer or opposition.
So somewhere on Davisson Road in Creswell, there’s an ice cream bar stick, and maybe there for another year, public admission is my punishment, and I’m certainly not proud of it.
Norma Gavick is a lifestyle columnist for The Chronicle.
