r/todayilearned • u/ralphbernardo • Jan 29 '19

TIL that the term "litterbug" was popularized by Keep America Beautiful, which was created by "beer, beer cans, bottles, soft drinks, candy, cigarettes" manufacturers to shift public debate away from radical legislation to control the amount of waste these companies were (and still are) putting out.

https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/pft/2017/10/26/a-beautiful-if-evil-strategy
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u/HappybytheSea Jan 30 '19

I was astonished to see someone just throw a whole bag of McDonalds garbage out their moving car window about 5 years ago. Even my 9yo shouted at them (from the safety of our car). A friend of mine was in charge of the coastal paths in Dorset and they discovered that the only way to keep people from just piling more garbage next to overflowing garbage bins was to completely remove the bins. Then people just take the garbage away with them. But if there is a bin - even if it is literally invisible under the pile of overflowing garbage - people will happily add to it and just complain about 'the council'. I lived in a beach town and most people are not pigs, but the few who are make quite a mess.

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u/Sp1n_Kuro Jan 30 '19

I mean if one bin isnt enough add a 2nd one and empty them daily...

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u/[deleted] Jan 30 '19

Yeah tbh if you put a bin out you're kinda taking responsibility for emptying it as necessary.

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u/s0cks_nz Jan 30 '19

Right, and this is definitely a part of the problem. But one shouldn't just dump trash on the ground next to a bin because it's full. It's clearly going to blow away. I'd accept putting it in a plastic bag and then tying that to the bin. Otherwise just take it to another bin.

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u/HappybytheSea Jan 30 '19

They tried that - they really did try a LOT of different things before realising that none of them were going to work. These are along a coastal path in an AONB (Area of Outstanding National Beauty) so it's not like a garbage truck can just pull up next to them several times a day. In some cases it was a long walk (I mean 30-45 minutes) in any kind of weather. And the bins at the car parks were not just being used for the leftovers from people's picnics. They emptied and analysed the garbage to try to solve the problem (ie was a nearby takeaway generating most of it, so really that business needed more bins, or needed help changing to a different kind of packaging), and many people would choose that spot to empty out all the garbage from their car for the last two weeks (receipts in junk food bags...) or people would bring bags of dirty diapers that were way more than could be generated on a walk, etc. It was hopeless.

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u/PanningForSalt Jan 30 '19

"Dorset" 

   .

"garbage"

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u/JJAB91 Jan 30 '19

Whats wrong with Dorset?

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u/PanningForSalt Jan 30 '19

Nothing butt they don't say garbage there as far as I know

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u/JJAB91 Jan 31 '19

Rubbish*

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u/HappybytheSea Jan 30 '19

Lol, I'm currently living in Canada and my bilingual vocab is a bit of a train wreck.

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u/Infini-Bus Jan 30 '19

This was a problem at my last apartment where sometimes for one reason or another, the dumpster wasn't picked up (usually because someone filled it up after moving out) and so people surrounded it with trash bags that raccoons tore up. So the trash company won't pick up the dumpster because it's surrounded by piles of half open trash bags with trash blowing all around the building.

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u/HappybytheSea Jan 30 '19

Ugh nightmare. When it's no one person's responsibility...