It’s recycling season again. The snow is all gone, no longer hiding litter, recyclable or otherwise, and I guess more people are walking and drinking. In the last week or so I have filled 3 bags, not counting the bottles and such I have put in my backpack or pockets (a habit I am really trying to break, must get better about ALWAYS keeping the captain’s chair bags in the bottom of my backpack), just walking where I walk to get from here to there. The other day my housemate asked me how my day had been and I said, “it’s been kind of rough, I needed some help to get through,” as I pulled 3 empty bottles of cheap vodka out of my pockets. Now I have to rinse all these bottles and cans and put them in the recycling bin. I also have to clean my room, which is in an absolutely disgusting state, and get a good system set up for the storage of bottles and cans till they’re rinsed and put in the recycling bin. Otherwise I end up with them everywhere, including in my bed, which is just gross.
The weirdest thing I found was an empty can of condensed milk next to the Kroger driveway. It’s hard to imagine someone chugging this on the go. Surprisingly often I find empty cans of Vienna sausages at bus stops, but at least it’s a to go kind of food. But condensed milk? I love it in coffee, but it’s so thick and sweet that even thinking of consuming an entire can makes me kind of queasy.
This year I’d also like to pick up litter more often. If I carry some regular plastic grocery bags, I can fill those up, and throw them out when I see a garbage can, or when I get home. The melting of the snow has revealed so much litter, and it’s ugly, all environmental considerations aside. There is a cool woodsy spot by my house, with a sort of path through it, and all kinds of garbage gets blown or dumped or both back there. I’d like to make it my ongoing project to keep that area cleaned up. Also the little stream/wetland by the Social Security office, which I pass on the way to work.
The thing I don’t want to do is get all self-righteous about this. It’s my compulsiveness, as much as any love of the planet, that draws me to this project. I have way too many un-ecological habits of my own (I also need to work on these) and am not in any position to be holier than thou. But I do admit that sometimes I think, tons of people throw their garbage out their car windows, and we expect them to really change their lifestyles in order to save the planet?? Many of my co-workers won’t take 6 steps to throw their water bottle, which doesn’t even need to be rinsed out, into the recycling bin as opposed to the garbage can. These people suck and we’re all doomed. But this kind of attitude will only make me cynical and bitter and nasty.
As an antidote to said attitude, I have the perfect thing to wear when going out to pick up litter. Or maybe I’m just trying to rationalize a ridiculous purchase. As of tonight, I am the proud owner of a black-tasseled, brown tail, that reaches almost to my ankles. It even has a belt, so that it stays on really well and doesn’t have to be pinned. I wanted an all black one, to wear with my black sequinned mouse ears, but they only had brown and white, and the white ones didn’t have a belt. I decided that a tail in hand is worth two in the bush, and moreover, who is going to say, “you can’t wear a brown tail with black ears.” Those fashion police types are much more likely to say, “why are you wearing ears and a tail, you look like a freak.” And the people who think it’s funny won’t care about the color so much. I love the idea of scavenging, dressed like a rodent. Good night!
