Hey there,
So down the street from where I live, there's a bend in the road that seems strategically placed so people can throw trash out the window of the car. I have no idea why they wouldn't just want to cart it home and trash it there, but I've somewhat given up on trying to understand Two-Legs. They just do things...
So I went down back in March and decided to clean it out. It took much longer than I expected, because nobody had cleaned in at least 29 years. I know this because of the pièce de résistance, a styrofoam Big Mac container I found buried under a pile of leaves. Unfortunately I forgot to snap of photo of it, but it was largely pristine even now. McDonald's stopped making those containers in 1990. Let that sink in for a moment.
While conventional plastic cups and containers you get at a convenience store are certainly litter, they bio-degrade into smaller pieces in a scant few decades, especially if they receive alot of ultraviolet radiation aka Sunlight. This is catastrophe in the oceans, because most beasties out there eat via gulping. On land, the critters just go around it.
But styrofoam is a different matter. It lasts for centuries. If you have a choice between plastic and styrofoam, the plastic is more environmentally responsible, believe it or not. Glass is the worst of all, because it -NEVER- biodegrades... It just gets smaller and sharper. Cardboard is the still the best solution among disposables, and a reusable container tops the charts, ofcourse.
A glass milk bottle grown into the stump of a tree.
It took a little while, and I got flipped off once or twice, because I was obscuring the landing-zone for a few passing litterers, I think. Two-Legs gonna Two-Legs. But finally, I managed to get it done. :)
And... voilà!
Cleanliness to the Clean,
Silas Danois
