Strange items found when litter-picking

Why do people drop litter? Name the sin. Is is because they are lazy or something more? What do they think will happen to a broken umbrella left in a country lay-by? I find plastic that has been carefully folded before being chucked into the New Forest National Park.

Does throwing unwanted stuff away give people a carefree feeling? Does it give them release, a drop of dopamine? Make them feel cleansed? Is it a symptom of something more? In her autobiography, Michelle Obama cites ‘bitterness’ as one outcome of what Barack Obama described as ‘a cynicism bred from a thousand small disappointments over time.’

I find quite a few glasses taken out of pubs and abandoned rather than returned. What’s this defined as? Isn’t it petty theft? Incarnate laziness? Drunken, callous behaviour that is becoming seen as normal, even acceptable? Or a mixture of all three. And what is the outcome? Broken glass on the pavements?Surely an increase in prices to cover the cost. I found a glass and took it to the local pub only to be told they didn’t want it back. A perfect, straight-sided glass tumbler that just needed washing. Their plan was to break and re-cycle it. I was shocked by the abject acceptance of waste. Break up a perfectly good glass? The bar staff gave it back to me. I filled it with flowers and gave it to a friend.

Tonight I decided to walk in the bluebell wood – possibly one of the most beautiful sites on this planet. I took my bucket doubting whether I would find much. I soon began collecting empty bottles of alcohol that had been tossed out of high vehicles into the wood. Had people been drinking while driving work vehicles such as vans or trucks?

I then came across more than I could possibly carry. Hub caps, lights and other vehicle parts had been dumped on this private property, just a little way from the road. I could tell by the date on the crisp packets that accompanied them that they had been there since 2005. It was heartbreaking. Most were still in good condition and looked to me as if they might have re-sale value. Was this theft or had someone been instructed to dump them? I have found more than seven different lots of stolen items in the past. You can find the list here.

When does throwing litter become fly tipping? In the relatively small area where I have been collecting litter I have found:

A broken security light

A piece of carpet and a bedspread

Huge bag of unused incontinence pads

Clothing of a dubious nature and an umbrella

A life-sized doll

A large rusty metal wheel-barrow

Lorry tyres

A huge number of vehicle parts including wheels

25 litre drums that once held bleach or other chemicals

~a drum that once held chemicals bitten repeatedly by a fox~

Fly tipping is outraging the New Forest community, where the National Park receives helpings of heinous proportions. It costs the New Forest District Council thousands of pounds. Why do people dump rubbish in beautiful, fragile areas? Is it because they find the municipal dump too expensive? or can’t get there? or are too lazy? Do they not understand that ditches are needed to carry flood water? Do they not see fly-tipping as a crime against farmers and the natural world? Or is it a form of rebellion? Do they mean to hurt us, cost society effort and money moving it on? Name the sin.

Some sites would be classified as abandoned, rather than chucked. You do find evidence of emotional distress. Can you see the pair of brand new walking boots to the right of this photo? Make out the tent? Much of the rubbish I pick up has been left by tramps. What’s the sin? Is it ours? Are we neglecting those in need? Not reaching out to the homeless and addicted?

Rubbish tramp

~the result of homelessness and alcohol abuse~

This litter and rubbish is growing into the landscape. I find myself pulling plastic and rope out of the earth, especially in places once inhabited by tramps who are apt to pick quite scenic spots. I need help from someone with waders and crowbars to dig plastic out from the Solent shoreline.

Most of the litter I found related to alcohol had been flung out of vehicles. How many people are over the limit whilst driving? If I can find 200 empty bottles and cans in lone lane how many thousands lie forgotten in the New Forest? What’s the sin? Drunk while driving.

We need rubbish bins fitted in vehicles as standard.

John Wesley said, ‘Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.’

I normally spend at least an hour each evening collecting rubbish from on the Solent shore with my dog. It’s extraordinary what you can find. I have a list here. (see also : Twitter #Solentbeachclean)

This year, I signed up as a volunteer for the Great British Spring Clean with Keep Britain Tidy. On 22 March, I began collecting litter chucked onto the banks of the Lymington River in the New Forest National Park before it could reach the sea. My personal challenge was to keep going, every day until the 23rd April when the Great British Spring clean officially ended.

The initiative inspired me remove rubbish from the ditches in earnest. Ours is a very beautiful area. I like working alone as I can go out when the weather is appropriate and fit in litter-picking with my work and Solent tides.

~A stolen handbag found in a nature reserve~

The results of my efforts:

Litter collected in one month: Total: 1360 minutes ~ about 22 hours

97 x glass bottles, milk bottles and occasionally jars – all recycled by my husband. About 5 of the bottles were half-full with vodka.

300 x plastic bottles including plastic milk bottles chucked into the river where there is a sign saying ‘Otters Crossing’.

I small bag of plastic bottle tops – saved for MENCAP

300 x empty drink tins – mostly alcoholic drinks found road verges. People must be drink-driving

9 x large rubbish bags of mixed litter, weighing about 60kgs: sweet wrappers, crisp packets, sandwich wrappers, disposable coffee cups with lids, drink can wrappers – often neatly knotted, cigarette packs, stubs, old lighters, plastic tobacco bags as well as socks, gloves and other items dropped by mistake.

This doesn’t sound a lot however, when I counted the items, it could take 1,000 pieces of plastic to fill a typical black bag. It could take only a few. Conservation International say, ‘Every day approximately 8 million pieces of plastic pollution find their way to into our oceans. Well, I’ve reduced that a by tiny bit.

Stolen items found:

Jewellery box with sentimental treasures including a wrist watch, a silver filigree broach and a bracelet engraved with the name Shirley

Leather holdall containing a pair of embroidered slippers.

HP laptop with a silver coloured case

Empty leather jewellery box for earrings

Apple iPhone

Acer laptop

Discarded make-up bag (possibly from a stolen hand-bag)

Handbag containing spectacles, make-up and hair brush but no valuables – was able to inform the owner who is coming to collect it.

Vehicle parts found

Part of the bumper of my husband’s car. ‘I thought it would turn up sometime.’

4 x wheel hubs (one claimed after I put it on display)

Wing mirror

Tow-bar cover (given away as a present)

Car radiator

Car bumper – a huge white one

Space-saver spare wheel for a car

Motor tyres x 5

Back shelf of estate car

Metal rod and rubber seals

Reverse light cover – undamaged

5 – litre diesel container with fuel inside

2 x mudguards from bikes

Rubber roller from a RIB trailer – (returned to grateful owner)

Grey grill off a Mercedes – undamaged (anyone want to claim it?)

Council signs found buried in ditches and the estuary

Men at Work sign

Narrowing road sign

Part of a chevron sign someone drove through

3 x temporary road sign stands

Tall black and white stripey bollard

Police bollard

3 x plastic bollards and a sandbag

I wasn’t quite quite sure how to cope but a volunteer from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust collected the heavy tyres. I’ve piled up road signs I found for the council to collect but he rusty a metal wheelbarrow still needs removing from the ditch that carries floodwater.

Time spent:

Week one: 325 minutes

Week two: 60 minutes

Week three: 430 minutes

Week four: 395 minutes

Week five: 150 minutes

The results have been uploaded at Keep Britain Tidy What I need to do in future is to record how far I have walked and map the stretches I’ve cleaned. I still have to tackle this dirty beach. Three loads have been removed but more awaits. Anyone want to take it on? Otherwise, you can help by pledging your support for the Great British Spring Clean here

As for me, I will continue to walk my dog with a bucket in one hand. It would be too awful to lack a container when I came across rubbish. I’ll keep a list of the things I find for this time next year. However, the project for May is to clean out our garden shed and the clutter in my own office.