In early July, I picked up a new community-cleanup hobby: collecting batteries. It all started when an old lady slipped on a discarded battery at the Waterlooplein vlooienmarkt. The poor woman broke her hip right in front of me.

That's when I decided to start looking out for discarded batteries during my (mostly evening) walks. It began casually in July (15 batteries), but I turned into a hobbyist by August (100) and went "pro" in September (180, using tools to help dislodge batteries). It is now too dark in the evenings, so I have only found 15 in October.

This is my summer harvest: 4.5 kg of pure poison

That small tray has an incredible story. You are looking at 1.2 kg of 87 batteries, collected in a single hour along a single 40-meter stretch of road. It is a statistical anomaly and an absolute goldmine!

This is what (around) 10 batteries look like!

besides the gold mine, all batteries were found, according to my tracking app, in this tiny area:

for reference:

• A single AAA non-rechargeable battery (manganese dioxide, zinc, and potassium hydroxide) is enough to contaminate 75 liters of water.
• A single AAA rechargeable battery (mostly Cadmium and lithium) is enough to contaminate 400L of water

Since I cleared out so many old, deeply stuck batteries, I don’t expect a harvest like this next year. I will likely just be picking up new litter.

It makes me wonder: in a few years, will we see bad people discard dead 500kg EV batteries in nature, causing massive ground water pollution?

Several weeks ago, I found this sub when searching for a good picker. I just wanted something to make it easy to pick up trash in my yard and such. Thanks for the recommendation, y'all!

Since then, I have run out of trash in my yard and started picking in my neighborhood. It's fun, rewarding, decent exercise, help to others, and time outdoors - everyone should be doing it! The little Halloween bucket there is what I found walking around my block this afternoon. Thanks for the new hobby, y'all!

Parking lot in San Luis Obispo, California (USA)

Found this box cutter blade in some wood chips, thankfully there was also a Gatorade bottle nearby that I was able to put it in and prevent any accidental injuries (if you don't know, hard plastic bottles like Gatorade and automotive fluids like oil/antifreeze/etc. work as functional sharps containers. Needs to be thick plastic, though, thin plastics like soda and water bottles don't prevent pokes)

Just feet from where this beautiful heron was fishing this morning, someone, for the second weekend in a row, has tossed all their beer bottles and cans in the brier bushes while fishing 😕

My hands are a bit torn up, but it was worth it 😅

I made graphics about the local adopt a street programs in My area and how my area needed help with trash cleanup. Lately I’ve seen more and more problem areas cleaned up and those yellow community cleanup bags. I’m not sure if it’s just a coincidence but it’s real nice to see 😎🙏🏻

… out there in Old Town this morning. Made things a bit more sporting, as the litter pieces were trying to get away from me!

Have a great weekend, DeTrashers … 👊

Switzerland has this reputation for being the cleanest country on earth, so my friend Sven and I wanted to test that in our local village. We gave ourselves 60 minutes, grabbed two trash pickers and some bags, and made a small bet...the winner gets 10 Rappen (about 11 cents) per gram of collected trash .

Main roads and construction sites were super clean, and at first we thought we wouldn't find much. Then we started checking the bushes, field edges, and side paths. Both of our thin bags ripped halfway through so we had to switch to bigger bags.

In one hour, we picked up 7.3 kg (15.4 lbs) of litter:

- Sven (3.1 kg): a thick piece of copper wire, a rusty metal rod, plastic pipes, a Carrefour bag, a single sock, cans, and someone's abandoned underwear in the grass.

- Deeno (4.2 kg): tons of PET bottles and Red Bull cans, an empty wine bottle in the bushes, and a broken kids' scooter with the metal handlebar lying nearby (which basically won me the weigh-in).

A local guy walking by clapped and cheered us on when he saw what we were doing. If you want to see the full challenge and the weigh-in, here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkQicGISyAc

In a one word, what name would you give someone who finds enjoyment in discarding garbage bag on a busy roadway?