I did an extra litter clean up this morning. My brother and his girlfriend were in town visiting from Washington DC, and wanted to visit the beach for an early morning walk. So while they strolled and looked for shells, I picked up litter around Johnnie Mercer's Pier. Unfortunately, the amount of litter today was downright appalling. I only picked up trash from underneath and directly on either side of the pier, and I quickly filled up my reusable bag (4 grocery bags), then just walked back and forth to the trash cans with many additional items.
Recyclables and reusables included 2 pairs of men's flip flops,
1 pair of girl's water shoes, 4 soda/beer cans, 8 sand toys,
18 soda/water bottles, 4 plastic cups,
1 pair of glasses,
and 1 pair of sunglasses. Items that I put right in the trash included 3 towels, 1 bra, 2 pairs of underwear, 1 tee shirt, and 1 large metal tent spike. Additional trash items included many snack bags (Fritos, Doritos, etc), McDonalds food containers, a broken chair, lots of straws, Capri Sun drink packs, and lots of assorted plastic.
The most discouraging part of the day for me was that I picked up and threw away 6 dirty disposable diapers. Not one, not two, not three... six. Four of them were actually close together underneath the pier, (as shown in this photo)
then I found 2 others in separate areas. Now, I am not a mother, so I know that I cannot truly understand or sympathize with the huge amount of work that is motherhood (and fatherhood, of course). But once you have the dirty diaper off, is it really that hard to throw it in the trash?? Truly, I am appalled that anyone would leave a completely unbiodegradable bundle of plastic, feces and urine to be swept out to sea. I'd like to include a link here to an article I wrote about a year ago that details the toxins that are contained in disposable diapers. I'm going to hope that somehow, someway, the careless diaper-litter-leavers will find this blog post and change their ways! http://www.organicfertilizersources.com/blog/organic-fertilizer-beyond-the-crap/just-how-dangerous-are-disposable-diapers
Okay, well I'm climbing off my soapbox for now. I hope everyone has a wonderful week and that this is THE week for another turtle track discovery!
-Susan
I am wondering if Susan went to JM the morning after the evening we were there.... July 5?? We picked up several diapers during our clean up...which really bugs me... but there were still a lot of people under the pier before we left. As a mother, there is absolutely NO excuse for people to leave their babies dirty diapers on the beach (or anywhere else for that matter)
ReplyDelete.... speechless.