We Need to Be Doing More than Litter Picking

But It’s a Good Start..

Myself and two friends just spent the morning picking up other people’s litter. And I’m furious that we had to do it in the first place.

It actually takes a lot to make me annoyed these days. But three hours of empty bottles, cans, masks, used dog poo bags and takeaway wrappers later and yeah I am angry, and disgusted.

I’ve always done a lot of walking, but through lock-down I had started to notice the increased amount of rubbish on my daily walks. So I just decided I needed to do something about it.

After a couple of weeks of litter picking, I am starting to feel that there should be more we can do to resolve the issues than we are doing though.

I actually don’t mind getting out there, spending time outdoors with friends and picking the litter up, it feels good to be doing something for my local area and community. It is really nice walking past somewhere you’ve cleared and made a small difference for everyone to enjoy.

But it just feels a tad futile. You just have to keep doing it and nothing else really changes. The underlying behaviours that caused the problem haven’t altered.

I guess the theory is that if the community can see that enough people are out there caring about the local environment and keeping it tidy then it should improve the situation. If a place is kept clean then it should encourage less littering.

The problem has obviously been compounded by the pandemic. We were just starting to see some traction regarding recycling, zero waste and single use plastic. Covid made huge setbacks because of single use PPE, increased usage of takeaway services and packaging for online deliveries.

But now we really need to get back on track and start making progress in these areas again.

We are currently waiting on the results of a national survey that ended in March, so it will be interesting to see what new initiatives that brings from Welsh Government.

Caru Cymru in the meantime are running a national campaign led by Keep Wales Tidy. They say there are 5 ways you can get involved:

1. Take responsibility for your litter. If you’re not close to a bin, or it’s getting full, pop your rubbish in a bag and take it home with you.
2. Be part of the pick and register for Spring Clean Cymru 2021 (28th May to 13th June). Whether you pledge to clean up for five minutes or five hours every individual action can make a difference.
3. Act now to cut down on single-use plastic. Make the switch from disposable to reusable. Be prepared to get creative.
4. Join a community action group near you. Meet like minded people and get involved in caring for your local environment.
5. Use repair and reuse cafes across Wales to reduce your waste. Or if you don’t have a cafe near you, upcycle items to give them a new lease of life.

I don’t think it matters where you live, this is good advice and there will be local community groups tackling similar issues everywhere.

Having been involved with our local clean up group, I’m committed to being a lot less wasteful personally. To start with I’m going to continue to reduce single use plastic and on my journey of consuming less in general. A trash free lifestyle built on endless consumption is still wasteful.

So I don’t think it’s a question of jumping on the latest trends and being all perfect, trendy and #zero waste. It’s about really thinking about what you can do as an individual every day to use less of everything; less electric; less water; less food and less plastic. And looking for more improvements to our recycling facilities and demanding more of our local council and fast food retailers in the area to tackle the littering issue.

I’m on my 365 day journey, #365small changes, what difference are you going to make in your life?

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