Trash, garbage, litter, rubbish, refuse, junk

Trash, garbage, litter, rubbish, refuse, junk, waste; whatever we want to call it, thrown down in the wrong place it is unsightly, costs us billions each year to clear up, and is a blight on our roads, verges, highways, countryside, parks, wherever in fact we live and work and have our being.

Consider this, taken, it is true, from an article in The Scotsman by Derek Robertson, chief executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful, although the issue is relevant everywhere in the world, in the Americas, Europe, and in just about every society where humans live:

“Litter is actually a more serious and ­further-reaching problem than many people might think. There is a visual problem, of course. However, littering also has social consequences and causes negative outcomes in relation to our health, our society and our public spending.

The Carnegie UK Trust recently reported that incidences of illness, depression and medical intervention were higher in areas that were filthy and litter-strewn. Furthermore, the report found fear of crime is higher where there are high ­occurrences of litter and other environmental incivilities such as dog-fouling, fly-tipping and graffiti.”

And if you still don’t think this affects you, you should consider that huge sums of money are spent by our authorities every year cleaning up our litter.

This, the article points out, is your litter, from your streets, and it is your money; money that could be better spent, perhaps on healthcare or education or parks or playgrounds or other valuable amenities. 

Please read the full article, wherever you live, and whether or not you can see for yourself the problem around you. I hope this will open your eyes. Please let me know whether you see this as a problem where you live. Is anything being done about it? Do you care? I care very deeply indeed, and like Derek Robertson, I think that we need to start cleaning up our world, urgently. 

To this end I am happy to wear my Zilch  litter patrol high viz vest as I walk around my area and beyond, doing my own bit to clean up our country. 

Will you do the same? Please? And I welcome all ideas as to how we educate people to take their trash home with them and put it in their own trash bins.

This is the harvest from one hour's litter pick by me recently on a short stretch of a local main road!!