Litter cleanup: A renewing experience

Stopping at a parkway pull-off area to take in the view of the St. Lawrence River on the weekend, my partner and I made our way to the shoreline and sat on some of the glacier-scraped, pink and black granite of the Canadian Shield. While enjoying the sound of the waves and the fresh breezes, a few bits of litter caught my eye. The water bottle, bit of foam and shreds of plastic bags seemed very out of place.

I recalled the “broken window” theory in which, as described by Malcolm Gladwell, “disorder invites even more disorder — that a small deviation from the norm can set into motion a cascade of vandalism and criminality.” Suddenly, in my mind, a few bits of litter became a future garbage dump in one of my most sacred places.

The site is not an official park, so it doesn’t come with municipal services such as garbage collection. It’s “pack-in, pack-out” or you bring it, you take it with you. I’ve seen people quite irritated by this, but it makes sense to me that when someone consumes a food item or other packaged good, as soon as that item is open the packaging shouldn’t become the responsibility of the state. The consumer should be able to take responsibility to dispose of it appropriately. If they don’t want to do that, they should be more concerned with packaging before they purchase.

I think that the annual TD Great Shoreline Cleanup is a great event, but there’s no need to wait until September to put the gloves on. No doubt the job will need to be done again, unfortunately!

Luckily we had some gloves and a few bags in the car, so I picked up dozens of cigarette butts, several water bottles and pop cans, a pair of socks, some newspaper, coffee cup lids, napkins, orange peels, even a shred of one of those tubes designed for towing behind a boat. It took about 15 minutes to cover the site; hopefully it looked too good for littering when we left.

Have you done a litter cleanup? Do you think cleaning the site helps keep it cleaner in the future?

Be prepared for a litter cleanup anywhere, anytime by assembling this kit:
– Clear (preferably biodegradeable) bags for recyclables
– Opaque (preferably biodegradeable) bags for garbage
– Green bags for organic waste (if you have a means of composting it)
– Pair of washable or disposable gloves
Pack everything in a shoe box you can use to collect broken glass and other sharp objects.