It's beach cleaning time.
And it's time to remember this. Every bit of paper, glass, plastic, wood, styrofoam or food waste that passes through your hands has to go somewhere.
And while none of us would ever — ever — admit to dropping those things somewhere other than the proper garbage container or recycling bin, it's obvious that someone isn't following the rules. Or rather, the laws.
Littering can carry heavy fines depending on the municipal law of the land you choose to disregard. In some cases, it can mean upwards of $2000 per offense.
But habits can change, slowly over time. Even habits of an entire community can be altered, given the right motivation.
While the pure amount of trash left on the beaches in Harrison seems to have gone down when looking at the statistics from the Steamkeepers Society (see page 4 for story), they add that their clean up totals are likely down because the Village has tasked workers to clean up our mess. That's Village money spent on cleaning up after our carelessness and laziness, horrible habits that should have been erased in grade school.
Thank goodness they don't have to send for our mothers, too. We'd all be in real trouble.
Here are some dismal numbers to chew on (taken from the 2012 B.C. wide cleanup) while you consider where to toss the wrapper of that snack you're enjoying:
Weight of litter removed, 53,724 kg.
Number of Items removed, 429,798.
Garbage bags filled, 4,971.
Recycling bags filled,1,082.
That litter was removed at a rate of 43 kg per kilometre, with cigarettes topping the naughty list.
Mom?