It was about a five kilometre bicycle ride in one direction between Chisamore’s Pond where I took swimming lessons as a kid, and my parents’ home. I did this trip several days a week the last summer I was in swimming lessons. My memories of summer then have become the usual blending of youth experience. I don’t remember which things I did were in what years anymore for example. One thing that I do remember very clearly from that summer – garbage! Garbage on the side of the road. Garbage in the ditch. Garbage as far as I could see.
Last week, that memory flashed back into focus. I was walking to the auto repair shop to pick up my car when this memory was triggered. It was about a four kilometre walk from my house to the garage, and all along a busy county road. Walking along, there were the usual pastoral late-fall harvest scenes. Corn was still being taken off the fields, and it was a mild day. Everywhere I looked as I walked along the side of the road was garbage. It was like I was in 1988 all over again.
McDonalds’ Happy Meal boxes; Coors Light, Busch, and Labatt Blue tall-boy beer cans; empty cigarette packages; plastic water bottles; an empty dog food bag; food wrappers; cigarette butts; packaging from a cell phone case; and coffee cups – Starbucks, McDonalds, and Tim Hortons. The side of the road remains many people’s trash can. Frankly, it’s disgusting. The county where I live has an “Adopt a Road” program where volunteers pick a section of a county road and clean it of trash. While it is appreciated the work these volunteers do, it should not have to exist. People should be cleaning up their own trash.
My wife often jokes that the garbage in my vehicle is full. I spend a lot of time in my Caravan for work and it is the main family vehicle. But, I also take out the garbage. And when I write this, I mean place the garbage from the van into the trash can at home. Why is this a difficult concept for many to grasp? I can offer many reasons that are not suitable for print.
There is absolutely no excuse for people to roll down their window and throw garbage out while they are driving. None.
In Japan, it is expected that you will bring your garbage home with you if you are out somewhere public. There are no public waste bins, you are responsible for your own garbage. A shocking idea.
There is a correlation though between deposits and trash. In regions where there is an aggressive bottle deposit and rebate system, the amount of roadside trash, and volume of trash going to landfills, is less. If the trash like a bottle or can has value when empty, people are more likely to return it to get their money back. I have no issue with a system like that. We do this already for some car parts, beer cans, along with some beer and wine bottles.
This problem is not just in Canada though. Throughout Europe there is an issue with roadside garbage. Same in the United States. This is an issue that shouldn’t exist. Just put your garbage in the garbage.
In Canada, billions are spent each year dealing with waste management. Where I live, our landfill is nearly full. This is our second landfill and now taxpayers are going to spend lots more money to ship our trash elsewhere to another giant disposal mountain. And we’re on the hook for a transfer station to move that trash too. What we throw out has a cost – both in the short and long term.
I am not an “environmentalist” and you will see no Greenpeace sticker on my V6 van. But I observe things fairly well. What we do has an impact on the land around us and our environment. Our weather patterns have changed. We have more extreme weather. Our spring and fall seasons are shorter. As much as I love being able to wear shorts in November, I acknowledge that it is not normal.
All these things we do have an impact. We have to drive vehicles living in rural areas because public transit is not economically viable – okay. Canada is a big place and the distances between Points A and B are bigger than in many other areas. Does that give people the right to open their window and chuck out their garbage on the side of the road? No, it does not. Everyone needs to do a better job looking after the environment we have. Use a trash can please!
This column was originally published in the November 20, 2024 print edition of The Morrisburg Leader.
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