Business as usual

When I started out on rubbish collecting I had no idea how relaxing the activity would be. Wednesday morning was lovely, that slight morning chill followed by the warming sun. People were out and about and smiling. Depending on the type of rubbish, the amount and how easy it is to collect it takes the best part of 2hrs to fill a standard black bin bag. Driving passed you can see the obvious, carrier bags snagged on the hedge, drinks bottles in the gutter, garish snack packets in the grass. It is only when you get up close you find how efficiently nature is masking the detail.

They say litter attracts litter, I’m not convinced. It is everywhere. The difference is you are less  likely to find it on the kerbs and verges immediately outside a residence. Once you move away, even just across the road, you will find rubbish. That’s in England or at least in my part of the country. It is truly incredible what you find. The Father Christmas mug looked brand new, not a chip, not a crack. It can’t have been blown by the wind. So my mind wanders along paths to explain how it got to the place I found it. 

I wonder what can be done to stop the random discarding of litter and my thoughts take me back to the few days I spent in Singapore in the 90s. When you could see photos of individuals who had been caught dropping litter and there they were out on the streets, dressed in fluorescent orange, sweeping the road. I have to remind myself how opposed I am to Big Brother watching us all the time.

Hello, what's that? Furtively, I stoop down and pick up a 2p piece. It disappears rapidly into one of the many pockets I have for a collection. Haven't a clue why I feel a bit criminal. I have no idea who it belongs to, the police would laugh at me if I handed it in and the next person along who noticed it would do exactly the same. At least I'll be diverting it to a really good cause. So why do I feel like I'm doing something dishonest?

I jump to the evidence of recent campaigns against dog dirt and the owners who bag it but leave the bag on the roadside.. It has certainly worked in this area with a single exception. There is one persistent offender on Winifred lane. That dog certainly has a habit but it is the owner’s habit which is the problem. Maybe if I email Graeme in the local waste department, he will have an idea of how to cure them of it. Mental note. And anyway why wasn't this pooch cushion just put in the household waste bin? Why take it all the way to Springfield Rd and dump it?

I give myself a good shake I’m not here to campaign about litter, I just collect it. My purpose is to raise awareness of Prostate Cancer and a lone walker makes the mistake of making eye contact. It’s a man, probably in his sixties, no way is he going home without a Know your Prostate leaflet.  We chat about this and that. He accepts the leaflet. Job done.

So 2 hours disappear, I have a bag of rubbish, vitamin D levels have had a boost, there's another 2p in the Prostate Cancer UK pot, and I just may have made the difference in someone surviving Prostate Cancer.