Littering And....Littering And....

[Trevytrev11]

I just don't get it.

Driving down the street and I see guy roll down his window and toss a water bottle / soda cup / hamburger wrapper. I drive down almost any road near where I work and I see trash everywhere...paper, bottles, cans, wrappers, cigarette boxes, etc. I go to Target and park and get out of the car to see someone left a dirty diaper behind or left the Jack in the Box bag behind.

I haven't intentionally littered since I was probably 6 or 7 years old and didn't know any better. Then my dad lit into me and I've never done it since. How hard is it to wait until you get home and throw it away or just wait until your next stop and throw it away. There are trash cans literally everywhere. Every store, every gas station pretty much has a trash can in front of it. And if not, we all have them at home. Gum wrapper? Just stick it in my pocket until I get near a trash can and then toss it.

I just don't get the motive to basically say F-you to everyone else and just dump your trash where ever one feels like it. The mindset in doing so literally makes me sick. As an adult, I literally don't understand why anyone would do it.

End of my rant.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: Littering And....Littering And....

Humans as a whole are inconsiderate *******s. Especially when they know no one is watching and their little present to the world will not be traced back to them.

If you feel the need to do something, you can always see what local groups do a highway cleanup program and join them. At least then you could say that in addition to not adding to the problem, that your net contribution is negative, which in this case would be a positive.

But really, if they want to truly cut down on it, it would take actually enforcing the existing fines for littering on a nationwide level. Unfortunately, they choose to criminalize other petty things - ironically one of them is alluded to in your thread title - so small-scale littering is way down on their list of things to take care of in the court system.

[Trevytrev11]

Re: Littering And....Littering And....

You are absolutely right. There is just a lack of pride for ones neighborhood, city, etc.

I remember as a kid, we lived across the street from a large vacant hill and occasionally my dad would make my brother and I go through and pick up trash on it.

Enforcing it would be tough by any means because as you said, most people do this when they know that nobody is watching. Does anyone know anyone that has ever been fined for purposely littering? I know someone that got a warning because something flew out of the back of their truck, but it was truly accidental as they were on their way to the dump.

[snepp]

Re: Littering And....Littering And....

Humans as a whole are inconsiderate *******s.

I was going to post something similar, but I like your way better.

[rdub78]

Re: Littering And....Littering And....

From the Matrix:

It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you aren’t actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with its surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply, and multiply until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet.

[55]

Re: Littering And....Littering And....

I just don't get it.

Driving down the street and I see guy roll down his window and toss a water bottle / soda cup / hamburger wrapper. I drive down almost any road near where I work and I see trash everywhere...paper, bottles, cans, wrappers, cigarette boxes, etc. I go to Target and park and get out of the car to see someone left a dirty diaper behind or left the Jack in the Box bag behind.

I haven't intentionally littered since I was probably 6 or 7 years old and didn't know any better. Then my dad lit into me and I've never done it since. How hard is it to wait until you get home and throw it away or just wait until your next stop and throw it away. There are trash cans literally everywhere. Every store, every gas station pretty much has a trash can in front of it. And if not, we all have them at home. Gum wrapper? Just stick it in my pocket until I get near a trash can and then toss it.

I just don't get the motive to basically say F-you to everyone else and just dump your trash where ever one feels like it. The mindset in doing so literally makes me sick. As an adult, I literally don't understand why anyone would do it.

End of my rant.

A+ post. Would read again.

The part of your post I put in bold I can 100% relate to.

When I was about 10 years old, my dad and I were invited to go fishing on Lake Apopka on one of his co-worker's boats with his co-worker and his son who was the same age as I was at the time. Well, long story short, we were pretty damn far from the shore when I decided like the stupid little **** I was at the time, that I was finished drinking my Yoo-Hoo so the bottle was worthless to me now. I went ahead and tossed that bottle right into the ******* lake and threw it as far as my 10 year old arm could and do you know what my dad did? You guessed it. He said, "I guess you're ready for a swim. You either dive into this lake right ****ing now and bring that bottle back and get back on the boat with us or you can dive into this lake right now and swim your ****ing *** to the shore about two miles away." Well, the waters in Lake Apopka are a good 15-20 feet when you're that far out so I dove my *** in the lake and retrieved the bottle I tossed and swam back. Luckily, it was still floating!

Now, I seriously doubt my father would have let me drown out there but at the same time I am glad that he did what he did. It was more about being embarrassed than anything else, but I learned a valuable lesson that day that has stuck with me. I have not littered anything non-organic since that day, almost 25 years ago.

Just further proof that it all stems from bad parenting. I would hazard a guess that most people that litter didn't have a father/mother/elder like ours to teach us differently.

[CMH]

I don't litter. I find it a disgusting practice.

However, there is a little problem with your post. There are not garbage cans everywhere. And this angers me only less than people walking.

I live in the Bronx and the lack of garbage cans on every street corner is appalling. How can you expect to clean up an area if you don't provide the means to do it?

It is truly unacceptable if I have to walk more than a block (and it's usually up to five depending on the area) with garbage in my hand.

If you expect a less patient kid to follow in my steps and hold onto the trash then the City is worse than them.


Sent from my mobile device.

[Knight165]

Re: Littering And....Littering And....

I can't stand it.
It's absolutely disgraceful.


I live in a VERY rural area. You really can't see the homes next to me...very much a serene woodland setting.

On the road leading to my home...on the other side is "state home"....it is a regular home that the State bought and it houses 4 mentally handicapped(severely) people. There are usually 4 people working there at the same time.
I noticed when walking my dog...that there would be an empty cigarette box on the road nearly every day. I was picking them up and throwing them out....but got tired of that.
Surveillance time.
I parked my butt in a chair in the woods with my camera and sat there at the shift change(I kind of knew what time the litter would show up....so it was easy). I got 4 days worth of shots of this guy tossing them out his car window, but didn't go there for about a month. I just kept collecting the boxes.
I knocked on the door...asked to see the person in charge...and handed her the bag with 30 empty cigarette packs. I told her it was one of her employees doing it and it had to stop. She said..."nobody here would do that"
I handed her the pics and walked away....saying "have a good day"......
No more litter.
Yep...I'm a little crazy.
But it was bugging the crap out of me.


M.K.
Knight165

[Bellsprout]

Re: Littering And....Littering And....

Yep...I'm a little crazy.

You hid in the woods taking pictures of someone. That's more than "a little" crazy.

[Knight165]

Re: Littering And....Littering And....

You hid in the woods taking pictures of someone. That's more than "a little" crazy.

Haha...well yeah...!!!

But seriously, it was my property that is directly across from theirs.
I knew that it was happening between 5 and 5:30, so ....

But yeah...I could have went full camo with the night vision goggles if necessary.

Lesson: Don't **** with me. There will be consequences!

M.K.
Knight165

[slickdtc]

Re: Littering And....Littering And....

Definitely crazy, but a good crazy.

I don't know about you, but when I have trash and the thought of throwing it out of the window or just dropping it as I walk crosses my mind, I just think of the bad karma coming my way. I just think down the road, the consequences of my action, even if it's just one person in a world of billions. If I can keep the Earth one piece of trash cleaner, it's worth it to just hold on to the trash until I can find a can.

It's lazy and flat out disrespectful to litter. I have friends who've done it and it just rubs me so wrong. I'll speak up next time.

[Knight165]

Re: Littering And....Littering And....

10-4 CMH.....I always forget there is a built in filter.
Plus...I should really watch my gutter mouth. Bad habit.
My apologies. Someone else(not a mod) had pointed this out already and I should take heed.
It's not necessary(on my part).

On my post...don't forget, I also spent 4 years in P.D. ....two of those years in Anti-Crime, which is basically cruising/sitting around in an unmarked vehicle just staking out for baddies. It's kind of ingrained in me a little.

M.K.
Knight165

[AUChase]

Re: Littering And....Littering And....

I think what bothers me the most is people who smoke, and flick their cigarette butts everywhere. If someone is going to smoke in their own vehicle, they should expose of their garbage in their vehicle.

If someone is going to smoke around a public place, don't just flick the butt on the cement walk way or somewhere..

I'd hate to know the actual number of cigarette butts that are thrown out every single day and while it may not seem like much, it really is disgusting and people should be more considerate.

I've been driving down the highway and someone flick one out the window and it bounce off of my wind shield. While it doesn't do any damage, it certainly pissed me off....

[Trevytrev11]

Re: Littering And....Littering And....

I think what bothers me the most is people who smoke, and flick their cigarette butts everywhere. If someone is going to smoke in their own vehicle, they should expose of their garbage in their vehicle.

If someone is going to smoke around a public place, don't just flick the butt on the cement walk way or somewhere..

I'd hate to know the actual number of cigarette butts that are thrown out every single day and while it may not seem like much, it really is disgusting and people should be more considerate.

I've been driving down the highway and someone flick one out the window and it bounce off of my wind shield. While it doesn't do any damage, it certainly pissed me off....

Yeah, I've had it happen to me as well...a little illuminating ball pop on my windshield.

For some reason, the people who do this, in my experience, don't litter in any other form. For some reason, they believe that cigarettes don't count or something.

I don't smoke, but some of my friends / family do and it pisses me off when I go out side and see butts on my porch or in my flower beds.

[Trevytrev11]

Re: Littering And....Littering And....

I don't litter. I find it a disgusting practice.

However, there is a little problem with your post. There are not garbage cans everywhere. And this angers me only less than people walking.

I live in the Bronx and the lack of garbage cans on every street corner is appalling. How can you expect to clean up an area if you don't provide the means to do it?

It is truly unacceptable if I have to walk more than a block (and it's usually up to five depending on the area) with garbage in my hand.

If you expect a less patient kid to follow in my steps and hold onto the trash then the City is worse than them.


Sent from my mobile device.

I've only lived in Texas and California and am used to driving most places, so I guess I am a little out of touch when it comes to large, metropolitan areas. Next time I am in SF for work, I will pay closer attention.

Maybe it has something to do with panhandlers and homeless people digging in the trash cans or something.

Regardless though, if I grab a sandwich or a burger and decide to eat it while I am walking, I don't think I see too much of an issue of having to carry my own trash a few blocks. I mean I see your point, but if one chooses to eat while on the go, this is the responsibility they have chosen to take on. It's not like it's heavy or anything. I get that the situation is not ideal, but I don't have a problem with crumpling everything up and hanging on to it for a few minutes until I find a place to put it.

As others have said, I think a lot of it comes more from disrespect, lack of pride and the way people were raised then inconvenience. I don't see it too much of a reach to ask most people to do the same. I think any one with basic moral values and respect would do the same, which leads me to believe that those that just throw their stuff wherever they want are in fact just flat out inconsiderate.