Today was an absolute field day on the litter front. We managed to pick, pull and prise around 10 full bin bags of rubbish that was mostly strewn along the A35. With a vague plan in mind but nothing solid, I had anticipated we’d be off the A35 quite quickly and looking around for laybys and country lanes that also needed a bit of TLC. However, the litter hooligans of the A35 did not fail to disappoint (or what I mean is they did disappoint us, and deeply so, but the sheer amount of litter present boded well for our activities for the day).
The litter ludicracy began even before we made it to the main road as we managed to clear around 3 bing bags and a sink (one of the many strange things we’ve found so far) near Lambert’s castle in Hawkchurch. After this initial find we moved on with our numb fingers and running noses (oh the joys of British winter weather) towards a lay by on the A35 just before Hunter’s Lodge. Here we realised just how mad it is that so many main-road lay-bys in this country don’t actually have bins. It’s almost like they are an open invitation for careless people to pull in a dump anything they have in their car.
Before and after the lay by just outside Lyme Regis. On such a scenic road that is literally a stone’s throw from the UK’s only natural World Heritage site, its truly shocking to see the surrounding landscape in this state.
We continued to pull into around 5 or so lay bys between here and Bridport, and each time were equally disgusted at our findings. Alongside bags full of god knows what and bottles of worryingly yellow looking water (spoiler, it wasn’t water), we also began to notice the ubiquity of another item, which previously would have been rather puzzling to find dumped on a roadside. This item was of course the unmistakable pale blue disposable mask which has almost grown to be a fifth limb of the human body in the past few months. Beyond my initial frustration at the fact anyone could willingly throw one of these masks (which are in fact made out of a plastic-like synthetic fabric known as polypropylene) the abundance of these masks highlighted to me just how detrimental buying single use items over durable, reusable ones is. Littering isn’t an action that merley happens at the moment someone releases their grip on that can of coke or crisp packet, it happens in the shop when the consumer makes the decision of what to buy. Through buying items that are built to last – and made out of biodegradable materials where possible – you can ensure that items like these masks won’t end up discarded on our roadsides.
All masks found alongside the roads during my past few cleanups… they really are everywhere!
Around halfway between our day – we managed to fill the entire back with rubbish and actually had to stop collecting in order to empty our findings at the recycle centre in Bridport.
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