WOW. This city is so dirty. I've been on some long walks with my dog and son throughout this dump lately, and I'm disgusted. So, I contacted the only town I could find in this state with a green-up program (Framingham), and the only response I got from the contact person was, "let's meet!"...This was very disappointing because I don't drive in the summer; I bike around on my 21 speed crossover Trek, and rent a car if I REALLY need one. Getting to Framingham is SO not an option.
The next time I go on a walk, I'll take photos. It's worse than Italy (we visited there this past summer and were appalled at the garbage everywhere!), there are literally entire patches of "grass" that look as though they've been converted to landfills. I've contacted some folks about a "green-up day" here in this messy place...but to be honest? I don't know if I'd be able to recruit ANYONE to pick up even their own yard.
The reason for this, is that the city's garbage collectors are lazy. They work under strict guidelines where they can only take "registered" garbage bins, a limited amount of "extras" beyond the registered bins (such as mattresses and old furniture), and Attleboroians need a sticker slapped on any TV they wish to get rid of, which they are only allowed one or two [stickers for such electronic devices] per year.
Because of their accrued laziness, random garbage that doesn't make it into the truck on pickup day gets blown around and scattered across the yards of the citizens. Once that process begins, we have the henchmen "lazies" who follow suit and just dump their crap on on the side of the road, which of course gets caught up in neighborhood yards, trees, bushes, etc. with the rest of the stray trash.
So, everyone has a garbage-filled lawn, whether or not they follow through with a clean-up every day, and most people feel a feeling of redundant work when it comes to picking up garbage: "It's just going to be filled with trash tomorrow, so why bother?"
Sadly, I admit my own ignorance, purposely, to all the garbage. I occasionally pick up stray wrappings and junk food plastics that have made their way into our yard, and the only dedicated "trash" I pluck from the lawn is my own pooch's poop!
I promise to post some pics of this monstrosity of a trashland within the week, so stay tuned...
In the meantime, what is YOUR hometown like? Does it have a "green up" day, like many of the towns in VERMONT do? Are you even familiar with "Green-up" Day?
-Rachel numbers here.
ReplyDeleteMy neighborhood (the one we are moving out of) looks exactly like what you are describing. Its full of college kids mostly from out of state and they do not understand garbage should be put in bins and recycling should also be in appropriate vessels, every week someone is leaving garbage bags out for their recycling and havent yet (come on people you all have lived here at least since last september) figured out yet that the recyclers don't take plastic bags. the bottle pickers then tear open said bag and there is trash all over the street, multiply this by every house on my block.
Yes we do have greenup day, it is often centered in my neighborhood. Also ReStore (formerly recycle north here in Burlington) is required by law to take broken electronics for recycling for free you just have to bring them down there. Its part of their operating grant. I still see tvs all over the side of the street though, and I had to make some kids in my building appropriately dispose of one they had dumped behind our building.
Good for you for making them dispose of it in the right way. VT has always been really clean outside of Chittenden county, but once you cross the lines, the out of staters have trashed it. What baffles me is that this is why they all LOVE Vermont; because it's SO clean and green and beautiful.
DeleteThey they come and mess it up. Its so painful to watch. Moving down here is just being in a whole different world. A world of rubbish. :(