I have to face it, I do not like it when people talk trash about me. In the past, I have been called crazy, selfish, witch, and many other very un-flattering things. Some of those did have the effect intended and pissed me off.
So now it is my turn to talk trash about some of my fellow humans.
“You PIGS!!! You Plastic Consuming PIGS!”
“You anti social litter bugs!”
“Did you smoke and toss that butt on the ground? Pick that piece of trash up you PIG!”
Maybe a more blunt abusive language would get your attention? Well, I am not going to use abusive language.
Why have I gone to name calling and trash talking to get your attention?
Here is why…
Over the holiday the Hubby and I went for a walk on the beautiful Dutch beach. When I say beautiful, I mean, at first look, it is not covered in trash like some of the beaches I have visited around the world. South Padre Island, Texas comes to mind as one of the worst I have visited in recent years. If you don’t see it when you visit there then I encourage you to take a few steps into the dunes. You will find a sad sight, trash piled in piles right in the middle of a National Wildlife Refuge!
The beaches here in The Netherlands are not lined with multi million euro homes with a beach front view. The Dutch figured out a long time ago that the beaches provide a natural barrier from the sea, a valuable natural protection for its inhabitants.
Some of what we collected before I cleaned and sorted
The Hubby and I have been moved by the recent articles and movements on climate change. We see the changes as we travel, paddle, and hike not just here in The Netherlands but in the United States. The one thing we notice more than anything else is the amount of plastic and other trash that ends up in the water due to careless actions of our fellow humans.
Nice collection of trash fished out of Big Marine Lake.
I documented some of this last year when I paddled in the early Spring in Minnesota. The early Spring lakes are crystal clear and thus reveal the trashy ways of my fellow Minnesotans.
Second sack of items getting cleaned
As we walked down the beach we looked at the sand. We started finding the beach was not as clean as our eyes first perceived. Within minutes and less than 500 meters we had collected over 20 liters of plastic trash! I have to admit the plastic sack I found full of dog poop stayed on the beach!
I follow a blog written by two Dutch sea kayakers that recently talked about the amount of plastic they find washed up on the beaches in Scotland. All Exclusive Cruises have seen the effects up close and personal to how the trash of us humans tossed out into the water is effecting the ocean life. I would encourage you to read about what they found this last year.
Why, maybe you ask, would we pick up trash and not just put it in the nearest plastic recycle bin? Why clean and sort it out?
We feel we can’t change our behavior or the way others think about usage without understanding what is being carelessly throw out.
I personally have been against plastic one use shopping bags (yes, WALMART, TARGET and any other companies that produce and use those damn things, get my message!) for years. I bring my own reusable bags to the store. When someone comments to me about bringing my own bag and what a great idea that is, I tell them why I do it.
“I kayak, I find these damn things everywhere!” Blunt and true I continue, “I hate them!”
A collection of cleaned trashed items removed from the beach
With this small collection from the Dutch beach we wanted to know what we would find. Did it wash up on shore?
Was it carelessly tossed by other beach walkers?
Are there other bloggers that will want to talk trashy with us?
Can we bring attention to a problem by focusing our attentions on this subject? A subject that seems to be overlooked by corporate profits and international news headlines.
A collection of cleaned trash
So here is what we found.
Can you identify any of this?
Straws.
Plastic bags.
Bracelet.
String.
Scarf.
Tennis ball.
Balloon.
Some of it was so small (micro plastics) that we no longer identify its original purpose, can’t place the blame on a person or a company. That fact alone does not make the problem disappear, doesn’t make the clean up of the small items in our environment less necessary.
If there is one resolution that we hope everyone can make this year, please make the resolution to use less plastic. Maybe find a way to dispose of it properly.
We really want to stop talking trash about you.
Maybe you already have found a way to reduce and reuse. Have you collected or seen an issue with plastics in your area? Are there local programs in your area that help in the reduction of plastic items in your environment? We would love to hear how you are tackling this issue! Please leave your comments below.
© The Cedar Journal, all rights reserved, 2020
The Cedar Journal 
I see it all the time when I’m hiking or kayaking, sometimes I like to believe it’s just blown out of a backpack or got loose. However when you see a whole wine bottle beside the road you know that has been deliberately thrown out.
I use shopping bags and say know to straws, only buy a few pieces of fruit or veg so you don’t have to put them in plastic.
I’m also trying to limit my cling wrap use.
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Chris, I am sure it is a problem not just isolated to one area.
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I work stacking shelves in a high-end supermarket. The amount of plastic collected from packaging in a day would astound you! This is sorted and pressed into bales and sent for re-cycling but whether it is who knows? And we are only one mid-sized store, multiply that by x and the scale of plastic use is really frightening!
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It really is crazy, the amounts of plastic everywhere. Thanks for sharing your daily experiences with it. Who knows where it really ends up.
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Sometimes it’s okay to trash talk! And this is one of those times. This is a serious issue, and we all need to do our part to solve the problem of too much plastic waste on our planet. Thanks for the reminder….
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Your welcome. I hope that we can all start doing better for the planet.
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It is hard not to notice the amount of trash and plastic bags wherever we hike. Our grocery store recently refused to bag groceries in plastic bags, and if you want a paper one, it will cost five cents, which could add up over a while, so I bought reusable bags–and I love them.
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They are the best for the world. Reusable bags! Europe has been doing it for awhile and I wish Americans would get onboard. Thanks for using them.
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Note trash picked up Sunday, August 25, posted Aug. 30 on my blog. I try to do this clean up of the Connecticut River every year, and always overload a canoe. When kayaking, I often carry a grabber and collect trash from along the shores, but many of the places I kayak are pristine lakes and mostly trash free. Some, though, seem to collect drunken fishermen, with their cans from cheep beer and their styrofoam bait containers, and the lures caught in the trees.
Note market bags knit as gifts for Christmas; Connecticut now charges for all bags, and one granddaughter requested one – she got three, her sister two, all different. Photo of one posted December 8, two more December 30.
I pledged over three years ago to take NO single use plastic bags; I carry reusable ones in both vehicles. Or buy few enough things to not need a bag at all. Now, if the markets could figure out how to eliminate plastic packaging, that would be nice!
I applaud you for doing more than your part to remove trash you find. If everyone did that, we’d make progress on the contamination of our planet! Thank you!
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I love your knitted shopping bags!
Thank you so very much for sharing all the things you do as a kayaker to help solve this huge problem!!!
We often do not tell the world how much we all do to help tackle this problem. Most of us just do it and paddle on… hoping we will make a small change to help.
Thanks to all the warriors out there that continue to try to change this problem in our own travels.
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Well, I just got back from South Padre Island and I can definitely confirm the trash concern there – can only imagine the trash carnage that results from the Spring Breakers (you know, the woke climate kids that talk a big game but cast a blind eye to their own actions). I think as a general observation individuals are getting smarter about their choices, although I COMPLETELY agree the single use plastic bags are at crisis stages – check out the chain link fences that surround places like Walmart. On a side note, I was tempered in my disgust at one point when I challenged a local to the degree of trash I was seeing in the area only to learn that it was the result of the Mighty Mississippi swelling out of its banks and absolutely flooding developed areas leaving the debris wherever the water evaporated (same with Rockport TX after the hurricane etc.).. I can only assume a lot of that material made it into the Gulf to wash ashore at places like SPI.
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Doerfpub-
Thanks for conferring my South Padre Island trash carnage!!! I remember my very first visit there with my then young kids and it continued for miles along the beach piled high. Later visits haven’t changed my opinion as it hasn’t changed much in 20 years! It is a crime to know that we have this beautiful protected area for the wildlife migrating birds and baby sea turtles that is littered with trash that most people turn a blind eye to. Although they have tried to raise awareness. The National Park service has those yellow bags to encourage visitors to pick up trash.
The solution has to start with all of us and the companies that are making us use these products and then tossing them out. We all learned reuse, reduce, recycle, but so few use those.
I am guilty too, but I always look to try to do better.
Thanks again for your insight.
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I would say it isn’t the “pile” high scenario these days, but the dunes do a good job of collecting whatever blows in it. Unfortunately the thought of helping on the cleanup was quickly dashed based on the size of the snake I saw fly out at me with a rodent in its mouth – scared the crap out of me and almost dropped my camera!
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Holy cow! That is scary. Sounds like another entertaining adventure. The beast is ok?
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It’s awful isn’t it. It makes me so mad. I used to be a forest ranger and the amount of trash I had to pick up was huge. People would have picnics and BBQs and then just leave everything behind on purpose in a beautiful forest!. I can’t understand why anyone would do that. I try to reduce my own plastic consumption and reuse/ recycle but I find it hard with food packaging, so much of it is plastic. Keep up the good work with your litter picking!
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Thanks Sarah for sharing your experience as a Park Ranger. Sad that people would ruin the natural environment they came to enjoy. Very selfish to dump trash so others could not enjoy it and make so much work for the workers.
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I can relate in a smaller way. Each spring, after the snow melts, I find lots of litter in my yard. We live along a busy street. People apparently think they can toss beer bottles, cigarette butts, fast food wrappings and much more out their windows. Really? Take it home, people and properly dispose of whether in the recycling bin or trash.
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I know that the snow melt always brings surprises. Ugh! Front lawn trash is not nice.
What kind of recycling program does Fairbault have?
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All recyclables go into one box, unsorted, pick-up every other week by garbage haulers. I think it’s good. People just need to think and stop littering.
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So do you know what happens to the recycling once it leaves? Do they sell it? Process it? Separate it? I think it would be interesting to compare your program to what we do in The Netherlands.
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I don’t understand why there is so much litter. We all need to take a bit of responsibility – yet somehow many people continue to litter.
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I know it is hard not to see it everywhere. Some is accidental but so much comes from people just being lazy.
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Like, like, like your story!!! and thanks for the link!! I was just thinking about writing a new litter story. Convenience is the motivation of a lot of people in how they buy products. I just love to know how we can that mindset. But I’m busy with my students in showing them how to take the effort of living planet-friendly. (indoctrination comes to mind) Not that they always listen…..
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Pack it in pack it out was the old hiking mantra. Now it is Leave no trace. If we can just get each of them thinking about the small single use straws or stirs or plastic bags then change maybe can happen. People do care if they know and understand the future personal cost.
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