Last week I got so sick of the trash littering the neighborhood streets that I decided to do something about it. So I sent out an email to neighbors announcing a day of picking up trash. While I heard from one or two people saying they would be there, I had no idea who would actually show. Six other neighbors showed up! When Kelly and the kids joined us we had a formidable team indeed.
Raleigh’s Community Services supplied us with vests, pick-up tongs, trash picks, and bags. They even arranged for Solid Waste Services to pick our bags up when we were done. If I seemed impressive when I passed all of this stuff out I have to give all the credit to Charlene and Community Services.
We began at 9 in Oakwood Park. I divided everyone into three teams. Two of them would walk from opposite ends of Brookside until they met, while the Turner team would clean N. State Street. Then teams would clean Glascock. Anyone needing more supplies would call me on my mobile.
The teams then split up. I took Hallie with me and Kelly took Travis as we began work on N. State. Hallie soon got tired of the tongs so we set them aside. The led her to perform a most amusing, theatrical bow whenever she came across a piece of trash. Maybe a six-year-old back can handle that, but mine certainly couldn’t! She was a good sport, though, and quite productive. Her bag weighed as much as mine did!
Most trash fell into two categories: fast food wrappers and cigarette wrappers. I found countless discarded cigarette boxes and every single one was the Newport brand. I’m thinking a 150% tax on this brand might help the environment. I also collected my fair share of discarded liquor bottles as well as plastic bottles washed out of recycling bins. All told, we collected almost a dozen 35-gallon trash bags of litter! While the streets we cleaned up look great, there was so much that had to be left for another time.
I think those who participated felt the same way I did once we were done. Hallie and Travis were justifiably proud of their work. Kelly told me I was beaming when I got done. I guess I was: it really felt great to make a visible difference in the community.
We’re already talking about the next trash clean-up. Litter never really goes away, you know, but at least we made a dent in it today.