brainwane is posting some positive good stuff

much appreciated
posted by Didymus at 9:51 AM on August 19 [12 favorites]

When I lived next to a creek, I'd go down with one or both of my kids once or twice a month and collect garbage. We came out with three full bags more than once.
posted by Tabitha Someday at 10:05 AM on August 19 [6 favorites]

Somehow I think this is something that would never take off in many European cities.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 10:08 AM on August 19

I've seen a few folks doing this in my neighborhood and I try to thank them. Then a voice in my head says, "and yet the neighborhood is still full of trash, people are the worst, why bother?" And then the other voice (angel; other shoulder) says "well at least they're doing something. Can you say the same?" One day I'll listen.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 10:25 AM on August 19 [6 favorites]

My house faces a very small park - I can easily see across it to the houses that face mine, and it's one city block wide. I walk my (and other peoples') dogs around it regularly, and maybe twice a month I take a plastic grocery bag and pick up the stray bits of trash that have accumulated.

I look at it as a mitzvah to the neighborhood, and a training opportunity for the dogs. They have to cooperate while I deviate from routine and wait patiently while I bag and dispose of the trash.
posted by workerant at 10:50 AM on August 19 [7 favorites]

Sometimes my friends and I would do this in the playground at our grade school during recess. One time we found a beer bottle (on the outskirts of the property) and were all so Very Very Concerned that we immediately went to tell a teacher.

.....I think I may want to join these guys.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:53 AM on August 19 [1 favorite]

Somehow I think this is something that would never take off in many European cities.

I've been doing this in the European city of Edinburgh... but then I'm originally Australian, so who knows. Started when I was taking the kids to a skatepark every weekend and had nothing much to do while they scooted around apart from take photos of them, so I'd pick up all the bottles and crisp packets. Made a pound or two in change over the years.

Then I joined a volunteer clean-up at a sculpture park out of town earlier in the year, which inspired me to get a grabber. So now and then I go around the block or two where I live and clean it up. It's a Sisyphean task, but it feels worth it. I don't leave rubbish on the floor inside my flat, so why leave it where I walk all the time outside? Who cares if someone else left it there; we all have to live with it.

Been doing the same thing on beaches over the years, too, especially more remote ones. I've come to know all the different kinds of fishing twine, rope and floats.
posted by rory at 10:54 AM on August 19 [10 favorites]

And then the other voice (angel; other shoulder) says "well at least they're doing something. Can you say the same?"

this is my hero origin story. The Night Pooper comes out to remind people that discarded Slurpee cups and napkins could be much worse. When you see poops on the sidewalk multiply, know it's the Night Pooper: this city is dirty and it will get much dirtier if the citizens don't start cleaning up their messes

I'm the hero they needed
posted by Didymus at 10:58 AM on August 19 [3 favorites]

Littering is just gross, and picking up litter is a mitzvah(good deed). And it's great for your karma!
posted by theora55 at 11:06 AM on August 19 [7 favorites]

I modify my daily walk, and try to do this every week on trash day. I always deliberately wear one of my trans pride / queer pride shirts or hoodies, because if I'm gonna be doing the work anyway, maybe, just maybe, seeing one of those people trying to clean up their corner of the community might just cause someone to rethink their prejudices.

This is my favored tool (sorry: Amazon) and I think it works better than the trigger-pull grabby claw types. I can pick up a... (sigh) full Gatorade bottle (ew) or a cigarette butt with equal finesse.
posted by xedrik at 11:30 AM on August 19 [9 favorites]

Via the DeTrashed subreddit, I found out about Garbage Gals (Chicago) and The Cleanup Club (Michigan) which also do social litter-collection events. The social bit does make for a different feel, compared to solo activities - one article bluntly suggests, "So if you¡¯ve been striking out at the increasingly difficult task of making friends as an adult, maybe consider picking up some trash." But also, going with a group like Pickup Pigeons means you don't have to bring any specialized gear yourself; I've witnessed them and they have grabber tools, garbage bags, and a rolling dolly that holds a big open garbage can which eases big neighborhood jobs significantly.

On the ephemerality/Sisypheanosity: I was working at a bookstore in 2002, and books documenting Andy Goldsworthy's artwork were on our big tables (Rivers and Tides had come out in 2001). He works knowing that he's making ephemeral art that entropy will soon dissolve, collapse, return to a less remarkable state. When I reshelved and restocked and alphabetized a section of the shelves, getting, say, the Religions category into shape for that afternoon, I knew the order I'd brought was temporary and that ordinary customer interactions would gradually break it down. But I found contentment and interest in it anyway. Plus, rooting around in the space between the wall and the bookcase, sometimes I found weird old souvenirs on the floor (I called this "case-diving" but I think that term never took off) -- flyers, lost books that were now out of print, whatnot. There was a kind of small adventure in not knowing what I might find.
posted by brainwane at 11:34 AM on August 19 [11 favorites]

Thanks for posting this brainwane! Now I'm going to spend the next hour writing (and editing down for length) this comment.

I got into this hobby ("picking") during the pandemic. I work from home, but started going on solo walks to get out of the house. I still haven't killed the workaholic in my head, so to be more productive I started carrying a plastic grocery bag to pick up trash. This became a 13 gallon kitchen bag. And a grabber tool. And backup bags, with a separate bag on a belt carabiner for aluminum recycling. And gloves (cotton garden ones are light and breathable). And a wide brimmed sun hat, sun glasses, and ear buds for podcasts. And a telescoping 3 lb shop magnet for metal bottle caps (they always end up embedded in the dirt sharp side down). I have a stronger shop magnet also (you definitely want the kind with a quick release system for the magnet) but I usually don't carry it if I'm carrying the grabber tool. I need to make a strap for it. I carry disposable gloves too for squatting and picking up dozens of cigarette butts or small pieces where it's not ergonomic to use the grabber tool.

I also made a bag holder by going to the dollar store and getting two round grease screens for frying pans, popping out the metal mesh, and then sandwiching garbage bags in between them and holding it together with binder clips. It's nice because it holds the bag wide open and gives you a handle to hold. Bag holders go for $25 online; don't bother buying them.

A few weeks ago I spent $80 on a 3 foot wide shop magnet on wheels to take to Prospect Park, but i don't recommend this. The ground is too uneven and you don't really pick up things effectively. If anyone wants it, I'll give it to you for the price of shipping.

What? I'm not weird. God forbid a man have a hobby.

Reuse the ktichen bags, rather than starting a new bag. And buy the name brand bags; you can fill them five or six times before they start getting rips and holes. Cheap bags will rip even before you fill them once. Empty them into public dumpsters or trash cans, and remember where the local dumpsters are. Learn when trash pick up is, because you can use the trash bins on the street if you pick on those days.

Wear comfortable clothes and old closed toed shows that you don't mind if some gross liquid splashes on a bit. I've never gotten anything on my face, but sometimes I'll wear a face mask for sun protection. Sun glasses are a good idea too.

A decent grabber tool will be about $25 or $30 dollars. You can get the folding time if storage space is an issue, but they do break much more readily.

Put stickers on your gear, or maybe add a tick mark to your grabber for each bag you fill. This is a hobby, Make it fun.

Switch which hand you use the grabber tool. Bend down with your legs instead of your back. If your shoulder or wrists start to feel sore, take a rest for a few days or a week.

Stay on the sidewalk. If there's trash on the road, leave it. I specifically don't wear a reflective vest. People are grateful to see a good Samaritan citizen picking up trash, and it sends a message that normalizes this activity. People see a reflective vest and think you're a lowly worker or were sentenced to community service and therefore open to abuse. I've never been hassled while picking, but I'm a 5' 9" guy. About half the time when I'm out, someone will say thanks. This one time a guy rode by on an expensive road bike, full spandex gear and everything. He said thanks as he went past, then turned around and tossed something at my feet and rode off. I thought it was garbage, but it was a nice little bracelet of ornate wood and metal beads. I wear it sometimes when I go out picking.

You don't need to wait for an organized clean up; this is something you can do on your own. If anything, I think it's more effective to do this on your own whenever you have a spare hour and just want to get out of the house and go for a walk. The grabber tool and sun hat are really the main tools you need. One downside of this hobby is that You. Will. Notice. Trash. Everywhere. It used to be part of the background, but now you will notice it. And it's everywhere. We just don't notice it when we're driving. There's no such thing as cities/neighborhoods that are clean or dirty; they all have trash.

If you're starting your own group, the Pickup Pigeons have a 55 gallon bin on wheels that you push along the sidewalk. They also have grabbers and gloves for volunteers. (These are necessary; only a few people will bring their own stuff and you don't want people constantly bending down.)

Take before/after pictures. People love them and they encourage/normalize picking as a hobby. When taking photos, put an object in the corner of the frame to use it as a visual cue so the two photos will overlap. Maybe leave a stick or something on the ground so you take the "after" photo from the same position. If you know photoshop, put the two photos on different layers and make on semi-transparent so you can line them up and crop them. Example. Example. Example.

Some people do the "lay out all the picked trash on a tarp in organized columns" photos but that's way too much effort for me. I'd do it if I got into magnet fishing or scuba pond clean ups. Some people take photos on filled garbage bags piled together, but I feel like the before/after is more mediagenic.

Skip this paragraph if you don't like gross descriptions. I carry doggie poop bags for dog poop and... non-dog poop. You'll find used condoms in parks or places where people cruise. You'll find used toilet paper and napkins in secluded park areas from homeless people who don't have access to bathrooms. Use your grabber to pick up some newspaper or big leaves, and then pick them up so the grabber doesn't have to touch them directly. You'll want to use a Clorox wipe on the grabber tool with after you're done and store the grabbing end in a plastic bag. I keep all this stuff in a narrow tall wastebasket for storage. You can use disposable gloves so you can empty pee bottles from gig drivers into the gutter, then recap them. But I prefer to just make sure they're sealed and toss them full into my bag if it isn't heavy yet. Or you can just leave them. Needles are tricky; do what you're comfortable with. I only use the grabber tool to handle them. I put them inside a plastic bottle, then cap the bottle and put it into the bag. It's a tough situation, use your judgement: I don't want to leave them on the ground but I don't want to drive around with a bunch of bottled used needles in my trunk until I find a medical sharps disposal site.

The main things I want to pick up are plastic (before they get swept into the gutter and break down into ocean microplastic), glass bottles and styrofoam blocks (before they break into a thousand pieces), aluminum cans (for recycling; aluminum is a base element and can be melted down and reused with minimal processing), and screws/nails (which are stepping and tire puncture hazards). Food scraps and paper are things I'll leave on the ground usually. I'll pick up straws, bottle caps, and cigarette butts if I'm not tired. Broken glass I'll pick up at the beach, park trails, or side walks where people/dogs might step on them. I keep forgetting to bring my small combo dust bin/brush with me.

By a wide, wide lead, most of the trash I pick up is consumables and disposable containers: cigarette butts, plastic bottle caps, food wrappers, plastic bags. From the number of wrappers I pick up, a lot of people apparently use chewing tobacco? Really? Maybe it's my personal bubble, but who uses that stuff? But I see the wrappers on the ground all the time. The rest of the non-food/consumables I see tend to be paper receipts and lotto tickets.

We really need to pass laws to force plastic bottles to attach their caps to the neck of the bottle like they do in the EU. Previously on the blue. There are So. Many. Plastic. Bottle. Caps. You will also realize that we need to stop doing water balloon fights. So. Many. Tiny. Plastic. Pieces. Also, nobody reads those free newspapers that are put in plastic bags and tossed on people's doorsteps or lawns. I have no qualms about "stealing" them and tossing them in my bag.

Trash is everyone's problem. The wind will blow it everywhere. I once saw a distinct box for a usb thumb drive but didn't pick it up. A week later, I saw the same box except several blocks down. I like to pick at parks or school grounds when class isn't in session, but really I'll pick anywhere. When I had a car I would keep my gear in the trunk if I had to drive somewhere but had time to kill. Trash is everyone's problem.

After the rain, trash can collect and block storm drains. Use a stick to poke holes and clear out blockages rather than your grabber tool. If things are embedded in the dirt, use your boot instead of the grabber tool. If you can't get it out with your boot, just leave it. You don't have to get everything when you're out picking.

There are a lot of ocean cleanup "solutions" that are the equivalent of solar freakin' roadways. These products are hoping to sucker (or bribe) elected officials to spend taxpayer dollars on them. This hobby gives you the kind of experience to look at this stuff and realize how impractical it is. But Mr Trash Wheel is a beloved icon in the picking community.

One must imagine Sisyphus happy. By yourself, you get no recognition except for some random thanks. Posting before/after photos is nice. Picking trash with groups like the Pickup Pigeons is nice. But for the most part, this hobby is futile. The places you clean up will most likely be dirty by next week. Or the next day, if you live in a city. You will wonder if you're being a sucker, doing free labor for the assholes who toss garbage on the ground. This hobby can make you bitter about individual trashy people. Or you might wonder if you're wasting your time, because we should really be fighting trash at a global, systemic level. This hobby will definitely make you bitter about fast food places and single-use plastic. It's meditative, and your thoughts can drift to what is the point of doing this? We pick up trash, and the trash comes back. What is the point of doing anything? We live, we die, and within a century we and everyone who knew us are forgotten. Maybe I'm "building character" by doing a thankless, unpaid task. Maybe I'm only able to do this because I'm privileged to have the health and energy and spare time. Is it best to set a quiet example for others? Or should I yell and cuss out people when I see them litter? Why am I doing this? Should I be doing this? What should I be doing?

I have no concrete answers. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
posted by AlSweigart at 12:04 PM on August 19 [68 favorites]

When I had a car I would keep my gear in the trunk if I had to drive somewhere but had time to kill.

You've reminded me of another time I spontaneously started picking up rubbish as I walked: when I had some time to kill while my son was at a workshop six or seven years ago, and I visited the Antonine Wall¡ªlike Hadrian's Wall, but running through central Scotland, and just earthen mounds rather than stone. There's one stretch you can walk along near Croy on the outskirts of Glasgow. No tourist facilities there; you just park and get out and walk. And there was so much rubbish. It was everywhere. I didn't need to bring bags, because some of the rubbish was bags. I just used those.

It was pretty sad. This historic site that had been there since the second century, covered in plastic bottles.
posted by rory at 12:29 PM on August 19 [7 favorites]

Walking has saved my life from addiction to drugs. I generally don¡¯t pick up trash cause there isn¡¯t much where I live but one day I noticed a scattering of jewelry boxes, the little velvet ones, on the side of the road. Unfortunately, all of them were empty, but I did pick those up and throw them away when I got home.

I do take a lot better care of myself so that I can walk at least for an hour a day if not more. I listen to podcasts, which I don¡¯t normally do. So, the walking allows me to listen to cool podcasts, and the desire to listen to podcasts gets me walking. Sometimes I do the exercise of trying to find a specific color at least five times.
posted by waving at 12:52 PM on August 19 [12 favorites]

After I pick up trash on a stretch of road, I own it, until it's trashy again. It's very satisfying.
posted by the Real Dan at 1:19 PM on August 19 [6 favorites]

Thanks so much for posting this! I've been thinking about doing this in my neighborhood.
posted by chromecow at 3:02 PM on August 19 [1 favorite]

> I've been thinking about doing this in my neighborhood.

Starting is the hardest part. It helps to have your grabber, bags, and gloves in an simple umbrella stand for the purpose or in a cardboard box in your trunk so you can just grab them all and go. You can go to a local park or just a roadside you know gets dirty. Along highways and feeder roads (be careful of traffic) are common places where trash accumulates to. It's easier to start near your home than someplace far. Everywhere is an ideal location!
posted by AlSweigart at 3:15 PM on August 19 [3 favorites]

This is great to see. I try to picture how trash gets there but I just can¡¯t. If I¡¯m an optimist it¡¯s all spills from bins or open bed trucks, or other accidents . Do people really just ¡­ throw things on the ground? Why? I¡¯m 55 and I¡¯ve never done it.
posted by caviar2d2 at 3:15 PM on August 19 [1 favorite]

getting two round grease screens for frying pans, popping out the metal mesh

Oh hey, the metal mesh in those is small enough that quinoa won't go through, I use it to make mason jar tops to rinse my quinoa.
posted by clew at 3:18 PM on August 19 [1 favorite]

The guy who started a free newspaper in my area also started a townwide cleanup day. He gets yellow trash bags, and you pick up a stack of them and sign up for a stretch of public roadway to trash-pick. Then the next week the town collects the bags.

We've been doing it for years, with the kids' help. We also go into some undeveloped woods in our neighborhood to bring out stuff like wind-blown recycling, the discarded TV, half a swing-set, etc. And yes, seeing the whole town visibly cleaner -- with yellow bags on every corner, awaiting pickup -- is really gratifying. (For a while...)

But: SO DAMN MANY LIQUOR NIP BOTTLES. And so many of them near grade schools and highway on-ramps!!
posted by wenestvedt at 3:26 PM on August 19 [5 favorites]

I do this with broken glass in the bike lanes sometimes, but that's self-interest in part. I remember a story about a local guy who picked up trash for decades and his wife made him a high-viz vest with VOLUNTEER on the back because she couldn't stand the thought of people assuming he was doing community service as part of a DUI or something.
posted by BrotherCaine at 4:10 PM on August 19 [2 favorites]

But why are they doing it without a profit motive?!?!?
posted by Grimp0teuthis at 6:14 PM on August 19 [2 favorites]

Reminding me of the reverse-Sisyphus bit they had (or possibly paraphrased?) on John Finnemore¡¯s Souvenir Programme,
That Sisyphus is living a perfectly lovely eternal existence, waking up each morning, having a clear goal, always getting a little bit better at it, staying fit, seeing the sights from the top of his hill,
While Hades is the one suffering, having to spend each day on the chore of maintaining the circumstances of Sisyphus¡¯ ordeal.
I¡¯m butchering it badly, trying to describe it, but I always think of it when ¡°a Sisyphean task¡± comes up. It¡¯s a useful reframing (even if the ¡°Hades¡± comparison falls short when it comes to littering, specifically, something effortless by definition).

(.)
posted by TangoCharlie at 8:27 PM on August 19 [3 favorites]

We used to do this regularly when we lived in England in the countryside. The thing is it is very not much a done thing there. I believe David Sedaris had a whole piece about what a freak he was for doing the same thing. Neighbors that we knew would politely look away if they saw us in the distance, perhaps ashamed on our behalf that we were doing such a thing? We mostly covered the walking path near our home which was mostly the trash teenagers left behind, empty beer bottles, sometimes a bottle of champagne, lots of tissues that flew out of people's pockets.

Now we're in Amsterdam and the city actually provides free metal grabbers and trash rings and trash bags to anybody that wants them. It is a popular activity in our neighborhood - they even have activities and a flashy website. There's pretty much a dedicated local crew that is up early in the morning (too early if you ask me) of organized volunteers not only picking up trash but keeping public fixtures (lamps, plants etc) orderly. We'd join them but the neighborhood is oversubscribed.
posted by vacapinta at 1:17 AM on August 20 [6 favorites]

Somehow I think this is something that would never take off in many European cities.

What's so special about this that it wouldn't be done in 'European cities'?
posted by rosiroo at 2:07 AM on August 20 [3 favorites]

Making litter-picking part of community service punishments doesn't help, because then a lot of people associate it with being a wrongdoer rather than being somebody who cares about their community and the environment. When I was a kid in Oz, picking up litter was a school punishment for minor infractions, so the association was drilled into us at a young age.

In Australia, though, there was a reset of attitudes in the 1980s when Ian Kiernan started his Clean Up Australia campaign. I'm not sure how well his message has stuck since his death in 2018, as I've only been back a couple of times since then.

But I do recognise the English/UK attitudes vacapinta mentions, and even remember hearing Sedaris talk about that on Radio 4. It's baffling to me that people will put up with filthy surroundings rather than risk be seen doing something that's beneath them, and will look down on¡ªor at best be embarrassed by¡ªthose who have other ideas.

Actually, those attitudes aren't baffling to me, sadly, as they're completely in keeping with the worst aspects of the class system, but as an Aussie I don't buy into all that. Guess that makes me one of those immigrants refusing to assimilate that the protesters in Essex hate so much. Coming over here, taking our half-empty cider bottles lying on the street and putting them into recycling.
posted by rory at 2:49 AM on August 20 [5 favorites]

> Reminding me of the reverse-Sisyphus bit

Obligatory Perry Bible Fellowship comic: Sisyfitness

~~

The Guardian: David Sedaris? Who? Oh, you mean the local litter-picker (with photo of the garbage truck named after him.)

~~

Kotaku: Hayao Miyazaki Asked About Anime When Picking Up Trash

> Flash: ¡°Demon Slayer¡¯s box-office revenue is approaching Spirited Away¡¯s. [...] Have you seen Demon Slayer?¡±

> Miyazaki: ¡°I did not see it. I don¡¯t watch most other things, either. I don¡¯t watch TV, and I don¡¯t watch movies. I¡¯m just a retired geezer picking up trash.¡±

> Flash: ¡°There are fans who are disappointed that Spirited Away won¡¯t be number one anymore in the history [of anime theatrical releases in Japan].¡±

> Miyazaki: ¡°I really don¡¯t care about that. Because there¡¯s always inflation in this world. I gotta pick up trash¡­¡±

~~

> But why are they doing it without a profit motive?!?!?

Heheheh. This does make think of the "Beach, Please" episode of Bob's Burgers. The kids participate in a volunteer beach cleanup. Wonder Wharf, owned by the rich antagonist, Mr. Fischoeder, contributes a lot of the garbage that ends up on the beach. Mr. Fischoeder ignores the litter problem because volunteers always eventually clean the beach. But on this day photographers are coming to take promo shots of Wonder Wharf, and Louise strikes up a deal to ensure the background beach of the photos are clean. In exchange, Wonder Wharf will be closed for a full day exclusively for her and her friends to enjoy privately for free.

Tina objects, saying they should be cleaning up the beach just to clean up the beach. Louise says they're being suckers for giving free help to a rich guy who never pays to clean up his own trash. Mr. Fischoeder agrees to the deal because then he won't have to pay his workers to clean the beach, and he plans on secretly throwing the collected garbage back on the beach after the photo shoot so he won't have to hold up his end of the deal. He doesn't care about the beach, he just wants free labor and good publicity photos.

I keep wondering about Tina and Louise, and the role of charity versus systemic change. Are we helping or are we enabling? Are we being nice or are we being exploited? Pretty deep stuff for a cartoon, but that's why Bob's Burgers is such a great show.

It's a cop out to simply say "we can do both" because, sure, but one should probably take priority. On the one hand, you should do charitable things. On the other hand, f**k you, pay me.

~~

> Do people really just ¡­ throw things on the ground?

Yep. They let it fall from their hand. Or do a little side tossing motion. Or they set the cup on the bench and walk away. Or they open their car door, sweep things out, and then close the door and drive away. Or they, hilariously, stuff it into a non-trash bin place like some kind of garbage squirrel: the open tops of hollow Jersey barriers or inside newspaper stands. Honestly, that's worse than tossing it on the ground because it takes more effort to fish it out.

Sometimes trash falls out of overflowing bins when the city doesn't pick it up soon enough. People will play trash Jenga and keep stuffing it into the overflowing bin.

This hobby gives me a lot of time to think about human behavior, which leads me to think about my own behavior, which leads me to think if I overthink things.

I've concluded I don't overthink; other people don't think enough.
posted by AlSweigart at 8:31 AM on August 20 [8 favorites]

My partner and I do this! I've done a lot of volunteer work, but I've received more thanks and appreciation for this than almost anything else I've ever done.

I even have a bit of a heart-warming story! We were doing this a month or so ago and I found a book in an Amazon box--clearly discarded by a porch pirate who had no need for a French cookbook. It was addressed to someone who lived about a half mile from us; I Googled his name and got an email address, so when I got home I wrote him a quick note saying that I had his book if he wanted it. I put it in our vestibule, but it sat there a little over a week before a new neighbor in our building mentioned that he thought it was for a real estate agent who was showing a unit in our building and emailed him about it. I had to explain what happened (glossing over the fact that I was picking up trash when I found it!), and another neighbor chimed in about what a great group of neighbors we were to care about this. Meanwhile, I emailed the book owner and insisted that I could drop it off at his place if he gave me his address (which I had neglected to note--we'd already discarded the cardboard). He obliged and I took a walk and left the book at his door, messaging him after I dropped it off (he has small kids, so I didn't want to ring his bell and disrupt things). I got a quick thank you note and thought that was the end of it.

Later in the evening I got another note from him saying he had searched my name and saw (probably from my Instagram) that I'm a cat lover, so he'd donated $100 in my name to the local cat shelter in return for my kindness. I was just trying to restore a little balance to the world--it sucks to have something stolen from you--so it was especially nice to know that I'd accomplished what I set out to do.
posted by carrienation at 10:37 AM on August 20 [8 favorites]

vacapinta: "We used to do this regularly when we lived in England in the countryside. The thing is it is very not much a done thing there"

Really? We've been doing it for years in our patch of west London. The council gives us special bags we can leave next to the litter bins and they come and collect them. We're certainly not the only ones either - although I am also an immigrant, many of the others I chat with regularly are born and bred. Including the fella who has rigged up a dinghy with a wee hand-cranked crane to fish lime bikes out of the canal!
posted by goo at 12:26 PM on August 20 [5 favorites]

Do people really just ¡­ throw things on the ground?

Yes.

Why?

Because they are lazy, lazy shits.

(this comment brought to you by three years of working in fast food and movie theaters for high school summer jobs.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:57 PM on August 20 [2 favorites]

(Cartoon reframing Sisyphus using a cute dog.)
posted by brainwane at 1:29 PM on August 20 [3 favorites]

AlSweigart, that first comment of yours was fantastic, and so I have flagged it as fantastic. (The others were really great, too.)

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences, your tips, your PHOTOS!, and your thought streams. They are wonderful.

And thank you, brainwane, for this terrific thread!
posted by kristi at 2:44 PM on August 20 [3 favorites]

Really? We've been doing it for years in our patch of west London

I lived in London too and I am pretty sure London and the English countryside are two different countries altogether. Actually there are multiple countries from metropolitan London to twee Cotswold villages full of horsey people to the impoverished Northern towns. In any case, the area I was in in Gloucestershire (not far from Princess Anne's estate) was full of stuffy people and I have many, many more stories about class snobbery. Also it probably didn't help that I'm a brown-skinned person.
posted by vacapinta at 12:07 AM on August 21 [3 favorites]

For someone shopping in hardware stores in the US, any recommendations for a good robust grabber tool?
posted by brainwane at 1:17 PM on August 25 [1 favorite]

Banksy placed a mural of a judge beating a protester on the London court, in reference to the UK anti-protest laws targeted at climate protestors.
posted by jeffburdges at 3:47 AM on September 9

This seems a very random choice of thread to have posted that in, jeffburdges. Could it be built into a new one instead?
posted by rory at 7:42 AM on September 9 [2 favorites]