When did it become ok to use public spaces as dumping grounds? When did it become acceptable to create piles of rubbish on pathways to parks or allotment plots? Or on roads that no-one really uses? In a world where green spaces are constantly being minimised and condensed to create more room for concrete and brick, why are people treating them so terribly?
When I was little, my mum would give me a very harsh telling off if I dared to drop so much as a sweet wrapper on the floor. Even if by accident, we would stop while I bent down and picked it up off the pavement, placing it into a nearby bin, or into my pocket if there wasn’t one. It’s something I now do with my own children. My children wouldn’t dream of dropping an ice cream wrapper onto the ground outside, not for fear of a telling off by me, but because it’s absolutely built into their moral compass not to.
Walk through any green space in London, and you will inevitable and sadly be confronted with litter. It hangs unnaturally in trees and bushes, accumulates in clusters against flower beds or walls and clogs up drains so that when it rains, brown sludgy water runs down our roads.
Litter not only makes our green spaces look awful and sad, it’s also dangerous for wildlife. The paint cans discarded in the top picture could easily contain toxins that if ingested by an animal, could prove fatal. It’s also not fair for whoever has to come along and pick it all up.
When I took on my allotment plot it was an overgrown blackberry jungle. After chopping it back, I started to find mounds and mounds of rubbish. Glass panes, a mattress, cans of paint, used nappies. All of it, just sitting under the blackberry bushes, polluting the ground. Some of it was too big for me to remove myself. I had some help from plot neighbours with vans, whom I was very grateful for. Bigger items I had to drag to the communal pathway and contact the council to collect (who still haven’t after nearly three years!) All in all, it was a very hard and sometimes quite depressing job.
I did it though. Why? Because it’s not my rubbish, but it is my planet. It felt good to get rid of it, to bring the ground beneath back to life again. My plot is now a happy, nature friendly place. Wildlife thrives in the flower and vegetable beds and it fills me with a massive sense of pride to know I was the one to reignite their home for them.
I don’t think we will ever be able to change the way everyone see’s and thinks about rubbish. I can’t really get my head around what would make someone dump copious amounts of crap on the ground. What would make them think a woodland or a grassy patch would make a great rubbish collection spot? Or why they would be unable to call for a free council collection, or take it to the dump themselves?
Not everything in the world makes sense. Not everything is fair and not everyone views nature and wildlife in the same way. All we can do, is our bit. We can take care of the space surrounding our houses, we can pick our own litter up and put it in the bin and we can teach our children to do the same.
Does your allotment plot have a problem with rubbish? Feel free to rant away in the comments!
*Read more about my experiences on the allotment plot here!
