Yesterday I decided to get my lazy ass out of bed somewhat earlier than usual (07:15 instead of 09:00) and go for a walk in the nearby parc. On my 1 hour walk I encountered so much trash that I decided to walk the same round again this morning but this time accompanied by a trash-bag. On the picture you can see the results (and the still dripping rain-suit and boots).

Beer cans, soda cans, energy drink cans, cigarette packages, candy wrappers, plastic bags, chewing gum blisters and their cardboard wrappers, a KFC bucket, shards of glass (beer bottles), potato chips bags and even a condom (on a playground...). Come on people! Such stuff does not belong in nature (even if it is human-planted nature). When I got closer to the mall I encountered receipts and near the houses I found some bird-feeder nets (those green ones).

Some of this trash was easy to explain, though still not justified. I encountered about 3 benches without a trash bin in sight. That is asking for trouble. However I also followed a little human-trail (like a deer-trail, but human made) through the brambles and ended up in a swamp-like place. I was obviously not the first person to get there (there was a trail after all) and I got the main load of beer cans from there. It's obviously a popular hangout place for beer lovers.

The other trash was mainly found along the route that most highschool students follow to their schools. It is apparently considered normal to throw your stuff at the side of the road instead of holding on to it until you encounter a bin or you get at school/home. There's 1 'blikvanger' on the route I walked, which is indeed used (but why the hell did someone put all those branches in there?) but 3 out of 10 throws end up next to or below that 'blikvanger' in stead of in it. I decided to not waste much time on that patch because I reckon (and sincerely hope) that the persons cleaning those 'blikvangers' also take the surrounding trash with them.

On one part of my route a lawnmower had been busy so all the trash I found there was cut up in tiny pieces. Because of the absence of high grass you can now see what is lying underneath the nettles and bushes. So I cleaned a bit there too, avoiding dog poo and the nettles. I think that most passers-by would have thought me on some kind of community service ("And rightly so!") though I actually took more trash in 1 hour than I see some of them take in half a day. (Some time ago I saw someone trying to use one of those grabbing sticks to get a flattened can. After 5 tries she still didn't have it and kept trying. Argh! I would've picked the thing up after only 2 failed attempts.)

I let all the toilet paper (yes, toilet paper) ly because I don't want to know what's on that stuff and it will rot away more easily than plastic or tin-plate. For the condom I used a stick to pick it up. It looked more like it had been used as a balloon than for sex but you never know. I did not get into the trench along the highschool-route but I think that half a bag could be filled with what is lying there. Sigh.

Sometimes I feel like one of the few people that was raised properly, considering trash and where to dump it (the trash bin!!).