by Michael Smith
We, here in the UK, must be, I am nearly sure, one of the most wasteful societies in the developed world.
Seeing on an almost daily basis the “strange” things that people throw into litter bins, for instance, in public parks, can make one only wonder what kind of society we are becoming and have become. What is it with us?
Aside from picnic food more often than not still in its wrappers and often worth £50 at a time; there are knives and forks – as in steel flatware – from picnics that people simply throw as they appear to be too lazy to take them home again with them. It seems to be too much of an effort to do so. This, basically, is just for starters.
Losing things is, obviously, one thing but deliberately tossing (throwing) things that have nothing wrong with them into the trash cans, now that is another story all together.
While everyone is talking about the “credit crunch” and of escalating food prices, which certainly is the case, for some that is still all too cheap. Or so, at least, it would appear. The “credit crunch” does not seem to be biting enough, as yet, at least, for some people. Were it not for this they would not throw food and other things so carelessly into the trash the way they do.
Sure for some people the “credit crunch” and the rising food prices are biting but others, and amongst them even people who are on low incomes and even on no income at all it does not seems to be the case and they could not, it seems, care less.
When seeing that people also do not bother to inquire about lost cell phones, children's clothes left behind in parks from sports events, etc., and when there are bicycles left behind by kids and adults simply because of a punctured tire then, obviously, this economic downturn and all simply is not enough as yet to make them rethink their actions.
It also seems that people have a very strange mindset as to this and with mobile telephones and bicycles they seem to lie to the insurance companies and claim the “loss” back that way. A nice way to get new. Shame that everyone else has to pay for that in their insurance premiums and because of people like those the premiums keep going up.
With regards to cycles they are not stolen and abandoned in the main, not are the accidentally left behind. Nay! They are left simply because they have but, as mentioned, a burst tire, a slightly buckled wheel, broken brakes, or other such minor faults that could easily be repaired, and for little money too. Alas they do, however, rather abandon the bikes and claim more or likely on the insurance as stolen. As I said it is therefore no wonder that the premiums for insurances of any kind keep going up and up.
As I get my hands on most of those abandoned bicycles from a park that I am involved with caring for I must say that, to some degree, I do not mind, as it brings me free spare parts and such and also a bike or two to refurbish and rebuild but as someone concerned about the amount of waste that is being produced and about rubbish left cluttering up the countryside and going into holes in the ground called landfill this kind of behavior not only simply angers me; it also makes me sad.
I must say that I also find it very hard to understand as to what people lose, as compared to throwing away, without ever trying to find it again and inquiring about it. How someone can lose one boot – and, yes, it definitely appeared to have been lost – or a necktie beats me. The single lost glove on cold freezing winter's mornings and evenings and such is also a mystery to me. It should, I think, be rather quickly obvious in such conditions that one does not have glove #2 on hand, literally.
But, as the saying goes, “there's none as strange as folks”, and in those cases it gets proven again and again.
© M Smith (Veshengro), October 2008
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The things that people throw into litter bins
