I’m writing this on Earth Day — April 22, 2019. I wanted to do something special for the Earth today beyond minimizing electricity use and not letting the water faucet run. A plan of action formed in my mind, formulated from a couple factors that I had bookmarked in my brain.
A few weeks ago I was walking from my house to my neighborhood doughnut shop (support local businesses!), when I noticed there was a lot of litter next to the sidewalk on the busy road the shop is located on. I began to wonder, who is responsible for cleaning up this trash? I have never seen any city workers walking down the street and picking up trash. Sure, the street sweeper comes through once per week, which clears any rubbish that blows into the street. However, all the garbage that is dropped along the sidewalk and gets stuck in the grass and plants along the edge of it, remains. I thought, if no one is responsible for cleaning this up, doesn’t that make everyone responsible for it? If I don’t want to keep looking at this trash on my walks along this street, then I need to take action to clear it.
Then, about a week ago I noticed someone posted on NextDoor that she had cleaned up litter when walking her dog. The subject of the post was “Take the Trashtag Challenge. #trashtag” and the post read, “Last week I started picking up trash in my neighborhood as I walk my dog… So far I have collected a half-barrel of trash, AND have lost weight and inches! JOIN ME!” I looked online and sure enough, the #trashtagchallenge is a thing. I thought, “I am going to do that!” and Earth Day seemed like the perfect day to start.
Trashtag Challenge
This morning after taking my kids to school, I donned a pair of Playtex disposable gloves, got out a garbage bag, and set out for a walk around my rather large block. I also brought my camera along to document the process and take some video so I could put up a report on YouTube. I found the first piece of litter just steps from my front door.
On the long part of the block that I live on there were the typical bits of litter: candy wrappers, plastic bottles, cans, and cigarette butts, but I also came across three pieces of scrap metal and an approximately two foot by one foot piece of shaped plastic that looked like maybe it had once been part of a car. I threw those last items right into the garbage can in the park when I was going past it, because they were heavy to carry and taking up a lot of space in my bag.
The street parallel and behind the one I live on has about five cul de sacs stemming off of it; I decided to clean each of those as well. These were probably the cleanest area of my walk. They are either kept up well by the people who live there or the design is such that litter blows out. I noted that none of the cul de sacs had a grassy patch between the sidewalk and the road, so there was a smaller chance of litter being trapped by plants there. They probably see much less foot traffic than the other roads in the neighborhood, so have a lower chance of pedestrians dropping litter.
When I reached the main road there was a lot to pick up. The sun was warming the air as I bent down to pick up multiple cigarette butts and leftover trash from the nearby 7-11. Alongside the building was a little alcove created by a large metal donation box and a small tree (or a large bush). It took a few minutes to clear out the unsightly accumulation of trash there, especially the smaller bits of litter and (more) cigarette butts under the tree.
When I finished my walk, I had collected a large trash bag that was about 2/3 full and was carrying a cardboard boot box in my other hand. I dropped the boot box in the recycling bin along with some of the other cardboard and paper items, plastic bottles and aluminum cans I had found. Then I pitched the now half full garbage bag and the dirty gloves into the dumpster. In all it took about an hour and 40 minutes to clean up my block and part of the park. Some of that time was spent documenting the experience for this blog and YouTube.
With My Own Two Hands
In doing this activity, once I got over feeling self conscious about walking down the street with gloves on carrying a large garbage bag, I felt proud of what I was doing. As the trash grew in the bag, so my feelings of guilt for having not done this sooner began to be alleviated. I found a sense of selflessness as I gave my time and energy to the community I live in, with no expectation of remuneration or reward. I was making it a little better, cleaning up my neighborhood, and helping protect the ocean from having this waste travel into it. This was satisfaction that can’t be purchased, but the kind that is earned by throwing selfishness and apathy away with the garbage. It even felt empowering. Just a tad bit.
Along my walk I found a smudged, discarded fortune that felt like a special message left for me to discover, as an affirmation to continue the journey I have embarked on. A mere coincidence or the writers of Panda Express fortunes cheering me on from afar? “Share your happiness with others.”
I’d like to make my cleaning walk a once per week or every other week commitment. I intend to create four different routes in my neighborhood, so that I am tackling each about one once per month. I am urging others who have the time and ability to try out the Trashtag Challenge. Then post your garbage collection photos to the social media account of your choice and tag it #trashtag or #trashtagchallenge (or both). Let’s see if we can clear the trash from our streets. We are all responsible.
I can clean up the earth, with my own two hands…
“With My Own Two Hands” – Ben Harper
