PURE GARBAGE

E-waste Found on the coast.

I love being in the recycling business.  There’s something about diverting hundreds of thousands of tons from the landfills each year that is rewarding.  Knowing that a good percentage of that diversion also gets put back into the reuse market gives me and my team members a sense of pride knowing we are doing the right thing.

It’s not all about work though.  I love getting out of the office and getting outdoors.  Kayaking down a river or wade fishing the Texas coast is a guilty pleasure of mine.  There are many rivers, creeks, and lakes around the Dallas/Ft Worth area that you can disappear in and enjoy nature just minutes from the city.  Although I enjoy taking in the beautiful and natural sights of these areas, I am always blown away by the sheer ugliness left behind by people frequenting these places.  Most of these public areas are used as public dumping grounds.  From surveying the garbage left behind you can determine that there are two types of people who engage in this.

Group #1 shows up with a cooler full of beer and food to spend some time fishing or just enjoying the outdoors.  As they run through the contents of their cooler they just toss all of the trash off to the side.  Possibly thinking they will pick it all up when they leave.  (I’m probably giving them way too much credit)  When they leave they are either too drunk or too lazy to pick it up and simply leave it behind.  Some of them have their kids and family with them so that they too can learn this thoughtless process of inconsideration.

Computer electronics scrap littering the coast.

Group #2 is probably the worse.  Enter the illegal dumpers.  These individuals have one thing in mind.  Dump as much garbage as they can at a place where no one will see them.  Usually the items discarded are things that would cost them money to properly dispose of.  Refrigerators, tires, couches, washing machines, the list is endless.  As long as nobody sees you do it it’s ok right?  What a mentality.  Once one person does it, it starts piling up by others with the same morally weak values.  I suppose like a thief that gets a rush from stealing something and getting away with it, these people share the same feeling.

I took these pictures below from a recent kayaking trip down on the Texas coast.  You can easily see both groups of apathetic and self-centered individuals represented in the photos.  There were bags of trash and tires that were dumped as well as plastic bottles, beverage cans, and candy wrappers.  The crème of the crop was the TV’s and CRT monitor that was stacked up that I passed as I was leaving the area.  Unbelievable.

What could have been recycled ends up trashing our habitats.

From time to time we hear complaints from people who refuse to pay a small fee to have their CRT or tube TV’s recycled.  Yet these same people will pay their monthly utility bill that includes trash pickup.  They cannot comprehend spending money on the proper disposal of electronics which is a little more complex than recycling a milk jug.  They will also pay a disposal fee to recycle their old tires when they buy new ones although they may not recognize this fee on their bill.

I know these groups probably represent a small percentage of our society.  I also know that there are more morally corrupt things going on in the world than littering.  But I can’t help but wonder how a person could possibly feel good about themselves after dumping all of their garbage next to a river, coastline, or wooded area where people go to get away from it all.  At least group #2 has a very clear objective to what they are going to impose upon the environment.  Group #1 will go out and actually enjoy these outdoor getaways and then just trash the very place they enjoy coming to.  A very strange worldview indeed.  If you ask me, its pure garbage.

Brad Chism – Owner Computer Crusher Recycling

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