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Balderdasha's 2021 litter picking thread

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    Quick trip to the park today. Found a bag of rubbish that someone seemed to have collected and tied up, but then it was just sitting by the side of the road. My young carers' charity is doing a fundraising round where all the volunteers are doing "100 something" in the run up to young carers' action day on 16th March. 100 squats every day, 100 cello pieces played, etc. We've said we'll collect 100 pieces of rubbish. So I counted today and we found 31 pieces (with the large bag of pre-collected rubbish counting as one piece). If anyone would like to make a donation to the charity, please PM me and I'll send the justgiving link.

    Total litter picking expeditions to date: 32
    Total bags of rubbish collected to date: 47
    Money found to date: GBP 1.03.

    Comment


      Went litter picking with my mum at lunchtime. Often people say thank you when they see me litter picking. Sometimes though, like today, people see me litter picking and decide to launch into a tirade about how terrible humanity is and everyone is awful for chucking fast food litter out of their car windows and I shouldn't have to litter pick. I tend to nod benignly and move away as fast as possible. On Sunday, a man tried to recruit me for the communal litter pick that takes place in the local park. Again, I smiled benignly, but will not be joining the group as a) they meet at 9am on Saturdays, what type of masochists are they? b) we're in the middle of a pandemic, nobody should really be doing anything in a group and c) what is wrong with just using my litter picker whenever I leave the house, why does it need to be "organised"?

      Anyway, me and my mum collected three large bags of litter today. Mostly cans, bottles, cups, etc from a little wooded area on the way to the nature park where people obviously gather and drink away their sorrows.

      But, the stand out find for today was a wallet complete with lots of cards. It had been buried for some time and was very muddy so I brought it home and washed it to see if I could make out the owner's name. I was considering posting on Facebook to see if anyone knew the owner, but am very glad of the fact that I googled the name first. It turns out that the owner's brother was jailed for six years for assaulting him in 2019 and the owner died (of unrelated reasons) while the brother was awaiting trial. I tried ringing the local police line to see if they'd take the wallet off my hands, but they won't. They suggest posting the individual cards back to the various institutions that issued them. Which is quite a lot of faff, but I may have to do it.

      Total litter picking expeditions to date: 33
      Total bags of rubbish collected to date: 50
      Money found to date: GBP 1.03.

      Comment


        Originally posted by Balderdasha View Post
        . On Sunday, a man tried to recruit me for the communal litter pick that takes place in the local park. Again, I smiled benignly, but will not be joining the group as a) they meet at 9am on Saturdays, what type of masochists are they? b) we're in the middle of a pandemic, nobody should really be doing anything in a group and c) what is wrong with just using my litter picker whenever I leave the house, why does it need to be "organised"?
        a) I'm up at 6 or before every day: mornings are fab. But horses for courses
        b) true up to a point but but masks etc
        c) the more the better? Gets people involved, community spirit, chance to meet people (distancing).


        Comment


          Originally posted by Balderdasha View Post
          . I tried ringing the local police line to see if they'd take the wallet off my hands, but they won't. They suggest posting the individual cards back to the various institutions that issued them. Which is quite a lot of faff, but I may have to do it.
          Or you could just cut the cards up and chuck the bits in a bin. Which is all the banks would do anyway.

          Comment


            Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post

            Or you could just cut the cards up and chuck the bits in a bin. Which is all the banks would do anyway.
            This. The cards will already have been cancelled so just cut them up and bin them.

            Comment


              Taking the kids to school this morning I noticed a big increase in probably related rubbish on the route (I don't like to make assumptions but there are now far more snack wrappers, coffee cups and cigarette butts along the path many families walk to the school). I didn't have my litter picker with me then so I went back for twenty minutes at lunchtime and collected 144 individual pieces of rubbish (I'm currently counting pieces for the young carers' sponsorship event).

              Total litter picking expeditions to date: 34
              Total bags of rubbish collected to date: 51
              Money found to date: GBP 1.03.
              Last edited by Balderdasha; 10-03-2021, 15:41.

              Comment


                Horrible weather today. But picked a bag of rubbish on the way to and from collecting the kids from school. Strangest finds were a burgundy face cloth / flannel and an empty pizza box on the school grounds.

                Total litter picking expeditions to date: 35
                Total bags of rubbish collected to date: 52
                Money found to date: GBP 1.03.

                Comment


                  My eyes are always drawn to the GBP total on these posts. hasn't gone up much/quickly, has it?

                  I once found a 20 and decided I'd put it on my week's football bets and donate the winnings. Nowt won, so I donated a 20 instead.

                  My only other 'free money' experience involved changing an extra fiver in Bergen on our ridiculously poorly thought out 'Europe on GBP 10 a day' interrail in 1982...starting in Scandinavia. The bank clerk gave us GBP 50 worth which I spotted right away and fled the scene. We had a restaurant meal (not posh, chicken/chips kinda thing, no drink) and bought some snacks for the overnight train to Oslo. And it was all gone.

                  Comment


                    Originally posted by Felicity, I guess so View Post
                    My eyes are always drawn to the GBP total on these posts. hasn't gone up much/quickly, has it?

                    I once found a 20 and decided I'd put it on my week's football bets and donate the winnings. Nowt won, so I donated a 20 instead.

                    My only other 'free money' experience involved changing an extra fiver in Bergen on our ridiculously poorly thought out 'Europe on GBP 10 a day' interrail in 1982...starting in Scandinavia. The bank clerk gave us GBP 50 worth which I spotted right away and fled the scene. We had a restaurant meal (not posh, chicken/chips kinda thing, no drink) and bought some snacks for the overnight train to Oslo. And it was all gone.

                    When I was on my way to Chelsea's league title victory parade in 2005 I lost a 20 quid note. Money was particularly tight at the time and the experience really took the edge off of the day for me. But even leaving aside the event and the financial context, just losing some money really pissed me off and I thought I'd probably need to find a 20 quid note to restore the cosmic balance.

                    Fat chance.

                    Scroll forward 10 years or so and I've just left my house and I'm walking to the bus stop on the way to work one morning, when a 20 quid note and a tenner are gently being blown down the road towards me, propelled by a celestial breath.

                    A few days later I found another tenner.

                    Scroll forward another couple of years and I give my son a 20 quid note for a haircut, which he manages to lose in the 100 yard walk from handover to hairdressers.

                    It's a roller-coaster, this banknote cosmic balance thing.

                    Comment


                      It's bin day today, in the middle of a horrendous storm (see the weather thread). There is rubbish strewn everywhere. Not really the fault of the bin men (what's the gender neutral term for that? Sanitation officers?) as I imagine every time they opened a bin today, the wind will have whipped off the top layer before they could do anything about it. I'm currently too traumatised by sideways hail in my face to consider going outside again today, but there'll certainly be a lot of rubbish to collect this week.

                      Comment


                        Haven't been litter picking for a while. Got out of the habit with not having the kids at home to take out at lunchtime and then the AZ vaccine knocked me out for a few days. But back on the horse today and collected two bags just in the local park. We also did a bit of magnet fishing which is sort of like litter picking but only metal stuff out of the river. Found some large nails, a rusted tool that looks like it's some sort of specialised spanner and a penny.

                        Total litter picking expeditions to date: 36
                        Total bags of rubbish collected to date: 54
                        Money found to date: GBP 1.04.
                        Last edited by Balderdasha; 20-04-2021, 13:56.

                        Comment


                          Magnet fishing sounds more like treasure hunting

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                            Well Balders did find a penny.

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                              I bought myself a 'litter grabber' thingy. We have a lot of trash that ends up blowing into our backyard (it's windy here, shock!) and I'm annoyed by a spot down the street where trash collects in the overgrown green space between our development and the one next to us, so it has already been useful.

                              Most items so far have been bits of plastic (many candy wrappers) and plastic bags, though the 'green space' is apparently a favorite location for somebody tossing their liquor bottles. (Fireball or similar.) Found one rubberized steering wheel cover and one shitty amazon plastic bag mailer that got stuck back in the bushes a month or so ago, so it isn't always small items.

                              Small steps.

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                                Latest "odd trash" I've spotted on my dog walks: three soft shoe inserts, all right-footed, sitting in a bush.

                                Comment


                                  Just putting this here in case it appeals to anyone to pick litter in support of the charity where I work:

                                  Plog for Red Balloon Day - 6th May 2021* - Red Balloon Learner Centres

                                  Comment


                                    Went litter picking today and yesterday with the family. Collected two large bags of rubbish yesterday. Today it was really windy, so after I'd collected half a bag of rubbish, the wind caught it and emptied it again. I recollected it all, but then called it a day and just put it in the nearest bin.

                                    Total litter picking expeditions to date: 38
                                    Total bags of rubbish collected to date: 57
                                    Money found to date: GBP 1.04.

                                    Comment


                                      Quick half an hour walk at lunchtime in the sunshine and picked one bag. Annoyingly couldn't find my adult size litter picker so used son's smaller one which is a little too short and not as precise at picking up small items. Lots of sweet wrappers, McDonald's trash and hair bobbles, and a bonus five pence piece.


                                      Total litter picking expeditions to date: 39
                                      Total bags of rubbish collected to date: 58
                                      Money found to date: GBP 1.09.

                                      Comment


                                        You're running at almost tuppence a bag of litter at the moment. Helped by that shiny pound coin early doors.

                                        Comment


                                          Found my proper litter picker in the back garden. Picked a bag of rubbish on the way to the shop to get washing up liquid and extra tea towels (most of my tea towels were inherited from my mother and are older than me and literally reaching the point of disintegration) because our dishwasher is broken. Strangest find today was an almost full tube of artists ochre yellow paint.

                                          ​​​​​​

                                          Total litter picking expeditions to date: 40
                                          Total bags of rubbish collected to date: 59
                                          Money found to date: GBP 1.09.

                                          Comment


                                            Popped out for a litter picking walk at lunchtime today. Was feeling less charitable than usual towards my fellow man. Probably because it was cold and my tights were falling down. Lots of plastic spoons and empty McFlurry packets today, and a broken pair of sunglasses. Who are these fuckers eating ice cream outside and smashing sunglasses when it's less than 10 degrees C and intermittently hailing??? Also lots of takeaway packaging with the inane caption "chicken for the people". Who else would it be for? Possibly the ducks who were waddling round keeping me company and eating the leftovers, which is a little disturbing if you think about it.

                                            I managed to get a few pieces of rubbish out of the river but there was plenty more too far in for me to retrieve. Pondered once again the possibility of buying a pair of fishing waders and dredging it properly one weekend.

                                            Towards the end I found a dirty penny and a shiny two pence piece which cheered me up, and a surly looking teenager dressed as a goth smiled at me when she saw what I was doing. Maybe humanity isn't all terrible.

                                            Total litter picking expeditions to date: 41
                                            Total bags of rubbish collected to date: 61
                                            Money found to date: GBP 1.12.

                                            Comment


                                              Originally posted by Balderdasha View Post
                                              Also lots of takeaway packaging with the inane caption "chicken for the people". Who else would it be for?
                                              The company one floor up from where I last worked had the slogan "Sprache fuer Kommunikation" (Language for communication). Ah, right, as opposed to "Language for making sure the yolks on your eggs don't break when you fry them" or whatever.
                                              Last edited by treibeis; 05-05-2021, 14:05.

                                              Comment



                                                Feeling very groggy and slow today. Could be change in medication. Might just be the end of a busy week. Went out litter picking to try and wake myself up a bit. Picked two big bags full. Finds today include a red plastic dart, some big broken panes of black glass, and a meerkat garden statue who I'll try to post a photo of. I brought him home, cleaned him up and have set him to guard our veg plot in the front garden which a neighbour's cat keeps showing too much interest in. Also found a five pence piece. A woman thanked me and asked where I could buy a litter picker as she might try it with her sons.

                                                Total litter picking expeditions to date: 42
                                                Total bags of rubbish collected to date: 63
                                                Money found to date: GBP 1.17.

                                                Comment


                                                  Here's my new meerkat friend.

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                                                    Finding money is all well and good but finding free quality garden statuary is absolutely tip top.

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