Spring is here! And with that comes Spring Cleaning of all the buried trash. The snow has melted away, sunny blue skies are bringing migratrory song birds back to our northern forests. When we hear the little tweets of the first robins and orioles, we usually try to head outside to enjoy some much needed sunshine. But whats that? Look…..over there where that big pile of snow was from shovelling off your driveways and sidewalks. Ahh yes – a true sign of spring. Now I see it! Cigarette butts, wrappers from candybars and bags of chips, old coffee cups, and yes……the infamous bag of doggy doo that someone decided to toss in your snowbank after being courteous enough to pick up after his pet.

Why at such a beautiful time of year do we have to put of with all of this litter? Are people more inclined to toss their refuse at will when the ground is covered in snow and ice?? Maybe, but maybe its just the time of year that thing like this are overlooked because its hard to find trash and litter under the snow.

Take a walk around your local malls and shopping centres at this time of year. Around the perimiter of the parking lots you’ll find mass amounts of cigarette buts, all sorts of trash, flyers for last winters christmas sales, little electronic security devices from goods that were stolen from the stores in the mall…….and you might even find a few bucks in pocket change.

Its not hard for us to keep on top of this stuff. In the summer you’d probably think twice about tossing trash all over the place where its not hidden by snow and ice. Why not spend an hour or so this weekend cleaning up that pile of trash on your front lawn, and try to keep in mind what you toss around in the winter.

Sadly, all of that trash eventually deteriorates and winds up feeding our lakes and streams with copious amounts of deadly toxins and pollutants!

Here’s a link to a great story about trying to understand people who litter.