Who picks up the Rubbish?
This morning I spent my time cleaning up someone else’s mess at my favorite local park.
Tissues were thrown around the grass like confetti. Gross, soggy, dirty, confetti. Plastic spoons haphazardly scattered around. And a cardboard box unceremoniously plopped on the ground.
It appeared that someone had a celebration the night before. A party. Perhaps a birthday shindig. I unfortunately did not get to share in the cake and laughs, no I got the sad soggy remains.
And I was not alone in the sad aftermath. I came across a pukeko with their feet tangled in the tissue. He or she did not know what this sticky substance was and to watch this bird become stressed by this was quite heart breaking.
And I am sure this would not be great to ingest as well. While I was cleaning up this mess, I had to shoo away a number of pukekos who were creeping closer for a nibble.
A plastic cup became the next round of entertainment for the gang. Each pukeko picking it up with their sharp beaks and long talons, inspecting it, then discarding it after figuring out that it most likely is not going to taste great.
I often spend my time picking up rubbish at this park. Mostly discarded plastic bread tags from people’s outings of feeding the ducks. People get so excited to feed the ducks tasty carbs that they simply leave the colourful tag lying discarded on the ground. I have a whole container of them at home. All brightly coloured and man-made and thrown to the ground by a group of people who did not really think about the ramifications of this action.
Plastic and wildlife
When I was picking up that rubbish, one image was haunting me. Last weekend I had attended the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit and there is one image that has stayed in my mind since that day. A Kemp turtle lying dead on the shore, killed by a discarded beach chair. I tried to imagine a person at the beach after a day of sun and fun, deciding that they no longer needed this beach chair, so with a heave and a throw, they chucked it into the rushing waves. And with a cheerful whistle, tramped back into their car and drove home.
No thought was had again of this chair. Why would they think of it - they had thrown it out and now could forget about it - right?
This action though caused the death of an endangered sea creature. He or she did not know that their unwanted beach chair ripped apart a turtle’s neck and caused it to perish.
Our rubbish should never be the noose for a creature. We have became the grim reaper to wildlife with our actions - be it plastic, pollution, hunting, deforestation. You name it, our actions have consequences on the natural environment.
Around the world, millions of animals are killed by plastics every year. From seals to whales, birds to monkeys, plastic and other form of rubbish kills. In New Zealand, the seas are the riskiest in the world for seabirds in regards to plastic ingestion. They can not easily identity the difference between plastic and food while at sea, hunting for food. Many seabirds end up feeding plastic to their chicks. These chicks run the risk of starving to death as their stomachs are so filled with plastic.
Furthermore, one out of every three turtles recovered in New Zealand has died or is sick from eating plastic.
Back to the park.
I could feel myself getting pissed off as I picked up tiny pieces of tissue paper from the dew soaked grass. Pissed off at the people who carelessly made this mess, pissed off that this is the norm for many, just generally pissed off. I witnessed a lot of people simply walk by this mess. Look at it, shrug and continue.
This seems to be the mentality for many. It is not my problem. I did not make that mess; so I won’t clean it up. Or, someone else will.
Well. It is your problem. You may not be the one who threw that rubbish away, but you are the one who gets to decide whether or not you can spare a bit of time cleaning it up. In order for wildlife to not become harmed.
Studies have shown that people are more likely to litter in environs that are not their own, or near their own. This is because they do not feel personally responsible for this location - and think that a cleaner or someone else will deal with their mess. They most likely would not throw litter around their lounge or own backyard, or even perhaps their favorite park, but the further they go away from their bubble the more likely it is that they will litter. As they simply do not feel responsible for that space.
Rubbish is seen to also have a negative impact on mental health. Studies have shown that litter can have an impact on people’s wellbeing or feelings about a place. A place that has a lot of litter can feel abandoned, which consequently can create these feelings in people.
Let’s make the rubbish issue in our world - everyone’s problem. Not simply people who are paid to pick up this rubbish, but as consumers of these kind of waste problems and as humans who inhabit this earth with many other creatures, let’s try our best of instead of passing the buck to another person or ignoring a pile of rubbish, stop and pick it up. It may not be how you envision spending your time, but I doubt the turtle envisioned getting murdered by a beach chair or the millions of other animals that have their lives cut short from our waste/plastic. Because it is ours. We made it, we demanded it, we used it, now it is our responsibility to ensue that we do not kill other creatures with it and ultimately to stop using the damn stuff.
How Can You Help
Pick up rubbish when you see it. Go for a walk at your local park or around the block, and pick up some trash.
Host your very own beach clean up - round up some mates, and make a day of it. Clean up the beach together.
Watch some documentaries - educate yourself on the plastic/rubbish problem. The Story of Plastic is a great one, which explores the origins of our plastic. Here is a list of some others:
https://plasticpatrol.co.uk/blog/2019/02/03/top-10-documentaries-you-need-to-watch/
Reduce your personal plastic use. Replace that straw with a bamboo one, that takeaway coffee cup with a reusable mug, and shop at refill stations for grains and other products. There are so many different ways you can reduce your plastic use :)
Be considerate. Be considerate to the earth - and this may sound crazy, be considerate to people who litter. It may be an education thing, or it may be a I do not give a fuck thing. But reacting with hate and shouting, is not going to aid anything. Approach the situation with compassion. Be it towards the person littering or to the actual litter. I forgot this. This morning I got pissed off - but I need to remember to bring myself back to this mindset.
To see the turtle photo I mentioned above, click here.