Comment on I wonder why people litter in the USA?
OminousOrange@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Perhaps one should ask why there is so much trash to be thrown away in the first place.
Bins wouldn’t always be full if there was simply less trash to put in them.
The to-go and eating while mobile are a big chunk of litter.
A Dunks went in about a mile from a place I used to live, and where we lived was sort of a shortcut to one of the main roads from where the Dunks went in.
Our road began to be littered with Dunkin’ plastic cups, coffee cups and to-go bags. People would finish items and toss the trash out the window.
So taking things to-go and just throwing the trash down wherever is a big contributor.
I really wish that I could eat at a place like a dunkin donuts and cut the shit, basically.
I’ll order one (1) sandwich. I have a reusable cup of coffee already.
All I need is the sandwich, I do not need a paper bag, I do not need a full sheaf of napkins. I will begrudgingly accept the little sheet of wax paper that protects the sandwich.
Just ask for that, they will oblige. Source: plenty of places I do this.
Your point is valid (as I read it “if you have less trash there will be less trash”) but the path you used to get there is illogical (as I read it “if I have less trash, but people empty the trash at the same rate, this would not be a problem”).
OPs complaint is not that trash produced exceeds our capacity to remove it, it’s that people are not removing it. This remains true regardless of quantity.
Yup, same logic with traffic / transportation. So much money wasted on roads instead of regulations that stimulate mixed use neighborhoods that reduce the need for moving around.
Have you ever lived in an urban area? If so, did you stay within the approx 1 mile radius that is a comfortable walk for most people, a significant % of the time? No stores you liked that were a neighborhood over but not in your town? No friends across the bridge? My experience has been that I can get about 25% of what I want done within walking distance, for everything else I need transit or a vehicle, and I live in a relatively walkable mixed use urban area.
There’s that series of pictures taken on a street that shows a comparison of how much space it takes to move 60 or so people in cars vs a bus vs bicycles. Obviously, the cars take up vastly more space than the other two.
Walking shouldn’t be the only other option. The influence of car and oil companies has created a car dependent dystopia in North America, where it seems like it’s either car or walk. But it’s really the same as the trash problem. If trash bins were freeways, we don’t need more of them, we need to be more efficient at moving people, essentially reducing the trash.
I’m not even talking about walking. If the average person spent 5 minutes in a car instead of 20+, the traffic would be vastly better.
Aeri@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I worked for a park for a summer and it was an eye opener I’ll tell you that much. They had someone (me!) basically just emptying trash cans all damn day and it wasn’t enough! They filled up constantly.