A Trashy Finish

It felt good to pick up trash when I walked. At first, I felt like I was making a difference, keeping bottles, plastic bags, and other discarded items from littering our community and ending up in our waterways. It also made me VERY aware of just how much litter is spread through our community. It is everywhere and reappears at alarming rates. I could pick up along 4th Ave NW between 14th Street and St. Augustine’s one night and find soda bottles and ice cream wrappers sprinkled along the street the next morning. There were houses I never found trash in front of and others that always looked like a bag had exploded on the sidewalk.

After a while, it became really disheartening to do this work. It is never-ending and people don’t seem to notice or care about the trash that floats onto our lawns and gathers in the storm drains. I witnessed a lady mowing her lawn one evening. She never reached down to pick up the soda can that was inches from her foot. Kids walked up to me on several occasions and asked what I was doing. They had never witnessed someone voluntarily picking up trash. When I was growing up, my small town gathered a few times a year to pick up along the highway and in town. It was part of life to help clean up your community then. It doesn’t appear to be now.

On the other hand, I also had many people thank me for what I was doing. That helped lift my spirits tremendously when I was struggling with the Sisyphus nature of this work. I also found two other people who pick up trash around town and discovered the City of Austin also heads an effort to keep address the trash problem. I wasn’t a lone soldier in my desire to clean up my community. The City of Austin hires seasonal staff and organizes volunteers to collect trash from the parks and other public areas throughout the community.  Kevin Nelson, Director of Parks with the City of Austin Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department stated via email, “Our seasonal staff spent much time collecting garbage from parks this past summer, and they literally dedicated one day early summer to going out and collecting discarded masks which had blown into parks. This was after collecting numerous 5-gallon pails of them as a part of regular clean-up efforts.” (K. Nelson, personal communication, August 27, 2021) One man I spoke with said he sees a lot of trash getting blown around from improperly secured trash on pick-up day. Bags break from animal scavengers or open because they are not properly tied shut. Dumpsters are overpacked with trash, which makes it easier for the wind to scatter trash or pieces to fall when they are hoisted into the back of the trash truck. This made me more aware to always tie my trash bags and not overfill my dumpster to cut down on trash getting lose.

I have also been thinking a lot about what I consume. I have been trying to cut down on single-use plastic bottles. I tend to ask for washable cups when I stop at a coffee shop or I bring my own with me. I am also more careful to bring my own refillable water bottle with me when I go out so I don’t resort to buying a bottle of water. The less trash I create, the less there is to end up on our streets or in our streams.

I plan to continue my trashy endeavor. I will continue to pick up litter where I can and when I can. I encourage you to do the same, even if it’s just to pick up any trash that ends up in the ditch or on the sidewalk in front of your home. I am proud of the community I live in and this is one way I can help make it a little nicer for those who live here. I think the opinion that ran in the June 19, 2021 edition of the Austin Daily Herald said it best, “Take pride in your community. You are not the only one living here.”