Save the Planet For These Slobs?? Not Me...

[troutbert]

Most stream side trash I encounter is not fishing trash.

That is definitely true. It is very obvious on our annual Spring Cr cleanup. The amount of stuff that we pick up that is from fisherman is probably only about 1 percent. The worst places by far are where the stream is near a road.

The roads in this area have far less trash than in days of yore, mainly because many sections of road have volunteers that adopt a section of road and clean it up.

I think that there is a psychological aspect to it. If an area is trashy, people are more likely to throw their trash there. Because it's "normalized." They have the "other people do it" idea. It's a sort of permission.

But if it's pretty clean, then people are less likely to litter it. At least that seems to be true here. I think people are doing substantially less littering and dumping than in the past.

BTW, one year during the cleanup, I found a $5 bill!

 

[wildtrout2]

That is definitely true. It is very obvious on our annual Spring Cr cleanup. The amount of stuff that we pick up that is from fisherman is probably only about 1 percent. The worst places by far are where the stream is near a road.

The roads in this area have far less trash than in days of yore, mainly because many sections of road have volunteers that adopt a section of road and clean it up.

I think that there is a psychological aspect to it. If an area is trashy, people are more likely to throw their trash there. Because it's "normalized." They have the "other people do it" idea. It's a sort of permission.

But if it's pretty clean, then people are less likely to litter it. At least that seems to be true here. I think people are also doing substantially less littering and dumping than in the past.

BTW, one year during the cleanup, I found a $5 bill!

This is spot on. 👍

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

As with most other crimes - and littering is a crime - start with enforcing the laws we already have. When was the last time anyone read about a convicted litterer in the local paper or online newsfeed? If a person can record a crime in progress (while doing absolutely nothing to help a victim) why can't that same ticky-tock influencer record someone in a vehicle in front of them tossing a burger wrapper out the window?

 

[troutbert]

Enforcement is important. I found two big full trash bags in Spring Creek, took them home and found papers with the guy's name and address, called PFBC law enforcement, and the WCO fined him, and said the guy promised not to do it again.

I've heard of other agency people using the addresses in the garbage to fine people, also.

Along Spring Creek just above Bellefonte is some land owned by the township. That was once an informal dump. People would drive pickup trucks back a dirt track and dump household trash, construction junk etc. It took us (Trout Unlimited) a couple years to clean that up. Our TU president contacted the township. They built a gate to prevent people driving back there, and said they would ask the local police to patrol that area. It has worked very well.

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

... I found two big full trash bags in Spring Creek, took them home and found papers with the guy's name and address, called PFBC law enforcement, and the WCO fined him, and said the guy promised not to do it again.

Now I got that Arlo Guthrie song in my head again.
Good on you for following through like that. A lot of people wouldn't have.

 

[Mike]

I’ve done the same thing when finding trash bags dumped near forest trail heads. Most law enforcement officials have been receptive and have used the name/address info to track down the perps. The “best response” that I’ve heard about from an alleged perp was that someone stole his or her trash and dumped it there.

 

[NRD]

If we all picked up just one or two pieces of someone else's litter each time we go out to fish, we'd soon see an improvement. I do it occasionally, but not often enough.

Put an old grocery bag in the car and make it part of every trip.

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

I’ve done the same thing when finding trash bags dumped near forest trail heads. Most law enforcement officials have been receptive and have used the name/address info to track down the perps. The “best response” that I’ve heard about from an alleged perp was that someone stole his or her trash and dumped it there.

Just return the stolen trash bags by dumping them on the person's driveway.

 

[wildtrout2]

Just return the stolen trash bags by dumping them on the person's driveway.

Yeah, then dude comes out and introduces you to his fist. 😀

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

Yeah, then dude comes out and introduces you to his fist. 😀

I wanted to imply that the LEOs would return the stolen property.

 

[troutbert]

I’ve done the same thing when finding trash bags dumped near forest trail heads. Most law enforcement officials have been receptive and have used the name/address info to track down the perps. The “best response” that I’ve heard about from an alleged perp was that someone stole his or her trash and dumped it there.

That's "creative!"

I imagine law enforcement people hear a lot of good stories.

 

[Acristickid]

I just pickup the litter along the roads in state forest near me. (Or anywhere else that’s reasonable to do so). I have been doing it for several years from the beginning of the gravel road Laurel Summit Rd on Laurel Mountain past Beams Rock and down onto the black top road down to Linn Run state park.

It’s pretty cleaned up now. I can tell now how long a can (usually) has been there. I’d really like to meet and have a conversation with the drinker/tosser of the IC Light 12 oz cans. Pick them up each week.

If like to think most of the trash we see blows out of cars and beds of trucks.

 

[JeffP]

Now I got that Arlo Guthrie song in my head again.
Good on you for following through like that. A lot of people wouldn't have.

I was just getting ready to post that when I saw your post!

 

[Fly-Swatter]

Yeah, then dude comes out and introduces you to his fist. 😀

Or shoots you. That seems to be the popular thing to do nowadays.

 

[wildtrout2]

Or shoots you. That seems to be the popular thing to do nowadays.

Good point. It's more common than it ever was.

 

[Oregon_OwlII]

Dear troutbert,

I'm not so sure that is always the wrong move. Think about how many of the Western wildfires in the last 20 or 30 years have been fueled by deadfalls caused by invasive beetles and insects. Leaving tinder on the ground to be tinder is not always the right idea. Live trees can survive a fire, but not when dead trees make it an inferno.

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

The west is so expansive that it would be almost impossible to pick up and cart out all the deadfall.

 

[Silent Ocelot]

The irony & hypocrisy is Haverford Township has a ban on single use shopping bags & plastic drinking straws while

Some things that would help...

Increase the littering fine to $2000 and a two year loss of your fishing, hunting, or DCNR camping access because any outdoors person who litters should feel EXTRA pain. Subsequent violations should warrant higher fines and longer privilege suspension.​

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Add picking up trash along highways & open areas for a period of one week a mandatory additional punishment for anyone caught littering. Subsequent violations should include longer periods of trash pick-up.​

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Offer a $500 reward for anyone tuning litterers in to law enforcement that results in a prosecution.​

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Enact a bottle bill ALREADY with a $ .25 cent deposit on cans & bottles like New York and a bunch of other states enacted OVER FORTY YEARS AGO!!!​

I second this.

 

[Silent Ocelot]

My boss just returned from a trip to Japan for her 50th birthday. She said the biggest difference between Japan and the US is that in Japan the societal expectation is that you do not litter or improperly dispose of trash. Tokyo was the cleanest city she has ever seen. There are, however, no public trash receptacles on the streets. It is simply understood that you are expected to take your trash home and dispose of it properly. She saw zero litter anywhere.

Quite the contrast here unfortunately.

I can say after being stationed in Japan for two years (Yokosuka, 2012-2014) that it was uncanny how clean everything was. Not a single piece of litter. I will say I was surprised how much open landscape there was too.