Day Two of The Trash Wars

I went out today from 3-6 p.m. along various parts of Sang Run Road and Sang Run itself. There was plenty to be picked up. This time I got more recyclables, and I've discovered something really stinky: old milk bottles. Yuck! Someone is a repeat offender along Sang Run Road, throwing out pint-sized milk bottles. I had to air out my collection bins when I got back home.

Part of the trash problem may have to do with drinking and driving. People don't want to be caught with open or empty beer bottles or cans in their vehicles, so they toss them out. That's probably 90% of the glass and aluminum that I collect. I even used stepping stones to get one beer can in midstream right behind the old election building. Gross! And I'm proud to say I stopped a good bit of plastic from getting to the Gulf of Mexico today.

Down one bank near the intersection of Sang Run and Hoyes Sang Run Road, I hit a motherlode of tossed bottles and--I was startled to see---deer skulls and bones, some partly in old feed bags, thrown there by hunters. I didn't collect these. I've also seen this under the powerlines near my house, and the bones stick to the bags. They're not made of burlap these days, but some kind of plastic--of course. :( There was also a tire, and they no longer have tire amnesty days at the fairgrounds. I called and they said they can't afford to do that this year, so it's $3 a tire to toss them in the landfill! I'm sure that will lead to more dumping all over the county. Dang.

When I was at that intersection, some redneck in his gigantic, new pickup revved his engine and sprayed gravel. I took it as a comment on what I was doing. No doubt he saw it as a criticism of his way of life, and his family has been tossing trash here for generations. I'm the newcomer, the outsider, the transplant, and who am I to come in and start cleaning up after him? They don't call them "white trash" for nothing, I guess. I also guess they can't shoot me for picking up after them.

I've decided that all broken glass goes into the trash bin, not the recycling. That way I only have to handle it once. And a note to anybody following in my footsteps (and I hope there will be many): bring earplugs for when you throw the glass in the recycling trailers!