Neighborhood Cleanup

I have a standard route that I walk through my neighborhood, which I've measured to be exactly four miles. Not that the distance is all that important; it's just a good length for a walk, as it takes me a little over an hour. I've walked it countless times, not only for training – at the moment it's still a bit soon to be in "official" training mode anyway – but also for regular exercise or to just clear my head after a tough day (or night). I often walk on autopilot, without paying much attention to where I am at any given moment.

However, one thing I have noticed (besides the occasional penny, nickel, or dime on the ground) is a preponderance of trash that accumulates on the side of every road along my path. Plastic beverage bottles, aluminum cans, empty cigarette packages (and cigarette butts), fast food wrappers, and so on.

It’s beyond litter. It’s disgusting. Why is my neighborhood somebody else’s garbage can?

A couple of years ago, a friend told me about her weekend with her sons. On a sunny Saturday afternoon, they walked to the park a few blocks from their home to play on the swings and other equipment. They took along garbage bags and picked up all the pieces of trash between their house and the park.

I’d never heard of anyone doing that before. I was most impressed. I’d already noticed the litter on my own walks, so I asked her if she wanted to bring the boys over to my neighborhood. (Since they live almost 400 miles away, she declined.) On the other hand, why didn’t I just do it myself, while I was out walking? Sounded like a good idea to me.

Of course, as with most of my good ideas, it took a while to implement. I’d keep forgetting or I didn’t want to take the extra time or it was the wrong phase of the moon.

Earth Day is coming up on Tuesday, April 22. Normally, I don’t really care. For one thing, I only became aware that there actually was something called Earth Day five or six years ago, and for another, I already turn off unnecessary lights, recycle as much household waste as possible, and avoid throwing garbage in a river or lake.

Nevertheless, I decided that in advance of Earth Day, yesterday and today would finally be the days I would clean up my walking route. I picked up every bottle, every can and every piece of miscellaneous trash in my path. I must have looked weird to people driving by, assuming, of course, that they even noticed what I was doing.

All told, I filled three plastic garbage bags. (If I had made a return trip to one area of my route, I could have filled a fourth. Maybe I'll go back next week.) I brought each bag home and sorted out the recyclables – over fifty plastic bottles and aluminum cans combined and a small amount of miscellaneous plastic. The remainder of the collected waste filled nearly a third of my trash barrel.

Will it make any difference? I don’t know. Maybe only to me, when I’m out walking. At least now I'll be able to see those pennies.