Sedona AZ (February 23, 2010)- Opinions and Gripes by Hollywood Jim.

Litter Anyone? Are you as tired as I am of seeing litter on the side of the road? Does it ever end?

With recycling on everyone’s mind you would think there would be less and less litter to see, but not so. How can anyone be as selfish as to throw something out a car window and leave it for someone else to pick up?

When I lived in Denver Colorado, I once went out to pick up my mail and stopped to talk to a neighbor. When I turned around, someone had tossed out a big bag of empty Happy Meal in no more than two minutes of talking to that neighbor! I cursed and picked up that mess.

When I walk my dogs, poop bag in hand, I see other filled poop bags just left at the curb. Was there even a reason that you bothered to pick up after your animal? Why do you think it’s okay for someone else to pick up after TWO animals?

According to the website greenecoservices.com cleaning up litter costs Arizona taxpayers three million dollars and one hundred fifty thousand man hours annually – just to pick up litter along valley highways! That’s a lot of cabbage -and you know the nationwide cost is through the roof!

It’s not just people tossing junk out of car windows either. Improperly covered loads on trucks, business dumpsters, construction sites, and people throwing cigarette butts on the ground all add to the mess.

Don’t even get me started about the messes that I saw truckers leave behind when I worked at a truck stop! Not too long ago, I went hiking along Beaver Creek and saw dumped construction debris and a hot water tank on the ground. Shame, shame, shame on you! Now someone else must clean up your trash – and the taxpayers eat the cost.

Once I didn’t care about recycling. Why do it? It all goes into the same place anyway was my thinking. I also thought that it should be the manufacturers job to make plastic biodegradable, but I guess we aren’t there yet.

What got me to change my mind?  I was tired of driving along beautiful stretches of highway and seeing plastic bags caught in trees. That’s when I started using the cloth tote bags that they sell in stores. I also discovered the cloth bags stopped my need for plastic – they were just easier to carry and use. It took a few times to remember they were in the trunk but now it’s habit to bring them into the store. I also have a water bottle that I fill instead of buying new. Besides, I get to make that water filter on the tap pay off!

It’s a big world out there, folks, and it’s up to each and everyone of us to keep it clean.

Thanks to local Arizonans like Gary Chamberlain, the Mayor of Folksville USA, and the residents of Sedona Shadows, Sedona Pines Resort, and the Cottonwood LDS Boy Scout Troop 7021, we have a cleaner place to live.

It’s not fair that groups of people are needed to clean up other people’s messes. Take responsibility for your own actions and do what your momma taught you….clean up after yourself.

And to the folks who do clean up after themselves? God bless you and thank you for being civilized human beings who recognize that we all live on planet Earth together.

Side note:  Can we do anything about the garbage on TV?  Don’t tell me to change the channel…there is still lots of garbage on the other stations.

Have a gripe or an opinion? Contact me, Hollywood Jim a.k.a The Gripe Guy, at hollywoodjimadvice@yahoo.com.

Hwy 89A Trash picked up by others for others!