Garbage takes the path of least resistance

Littering = Urban Composting

As a member of our society I have an obligation to participate and help care for our community and the environment, yet I did not pick up this unsightly trash. Instead I took a camera phone photo of the trash and shared it on Flickr.

1. I didn't pick the trash up because I am recovering from a neck injury and have been advised not to carry things. (Everything goes in my pockets or a very dorky rolling bag. This particular trash would not fit in my pockets or bag.)
2. I didn't pick up the trash because there was a banana on top -- and the smell of bananas gives me the dry-heaves.
3. I didn't pick up the trash because - touching trash can be unsanitary - messy and gross-- especially food related trash. I lacked gloves, a trash bag and easy access to a hand washing facility.
4. I didn't pick up the trash because after 16+ years of picking up random trash up and down Congress Street, I sick and tired of picking up the trash of others.
5. I didn't pick up the trash because I wanted to draw attention to the fact that the recent removal of the trash cans from this portion of Congress Street, has resulted in people once again leaving their trash in inappropriate places.
6. I didn't pick up the trash because I believe in the power of many voices joining together to bring a problem into the light and eventually working together to find a solution. Sometimes, documenting a problem helps. Sometimes documenting a problem makes others notice. I don't have a strong opinion on the type of trash receptacle that should be available to pedestrians on Congress Street. Before trash cans were installed, people left their trash on the news boxes. After the trash cans were installed people put their trash in the appropriate place. Once the trash cans were removed, people returned to the old habit of placing trash on and in the news boxes.
7. I didn't pick up the trash because I failed to notice that the trash cans had been removed until the trash once again began piling up on the news boxes. I wanted to help others notice the problem. If more people notice, more will speak up - more will persuasively speak to those who are empowered to return trash cans to this block.
8. I didn't pick up the trash because I wanted to waste 30 minutes on a Thursday afternoon kvetching about trash on the internet with strangers.

This is the type of thinking (handles being too unsanitary) that leads to numbsculls leaving their trash for someone else to pick up. Waahhh!!! the handle waahhh!!! Too dirty MOMMA!!

I use them all the time. Any time I have trash and I'm near one of those I'll open it and use them, and I almost never get sick and certainly have never contracted an illness from one of these trash cans. People need to get their ideas of how germs work out of their head because they make no sense. There are not icky germs all over the handle that are gonna move through your fingers into your bloodstream and give you a heart infection that kills you. You have bacteria all over you, all the time. Your hands are already dirtier than everywhere else on your body except maybe your mouth and asshole. Wash your hands regularly and eat a healthy diet along with plenty of exercise and you will always be healthy unless you get AIDS.
Stop visualizing bacteria because it's not good for mental health and it's also just plain wrong.

Grow up. Being afraid of a garbage can handle is beyond childish and I have a hard time believing there are people who throw their trash on the ground because they're afraid of the gross handle on the solar trash cans.

a local scrapyard near you

Photo.