Litter

Spent the morning today picking litter around where we live. It's something I committed to do as a volunteer some time ago; I haven't done as much as I should of late, and it's time to make a fresh start. I enjoyed my litter-picking walk in the sun today, but it's bittersweet, since I don't like what I find, even if I do get a good feeling having done the job, and cleaned things up a bit.

It's disappointing to see so much litter thrown down. Welshpool is by no means short of litter bins, and they're emptied regularly. Wherever you are in town, more or less, you'll not be more than a couple of minutes' walk from a bin. Smokers are a particular annoyance. I don't like smoking anyway, and I don't like to see cigarette butts all over the place. But I get even crosser at the throwing down (or out of car windows) of cigarette packets, disposable lighters, cigarette papers, matchboxes. Presumably the smoker has been carrying that cigarette packet about all day, so what's the problem with continuing to carry it far enough to put it in a bin. Most of the ones I picked up today were within five metres or so of a bin.

There is, of course, too much packaging anyway, and too much of that is manufactured in a such a way that recycling is impossible or too expensive a process. Much of the litter that is just thrown away will go to landfill even if it is collected up, as sorting it into recyclable types is probably not an option. That's sad; but at least if it is collected up it's less of an eyesore and less potentially dangerous to wildlife.

Terrestrial litter can be dangerous to wild creatures, as they try to access what's left in a drinks can, or get snared in the plastic that holds a four- or six-pack of cans together, or just eat stuff that looks as though it might be food but isn't. Litter floating in our oceans is an even bigger problem, not least because it is less visible. Most of us landlubbers have no idea really just how much plastic is floating about our seas. It's a lot, and it's killing beautiful creatures and wrecking habitats.