Photo: Me, Would-Be Plogging...
Plogging: a recreational activity, originating in Sweden, that combines jogging with picking up rubbish.
CONFESSIONS OF A WOULD-BE PLOGGER (ME)
1: I don't like rubbish & I don't like other people's rubbish.
2: I don't jog.
3: I'm going to ask you to pick up rubbish and call people out when you see them drop it (I'll give you some tips on how to do this diplomatically, I promise!)
Welcome to my fourth blog post! I promise that this isn't one of those tub-thumping articles which decries YOU for throwing your empty chip packet out of the car window on Sunday afternoon drive. I also guarantee that it's not a list of 10 commandments detailing what you should do with your rubbish. After all, if you're taking the time to read this blog, then the chances are, you're already a tidy citizen. Instead, I share a few revelations about why rubbish is rubbish for the environment, and suggest a few ways that you can deal with your neighbours rubbish if you see it dancing in the street or heaven-forbid, if you see someone dropping it!
FORGIVE ME FRIENDS, FOR I HAVE SINNED &
WHY RUBBISH IS RUBBISH FOR OUR ENVIRONMENT
Turning to my first confession. I don't like rubbish, except of course when it's in the recycling, or dust bin. I certainly don't like other people's rubbish in the street gutter, dancing in the street or partying in the park.
WHY? Here a few reasons that littering is rubbish for the environment (share these with your kids):-
Rubbish looks rubbish
Wild spaces and urban environments look rubbish when littered. Who wants to pick their way down their street avoiding broken glass, yesterdays news or facemasks?
Photo credit: Matthias Gellissen (Unsplash)
Wildlife risk death
Remember that scene in the movie Happy Feet when one of the penguins had his head caught in a plastic beer carrier? Whilst the humans probably enjoyed getting legless with their six pack of beer, the penguins had anything but happy feet!. In fact, in 2015, National Geographic reported that there were 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean at that time (*1). Animals can easily get stuck in discarded bottles and suffocate or starve, or get tangled in netting or cut on broken glass. If food scraps like apple cores are thrown from a car, birds and other animals will often scavenge for them and risk being hit by moving vehicles.
Photo credit: Brian Yurasits (Unsplash)
Don't be an egg
Before the pandemic I felt no fear of touching an object a stranger had handled. I would happily pick up rubbish from the street with my hands. These days however, I am confronted by both the increasing levels of facemasks littering our streets AND the health and safety issues of handling a piece of cloth that someone else has breathed into. Ergh!
Be careful.
Don't be an egg.
Don't drop your facemask in the street.
Photo credit: Media by Wix
No butts...
Many rubbish items we see littering our neighbourhoods can take several years to break down and contain toxic chemicals. For example, aluminum cans take 80-100years to break down and a Styrofoam cup can take 500 years to forever... (*2). Cigarettes are full of toxic nasties such as cadmium, lead and arsenic and unsurprisingly, if a wild animal eats a discarded butt, it can easily be poisoned.
Photo credit: Brian Yurasits (Unsplash)
PICK UP RUBBISH & CALL PEOPLE OUT
It's important to understand why people litter and devise education around it. However, I want to offer two simple solutions for immediate action:
1. Be more like Derek & call-out litter-bugs
Firstly, you can be like Derek, my husband. WARNING! this solution does risk a degree of confrontation. If you spot someone lobbing rubbish from their car, spitting gum on the pavement, or absentmindedly dropping a facemask from their pocket, then politely ask them to pick it up and take it home. Derek exercised both environmental activism and diplomacy recently when two teens threw an empty vodka cruiser bottle from their car window. They narrowly missed hitting him whilst he was working in our garden. A short-while later, he saw the couple in our local village and asked them to come back and pick up all the broken shards of glass. They did. I am not sure if they followed through out of embarrassment (having being caught drinking alco-pops underage), or because he cheekily suggested that the local police might be interested in them. Either way, the teens learnt a lesson in not drinking and throwing bottles at unsuspecting gardeners. Meanwhile, Derek demonstrated that we shouldn't be apathetic, but call people out because the behaviour we ignore, is the behaviour that we accept.
2. Plog or Palk
Secondly, you can take the quieter, non confrontational route. You can avoid the guilt of avoiding eye-contact with a discarded piece of rubbish AND you can avoid the fear of catching a bout of COVID.
Buy a grab stick from your nearest hardware store
Take it when you jog or walk so you can plog or palk
Use it
You don't even need to bend down to pick up the rubbish. It's a simple grab and bag technique. Check out the vid for the best technique (my son, 13 thinks I look ridiculous haha!)
TO SWEAT IS NOT A SIN
Finally, I confess. I am a 'would-be' plogger. I would plog, but I'd rather pour a glass of wine and eat cheese and crackers than sweat in public! I know that "to sweat is not a sin" (a family saying) but for now, I will stick with walking with my grab stick and will politely ask litter-louts to pick up their rubbish. What will you do?
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