WHAT A GLORIOUS DAY TO PICK UP TRASH!!!

 

Remember I told you I was only picking up trash on weekends now?  Well I changed my mind.  I love having evenings off, but I can't keep up, so I'm going to pick up trash on weekdays again.

I picked up 2,931 pieces of trash today, and I will reach my one million piece goal by Spring.  I am very committed to that goal.  But today, I decided to continue another two years and pick up two million pieces.  

Why?  Because I'm making such a difference!  I can't quit when I'm so close to making a huge change.

Today, I knew where I wanted to go, but when I drove down the Arlington Road exit ramp, I knew this area needed attention BAD!

Look at all this trash!  Firestone Park was nasty two years ago, and it never looks like this now.

I picked up over 1,200 pieces of trash right here, right where a trash can is sitting.  How incredible is that?

Why?  Why do people prefer to throw their trash on the ground when an empty trash can is right there?

Look at this mess!  

It's been a while since I've seen so much trash on the sidewalks.  

I pick up a lot of trash on Wilbeth Road, but I walk a a lot.  I didn't have to do much walking here.

Maybe now the landscaper will mow and trim.  

Horns were blowing today.  People were yelling out their windows, "Thank you!"  

And one guy came out of his apartment building to say hello to me.  That was very nice.

When I finally got to the exit ramp, I saw a Keep Akron Beautiful bag hanging on the fence.  It had five or six pieces of trash in it.

Good idea, but clearly it's not working.

Just hanging a bag isn't going to motivate people to throw their trash away properly, and the people who are waiting at the light can't put their trash in the bag.

I'm not even sure a drive through trash can would help, not after seeing the mess right beside the trash can on the sidewalk.

The only solution is to enforce litter laws again and have an army of volunteers picking up trash whenever and wherever they can.

I cleaned the grassy area by the exit ramp, and when I walked back up that way, I saw a bright orange bottle that must have just been thrown out of a car.  There's no way I would have missed it.

It sure seems like people could say, "Hey, I have trash.  Can I give it to you to throw away?"  

No, they say, "I'm a pig.  I throw my stuff out my car window, but it's okay, because I don't care about my world.  I only care about myself."

And this is the cherry on top!  Wait until you hear this!

I cleaned the exit ramp, and then continued on the other side of the fence.  A man in a nice car pulled up beside me and rolled his window down.  He said, "I clean this street every week!"

Okay, so why was it necessary to waste my time with a big fat lie?  I've been picking up trash for almost two years, and I know the difference between old trash and new trash.  This trash had been mowed over and was partly decomposed.

I wanted to say, "No you don't, but it would be really nice if you did!"

Instead, I said, "Thank you for what you're doing to keep our city clean."

Now he can go home and wallow in his lie, because I don't care why he felt a need to say that.  I'm thinking he was telling me all my efforts are wasted.  In a week, it will be all trashed up again.

No, in a week, there will be some trash to pick up, but I'm guessing maybe a hundred pieces.   

"It's not hard to pick up trash, people!  And the more you do it, the easier it gets."

 

So I was almost back to my car, and I saw another bag of trash that had just been thrown out of a car, most likely, knowing I would see it and pick it up.

Do we live in a crazy world?

I loaded up my stuff and headed for home.  When I got to Wilbeth & Arlington, I noticed the corner was a mess again.  I just cleaned it!  No wait, it was last weekend that I cleaned it.

So I pulled my car in the parking lot and picked up 216 pieces in about 15 minutes before it was too dark to see.

And that's how it's done.  

See it, clean it up, problem solved.