Three separate places I went to at 8 in the morning. Gas station, dunkin’ donuts, and then a convenience store. All of them, trash is full. People wonder why they litter in the USA, there’s nowhere to throw away trash when you’re out. It’s unbelievable People can just go to work and choose not to do their job anymore. That people see this and they don’t have any problem with it, no interest at all to keep things neat and tidy and clean. Nope.
To be fair, I work at a job where I need to empty trash cans and I can honestly say I don’t get paid enough to haul y’alls shit off to the dumpster. Y’all put dumb shit in there that you shouldn’t be putting in there. It’s at the point where I take my trash home with me.
Perhaps one should ask why there is so much trash to be thrown away in the first place.
Bins wouldn’t always be full if there was simply less trash to put in them.
I worked for a park for a summer and it was an eye opener I’ll tell you that much. They had someone (me!) basically just emptying trash cans all damn day and it wasn’t enough! They filled up constantly.
Your point is valid (as I read it “if you have less trash there will be less trash”) but the path you used to get there is illogical (as I read it “if I have less trash, but people empty the trash at the same rate, this would not be a problem”).
OPs complaint is not that trash produced exceeds our capacity to remove it, it’s that people are not removing it. This remains true regardless of quantity.
The to-go and eating while mobile are a big chunk of litter.
A Dunks went in about a mile from a place I used to live, and where we lived was sort of a shortcut to one of the main roads from where the Dunks went in.
Our road began to be littered with Dunkin’ plastic cups, coffee cups and to-go bags. People would finish items and toss the trash out the window.
So taking things to-go and just throwing the trash down wherever is a big contributor.
I really wish that I could eat at a place like a dunkin donuts and cut the shit, basically.
I’ll order one (1) sandwich. I have a reusable cup of coffee already.
All I need is the sandwich, I do not need a paper bag, I do not need a full sheaf of napkins. I will begrudgingly accept the little sheet of wax paper that protects the sandwich.
Just ask for that, they will oblige. Source: plenty of places I do this. While normally I find this bullshit cloying, in this case you have the power to be the change you want to see.
Yup, same logic with traffic / transportation. So much money wasted on roads instead of regulations that stimulate mixed use neighborhoods, which would reduce the need for moving around and solve the issue at the root.
Have you ever lived in an urban area? If so, did you stay within the approx 1 mile radius that is a comfortable walk for most people, a significant % of the time? No stores you liked that were a neighborhood over but not in your town? No friends across the bridge? My experience has been that I can get about 25% of what I want done within walking distance, for everything else I need transit or a vehicle, and I live in a relatively walkable mixed use urban area.
Bro I remember in Japan there were almost no trash cans anywhere. We fuckin lucky here
All you need is a can return policy and some homeless.
“I litter because the trash can was full”
And you’re trying to think about perceived societal problems. How about introspection?
Keep it in your pocket. Not really hard tbh.
Of course other humans are trashy :/You keep your not quite empty styrofoam coffee cup in you pocket? Don’t you get sticky and start to smell like overripe coffee beans?
Keep that in your hand or bring a small bag to keep it inside.
I wouldnt use a styrofoam cup anyway. Usually my thermos or drinking bottle
It’s a societal problem.
https://livejapan.com/en/in-tokyo/in-pref-tokyo/in-shibuya/article-a0002380/
People should take their trash home. It’s great for awareness.
When the convenience store only has one employee, even often during peak times, that has to run the register, stock shelves, clean, and take out the trash, in that priority order, is it any wonder that the lower priority tasks just don’t get done at all?
There’s a litter bin near my house in a rural area that the council has obviously forgotten about. It’s been full for weeks!
You should see the amount of litter scattered around
Oh wait, it’s absolutely none, because we’re not fucking selfish savages
No fucking excuses for littering, ever. That’s a societal problem, not a bin problem
Eh, It’s a bit of both. No amount of societal pressure will solve a complete absence of waste disposal infrastructure. It’s a matter of making sure the sense of shame and/or duty is greater than whatever distance there inevitably is to a working bin.
A bit of one and mostly the other. The other being “you don’t drop shit on the ground expecting someone to clean up after you”
You know, civilisation. Society. Decency
Really boils my piss
Careful, if you’re mad that people are shit you’ll be mad forever.
People aren’t shit though.
There’s a tiny 4% of the planet that thinks everyone’s shit because they are
People generally are fucking amazing
This likely isn’t a matter of people “not doing their job”. Did you communicate that there was a problem with those trash cans being full? Likely, no one else did, either. Since everyone seems to expect everyone else to complain?
A similar thought process, even though I agree with your original sentiment that we need to have trash cans available: If you would have “done your job” and communicated, there may have been 4 more trash cans available.
Partially agree, people are weirdly reluctant to ask for things to be fixed. I mean who among us has not just decided to skip out on telling the random employee that the bathroom is about out of soap? But how would they know?
The answer of course is that businesses which generate tons of onsite waste and provide trash bins have people whose job it is to keep an eye on cleanliness which includes soap, trash, etc. on a regular basis. Much the same way when you go to a grocery store you’re never out of carts. The difference is people use carts to buy, while garbage is different, so companies optimize for what makes them money at the cost of public good.
In Japan it’s almost impossible to find a trash can on the streets and yet people don’t litter. The problem is the culture centered around consumerism and waste.
Plenty of consumerism and waste in Japan. For trash, it’s socially acceptable to ask a store to use their trash can.
This. Throwing your trash on the ground because you can’t find a trash can amounts to childish entitlement in my eyes.
No trash cans in the forest, is OP saying they just litter all through nature when they go camping?
Funnily enough that’s where I find most of the litter in Japan, like, if you go to any non-main road that goes through a bit of forest, you will see signs threatening fines for littering, with a bunch of trash tossed in that exact area.
I have seen cans, bottles, ACs, TVs, baby car seats, bags, and general household trash. Also found a golf club once that I actually brought home because I thought that it was neat. And this is only along a single stretch of road that is only like 1km long.
So Japan isn’t some miracle society that doesn’t litter, it’s just that they do it someplace that is somewhat out of sight.
A lot of people do…
I once dropped a water bottle out of my backpack, and couldn’t find it when I retraced my hike, but I did start noticing tons of trash everywhere.
So I started keeping a trash bag in my backpack, and filling a small bag every time I hike.
I may not have found my bottle, but I’ll make sure I clean up more than I left every time I’m out.
Yeah, I fill up a trash bag every time I go hiking
Keep up the good fight! I’ve got several miles of trail cleaned behind my hood, one more major path to go!
Maybe you do this, if not, take a plastic retail bag, fold it over twice, while pressing the air out, roll it up tight and rubber band it. I always have 2-4 highly compact bags.
they just litter all through nature when they go camping
Many americans do just that, yes. :'(
It’s somewhat comforting to know that no matter how far out in the wild you go you eventually find signs of humanity.
The fact those signs are pieces of trash that someone either left or blew in on the wind is depressing.
With respect to Japan, there’s definitely a culture difference, but I don’t think it’s the consumerism/waste culture. There’s so much excess packaging in Japanese food products.
Yeah, East Asia doesn’t even try to minimise packaging. Environmentalism just isn’t the same there or something.
I might be wrong, but I assume that the food packaging is a necessity because of the extreme humidity, otherwise it will spoil very fast.
Packaging is fine, but it’s multiple layers sometimes. I feel it’s more for presentation than function.
Yeah, but do they wolf down a half pound of meat plus fried potatoes and a half gallon of sugar water four times a day in Japan?
You mean at the kfc, in Japan?
Yes, the KFC with fries in Japan. That’s totally what I meant.
Possibly, where are you going with this?
Smaller portions creates exponentially less waste. It also isn’t frequently greasy western fast food waste that is inconvenient to carry around for any period of time.
Like I wouldn’t mind carrying around a paper wrapper from a nice sandwich place, but fast food waste is greasy and likely to leak.
Dude, larger portions have less packaging, just because of the square-cube law. I’m actually having trouble thinking of a counterexample, even.
Larger portions need less wrapping per lb, but more overall packaging than a smaller item. You know, like how more filling requires a bigger tortilla.
You are also missing the point about the multiple, larger, individually packaged parts. Like how one container from a sit down restaurant is less overall trash than a bag of multiple wrappers, ketchup packets, and a cup from fast food.
Also, the grease.
No. They have rice.
Half a gallon of rice water?! :P
They would use liters, but yes. The Japanese aren’t going to just chuck out their rice water.
What about the baby?
Gone. Don’t you know the phrase don’t throw the rice water away with the baby?
I mean, that’s just one guy, but this whole idea that Asians never overeat is borderline racist. They’re not all skinny monks in saffron robes.
In fairness, I remember a time when everyone smoked in Japan and flicked cigarette butts all over the place.
This post gives me “people don’t want to work anymore” vibes.
Another way to look at it is, people don’t want to pay people to work anymore. Either the pay is such shit that the employees have no incentive to give a crap, or the employer doesn’t hire enough people to get the work done.
You don’t even know how fast these damn bins fill up. I’m a janitor at McDonald’s, and move between 5 locations (same franchise owner). The two that are in a highway rest stop kind of area that get the most customers have several cans around the parking lot. I empty them before the restaurant even opens, and all or most of them are already full by my first break. There’s only ever 1 janitor on shift at a time and we can’t be everywhere all the time. Something I have had to explain to the owner who constantly gets on my ass about the cans in the parking lot being full. “Do you want me to just spend all day making sure the garbage cans are empty or shall I do the other tasks I have as well?”
The bins themselves look pretty large with the huge stone enclosure they’re in; but the actual can inside is not even as big as a standard home kitchen bin, and the amount of trash generated by a single to-go meal from the restaurant is pretty nuts. And this is just from a fast food place. The bins placed by the city or municipality probably have even less of a chance to be serviced when the employees who do that are also in charge of cleaning the park bathrooms, mowing the grass, trimming trees and shrubs, fixing road signs, etc.
Not all heroes wear capes.
I do kinda wish my uniform had a cape tho. It would add just a little bit of fun to the job.
Personally, if I see a full trash can I will keep my trash with me until I can find a place to dispose of it. I can’t imagine just throwing it on the ground regardless of the can situation.
I would pull the top of all of these (without breaking it) and make all the trash fit, or, if absolutely required, carry it as you say
I’ve had plenty of times where I get home and empty my pockets of the trash I accumulated with no can nearby.
And if I try to put something in a can and it falls out, I’m taking it with me because I didn’t succeed in throwing it away.
Shrugging ans saying “well I tried” as you walk away isn’t even trying.
Japanese people do that as trash bins are very rare. It is an education issue and not the lack/full of trash binsy
You’re a rare breed
Get what you pay for. The minimum wage is still 7.25 federally. I can’t believe employers just choose not to pay livable wages.
Lose me with this “nobody wants to work anymore” bullshit. Nobody wants to pay anymore.
It’s another true half statement the middle management refuses to complete. “Nobody wants to work anymore for the wages offered for these types of jobs”. Same old story as middle management accepting “the customer is always right” (and entitling shitty customers) without finishing it with “in terms of market trends”
Don’t worry, you’ll soon get massive tax cuts for companies and their executives, while basic goods get 25%-35% pricier for the worker class due to the tariffs since the orange potato has to fun those tax cuts somehow.
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Or, hear me out… carry it until you find one with room? If finding full trash cans “forces” you to litter, that says more about you being an entitled piece of shit than it does about anything else.
“I couldn’t find a single vacant public toilet, so I did what any sensible person would do and took a shit in the middle of the sidewalk.” —OP, analogously
Literally what happens in a lot of places. Even Europe has a noticeable pee smell sometimes.
You’re asking people to take on extra work. Some might. Others won’t or even can’t if they’re really in a tight spot.
Especially in the US where people drive everywhere more often than not. Keep a small trash bag in your car, empty it when you get home.
The trouble with that approach is that my garbage cans fill up at home, and I’m too lazy to take them out to the dumpster.
OP didn’t say he littered. But of course we always assume the worst around here.
Yeah! Fuck you OP!
Well, they’re blaming “lazy workers” instead of the litterers, so yeah, I’m inclined to believe the worst about them, too.
