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Balderdasha's 2021 litter picking thread

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    #51
    But...

    "If the original aim of the DRS scheme was to increase the use of more environmentally-friendly drinks containers, however, its results are disappointing. Since the introduction of the scheme, the overall percentage of reusable bottles has actually sunk from about 80% to below 50%.

    People working in the drinks industry say the introduction of the DRS scheme has actually forced German discount giants such as Aldi and Lidl to switch exclusively to non-reusable bottles made out of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), to streamline the return process. PET plastic bottles are also attractive for customers: they are light to carry in bulk and, unlike glass bottles, they do not have to be returned at the same retailer where they were purchased."

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      #52
      Having the bottle be on the list is very different from having purchased the bottle at that store

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        #53
        True.

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          #54
          Originally posted by imp View Post
          I get odd looks when reffing and interrupt my pre-game warm-up to pick up something off the pitch, or even at the side of it, and then run to the nearest litter bin with a judgmental look on my face. Once, it was the packaging for an eight-inch rubber dildo. I‘m living in the right country for it now, though - in Frankfurt the municipal authorities have regular clean-ups of the parks and streets no matter what the wildlife or scavengers have re-distributed during the night.
          This reminds me, as a fellow litter obsessive, that one of the most annoying incidences of litter I ever came across was on a municipal football field used by the local FA for schools football being liberally sprinkled with leaflets promoting "RESPECT".

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            #55
            FWIW, many/most US states operate a roughly similar system of deposits on soft drink and beer cans and bottles

            It is not as extensive, nor as convenient, nor as effective as the German system, though.

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              #56
              The kids were so whiney about the weather yesterday that I decided to not drag them out again today. Instead I did a quick twenty minute walk on my own, a different route to the usual walk to the park, which encompasses a residential street and a path in-between a fence and a hedge which is usually a reliable source of rubbish. I think homeless people use it as a shelter. Easily filled two large bags today. Notable finds: three cans of Frosty Jack Cider, a patterned reusable face mask, a blue woolly hat with an orange bobble (both so sodden that I doubt the owners would want them back), lots of rubber bands on the residential street (the postmen leave them. A few years ago there was a craze among London kids to collect them all and put them on scooters. My nephew had several hundred), a full bag of mouldy bread, a broken plastic chair that was too big for me to move, half a china plate. No coins today.

              Total litter picking expeditions to date: 9
              Total bags of rubbish collected to date: 12
              Money found to date: GBP 1.02
              Last edited by Balderdasha; 14-01-2021, 14:40.

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                #57
                Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                Thinking about the weighing of rubbish, could you weigh, say 20 bags at random, then use the average to calculate a weight for the total bags collected over a year? So if the lightest in your sample was 1kg and the heaviest was 3 kg and you collected 50 bags of rubbish, you could say you've collected between 50kg and 150kg of rubbish, or an estimated 100kg.

                Another way of measuring would be by volume. A bag full of plastic wrappers is probably the same weight as one glass bottle but takes up a lot more volume. You'd need to calculate the volume of the bag you use.
                I was thinking about this, and I don't think weighing it would work. This time of year, for example, all the rubbish is soaking wet and far heavier than it would be on a sunny summer day. Also, several of the drinks cans and bottles are often half full of liquid and I don't empty them out.

                Volume might work. I use any carrier bags that come from online shopping. Anyone know the average volume of an Ocado carrier bag for example?

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                  #58
                  Originally posted by Balderdasha View Post
                  Also, several of the drinks cans and bottles are often half full of liquid and I don't empty them out.
                  Oh no, that's something I learned quite quickly. Tip the contents out before bagging. (Although in my experience it attracts swans if you do this on a river bank)

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                    #59
                    If it has no holes you could pour water in (using whatever you have that you know the volume of) until it's full and get the volume that way. I'd recommend doing this over the bathtub if you try it.

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                      #60
                      That assumes that it's non-porous, which I now recognize may not be the case, though if it isn't not pouring out contents seems a bit risky.

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                        #61
                        Took the kids to the park for an hour. Everywhere is waterlogged. Played football in the mud. Half of the grass has become a new pond for the ducks. The sandpit is flooded. Fortunately the kids are so deprived of stimulus that they think this was a very exciting expedition. We also reposted a few letters that came to us by mistake (some for the landlord, some for different houses on our street). I picked another bag of litter. It doesn't really matter how frequently I go litter picking, there's virtually always enough for at least one bag. Notable finds today: a metal fork, an almost full bag of Doritos, some colourful bottle lids that the kids helped me dig out of the mud with sticks.

                        Total litter picking expeditions to date: 10
                        Total bags of rubbish collected to date: 13
                        Money found to date: GBP 1.02

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                          #62
                          What flavour Doritos?

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                            #63
                            I did some litter picking today too, on the grassed area out front, (I suppose that I technically live in a close). It's mainly stuff that gets blown out of the neighbours' paper & card recycling crates or was dropped by the refuse collectors and not picked up, both of which are a real bugbear of mine.

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                              #64
                              Originally posted by pebblethefish View Post
                              What flavour Doritos?
                              Blue flavour. Cool possibly?

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                                #65
                                Real ones.

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                                  #66
                                  I wouldn't know where to begin with litter collecting or rubbish clearance in general where I live. This morning in the parallel street to ours:

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                                    #67

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                                      #68
                                      And I've no idea as to what this is:

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                                        #69
                                        Another view:

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                                          #70
                                          Looks like a washing machine drum.

                                          I wonder at what point does "littering" become "fly tipping"?

                                          I mean a washing machine is clearly fly tipping but how about an iron? Can an electrical appliance ever just be "litter"?

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                                            #71
                                            Picked a quick bag of litter on the way to the shop last night. No particularly notable finds but still filled a bag.

                                            Total litter picking expeditions to date: 11
                                            Total bags of rubbish collected to date: 14
                                            Money found to date: GBP 1.02

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                                              #72
                                              Walked a route near the railway bridge. Filled two bags almost entirely from cans and bottles in the undergrowth near the bridge. I think people must sit on the bridge and just throw their empties off the top.

                                              Total litter picking expeditions to date: 12
                                              Total bags of rubbish collected to date: 16
                                              Money found to date: GBP 1.02

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                                                #73
                                                You may have answered this before, but is there no deposit scheme in operation in England at the moment?

                                                Are there public recycling facilities that are easily accessible?

                                                What so you do with the bags? can you put them out with your household rubbish?

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                                                  #74
                                                  Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                                                  You may have answered this before, but is there no deposit scheme in operation in England at the moment?

                                                  Are there public recycling facilities that are easily accessible?

                                                  What so you do with the bags? can you put them out with your household rubbish?
                                                  No deposit scheme that I'm aware of. No public recycling facility that I'm aware of within walking distance. I tie the bags up and put them in the nearest public bin (of which there are many). It almost certainly goes to landfill or incineration which is not much improvement, but slightly better than being strewn randomly around the streets and countryside.

                                                  If I had space in my household recycling bin, I could potentially bring two bags out with me and do one for recyclables and one for general waste, but I don't often have space as I have a family and it's only collected every two weeks.

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                                                    #75
                                                    Germans moving to the UK must be bewildered

                                                    Even the US is much better than that on average (though it depends on state land local law)

                                                    This label gives one a sense of the schemes in operation



                                                    Last edited by ursus arctos; 17-01-2021, 18:31.

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