Marina Gerber
Dear editor:
I applaud the groups of “lay ecologists” who get together to pick up other people’s garbage from roadsides.
Actually, I’ve “adopted” a small stretch of “our” road myself and on my garbage walk last week, I picked up 18-20 pieces of garbage in about that many minutes.
Of the items I collected (in a plastic bag conveniently extracted from a ditch), about one-third were plastic bottles.
The rest was obviously also tossed from vehicles after the drivers/passengers had eaten or drank (i.e., Styrofoam cups, etc.)
With winter upon us, the snow soon will cover the garbage and it will go into hibernation but, sadly, not into decomposition.
A simple alternative to tossing garbage out the car window might be to keep an empty ice-cream bucket in the car for the lunch waste containers.
Food for thought!
Sincerely,
Marina Gerber,
Emo, Ont.
P.S. Having travelled in Alberta earlier this fall, we noticed road signs which read: “Respect Alberta’s Highways.”
I guess that’s what it actually boils down to—respect.
