4/10/11, Shop Rite, #31

     I know we weren't going to do Shop Rite again, but when Julie and I drove by and saw the parking lot, we couldn't help ourselves.  As usual, the north side of the parking lot was heavily dotted with trash along the grass and woven into the treeline.  Julie expressed frustration at not being able to reach a lot of the debris, which is protected by a barrier of pricker bushes.  Even without the use of a rake, we managed to gather two full bags without venturing away from the area.  Suffice it to say that with a rake we could have filled a box of bags.  Most of the garbage is newspaper circulars, receipts, and the usual assortment of grocery lists, whipped cream cans emptied of nitrous oxide, plastic drink bottles and empty food containers and plastic bags.

3/27/11, Misquamicut Beach, Westerly, Rhode Island, #29 & 30

I drove Audrey back to Connecticut College after enjoying her for two weeks of spring break, and we spent the night with my good friend Sally at her new house in Ct.


Sally joined me on a facelift (her third!) at Misquamicut Beach in Westerly, Rhode Island.  We did a circular route that included beach and parking lot.

Sunny, windy, and nippy!

It was a beautiful morning. The beach was empty except for some cawing seagulls and a passing jogger named Danny who was kind enough to snap our photo to document our haul.  Not a ton of litter, which was nice, but enough to keep us cheerfully occupied.   

3/20/11, Jacob's Creek Road, #27 & #28

Sunday was the epitome of spring, an invitation to Julie and me for a double pick-up.  Ted and I had both separately noticed the huge amount of trash strewn along the sides of Jacob's Creek Road, so we headed towards that.  We geared up extra hefty bags, and two pairs of gloves on our hands.


As usual, what looked to be a lot of trash from a drive-by was in reality even more.  There is always something hidden under a pile of leaves, and in this case, it was bottles and cans.  Left as we were with only increasingly heavy bags of refuse and no explanation for how it appeared on the side of the road, Julie and I amused ourselves with our favorite pick-up conversation... a round of litter forensics.


Apparently, after dark, Jacob's Creek Road turns into one big party.  We picked up what seemed like a hundred pounds plus of liquor bottles, beer bottles, energy drink containers, empty and partially full packs of cigarettes, and empty party food packaging.  There was one shoe.  There was a sodden blinged out, bedraggled purple leather purse that held a barren faux Tory Burch wallet.  I found long bleached bones with an attached webbed foot... the leg of a duck?


What does go on at night on that road?  Any guesses as to how long it will take the trash to re-accumulate?  

An absolutely beautiful setting, all tidied up for spring.

      

3/13/11, Route 31 Southbound, between circle and Search Avenue, #25 & #26

The following morning, Julie and I were back to clean up the opposite side of Route 31.  Julie started around the parking lot of the liquor store while I, thinking ahead this time, walked to Search Avenue so I wouldn't have to walk as far with a full bag at the end of my pickup.  The plan was for Julie to quickly finish the parking lot and then meet me halfway down Route 31.  

Mother Nature does her part to make the world a more
beautiful place, even when we treat her disrespectfully.

That didn't quite work.  Julie found so much trash in and around the parking lot that her bag was too full to join me.  My own bag was very heavy and bursting at the seams.  Much of the trash was smashed into the slope of the yards along the shoulder, probably pushed there by snowplows.  This resulted in a lot of muddy, waterlogged drink containers, plus the usual debris.  Those mini liquor bottles seem to be a big hit, as do the mini 5 hour energy shots. One would think that the recipient of all that energy would have the ability to walk or run or fly to some sort of trash receptacle.  But that's just me thinking out loud.

Julie found it very curious that there was a 24 pack of empty beers in the parking lot, neatly put back into their container.  Obviously the person who drained the bottles was a bit of a neatnik, seeing as they were all organized.  I wonder if it nagged at that person's conscience to leave all of that trash in the parking lot instead of putting it where it belonged, in a recycling container?     

3/12/11, Route 31 Northbound, between circle and Search Avenue, #24

My trusty partner Julie and I decided to attack the area between the Route 31 traffic circle and Search Avenue.  We started with the Northbound shoulder.  It didn't look like that much from the car, but we both filled our bags to the brim with heavy trash.  It was difficult to carry our bags back to where we were parked.

2/19/11, Mercer County Library, Hopewell Branch, #23

After the mountains of snow finally melted and I had recovered from a ridiculously long, energy-sapping cold, I was able to return to my personal quest to pick up litter 50 times before my 50th birthday.  The ground was soaked so I had to choose my location carefully.  I decided to tackle the landscape on the eastern side of the Mercer County Library parking lot where I had noticed a windswept wall of trash decorating the trees.  

However, while leaving my own neighborhood, I saw an area that needed tidying up, so I made a quick stop and gathered a small but heavy bag of trash.  

At the library, my pickup consisted primarily of discarded drink containers, plastic bottles, and empty snack food and fast food bags.  I couldn't not wander onto the perimeter of the high school student parking lot because it too was littered with more of the above.  Isn't there some type of a nature or recycling club at the high school that could provide waste containers in the parking lot and/or routinely clean up the trash left by students?  Belonging to an organization like that would look great on a college resume.  Just thinking out loud.

  

1/03/11, Nassau Park Parking Lot, #22

When the weather turned balmy following the holiday blizzard we received on December 26th, I was eager to get back to my litter patrol duties.  Since the ground was still snow-covered, I decided to get up early and go to the Wegman's supermarket at Nassau Park on Route 1.  I don't usually travel so far but whenever I've shopped in that line-up of stores over the past few months I have been struck by the large amount of trash strewn about.


Still leery from the incident at Shop Rite, I decided to check-in at the customer service desk before I began picking up trash.  I was assured by a very young store manager that it was no problem, but that there wasn't any place that I could put the trash I collected.  I decided that I would cart the garbage around in my car until I found a dumpster, and set out.  I was happily plucking trash from the front sidewalk of the store when an older store employee approached me.  Without meeting my eyes, he told me that I couldn't pick up trash in front of Wegman's, because if I was hurt while doing so, they would be held liable.  I was so disappointed.  He suggested that I pick up trash in front of Kohl's or Target instead.  He said that he would have his own staff members clean up trash in Wegman's parking lot, which made me feel awkward, because the last thing I wanted to do was to cause someone else additional work.   


There was still a ton of pavement and trash to keep me busy, and I filled two Hefty bags with soaking wet litter.  And hello, Wegman's?  You may not allow me to pick up anything in your parking lot, but I would say that 50% of the trash I picked up was imprinted with your name, most notably napkins, plastic bags, coffee cups, and receipts, plus tons of small plastic "sample" cups and forks. 

Is this personal crusade of mine ridiculous?  Since when is a good deed discouraged because of  (the highly unlikely chance of) potential liability?  Has society become that litigious?  I find it all very disturbing and perplexing.  I am not even half way through my personal challenge, and now I feel like despite my humble intentions I am potentially at risk for being considered a public nuisance by some of the places I am trying to help!