Litter-pick Sunday

If you’re in Ripon, you could amble down Fisher Green Lane, with the allotments to one side and the River Ure to the other.  It’s a nice enough little spot – just the place for a little stroll, or for walking the dog.  It’s best not to keep your eyes on the ground though.

Because of the litter.  Maybe it doesn’t look too bad at the moment.  The nettles have done a sterling job of covering up old cigarette packets, discarded cups from McDonald’s (McDonald’s is a mile away for heaven’s sake), cans and bottles.  But once you start to poke around, as the litter-picking squad from Plastic Free Ripon did on Sunday morning, this is what you’d find. Armed with high-viz gilets and grabs from the council, and protective gloves from Surfers against Sewage, we searched the verges and released litter from the nettles.

Twenty bags-worth of the stuff.  On under 200 yards-worth of road.  And that’s not counting the discarded excavator bucket from a small digger, the broken glass and a selection of planks.

We could be busy 24/7.  But we’re volunteers and we can’t do that.  It would be nice to think that people watching us working away might be encouraged to join us, or to think about whether they themselves are litter-louts.  In fact we had fun together.  And ate cake.  And fruit donated by Brian-with-the-fruit-and-veg-stall.  But it would still be better not to need to do it at all.

Note the sign top left. That worked, didn’t it?

Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

19 thoughts on “Litter-pick Sunday”

  1. I salute you and the people who worked with you. I pick up discarded bottles both glass and plastic nearly every day as I walk to the bus. There is a recycling bin near the bus stop. Why do some people have no sense of responsibility?

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  2. That’s a lot of rubbish! Round of applause for all volunteers. Do you think once a few pieces of litter are dropped it seems to encourage lazy people to add to the mess?

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  3. Well done, you all! Such an amazing amount of rubbish from such a small area! I have never dropped litter and have no difficulty holding on to my rubbish until I see a bin or until I get home. Such laziness and ignorance from people who must be aware of what they are doing.

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    1. No, it’s not hard, is it? I must say we were almost forensic in our attention to detail. Some of it may have been there for years. Daren’t go back next week to see what it looks like now!

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  4. A sad but uplifting post…By the way, is this the Ripon of Downton Abbey fame where Mr. Bates and Anna were married(?) No matter…just so glad you did your part and maybe this post will help with the clean up too. 🙂

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  5. Yow! That’s a lot of trash! How can people be so piggy and self-centered, to just drop their litter everywhere? You folks did a fine job but you shouldn’t need to . . .

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  8. I used to do a litter pick every Feb along the stretch of country road between our previous village and the next. February was when the litter was most visible with no vegetation to hide it. I see the same issues here. It’s so sad and so frustrating. How hard is it to take your litter home or find a bin? (That said, we are hoping to join a beach clean-up locally – I have your efforts firmly in my head as my example and inspiration!)

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  10. I have often commented to my wife that we should carry a garbage bag with us when we go out for our hikes. I must say that there appears to be less litter here in B.C. than encountered in Ontario, but any is still too much. My hats of to you and the crew for a great community effort. Cheers.

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  11. I’ve only visited BC once, and that was nearly twenty years ago. It impressed me, especially Vancouver, by being very clean and well-cared for. Keep it all up!

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  12. A valiant effort and well done to all the team, but you shouldn’t have to do it should you? It looks like a good percentage of the litter could be recycled so why didn’t people do that? When we lived in Norfolk, in the orchard, we were horrified by the number of people who would park off road to have their lunch, surrounded by beautiful countryside and the open the car door and shove the rubbish out! So far we see less of this in France, maybe because people have a decent amount of time for lunch and don’t have to eat on the run. Still doesn’t excuse them though.

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    1. Indeed not. Litter generally wasn’t too much of a problem in Laroque apart from ‘megots’. Every morning I swept up loads and loads of cigarette butts from outside our house. At least that particular issue is no longer such a big one in England. But there’s plenty of other ones…..

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