Items collected during August 2009

Recyclables:

• 16 plastic bottles (1 Lemon-Lime Gatorade, 1 Tropicana Strawberry Orange, 1 Sprite, 1 Paul Masson VSOP brandy, 5 Deer Park water, 1 roadkilled Nestle Pure Life water, 1 Great Value water, 1 Safeway Refreshe water, 1 Kirkland spring water, 1 roadkilled Sam's Choice water, 1 water bottle without a label, 1 bottle of unknown contents without a label)
  
• 7 aluminum cans (2 Heineken, 1 Coors Light, 1 Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, 1 Hurricane High Gravity Lager, 1 Miller Lite, 1 Schlitz Red Bull Xtra Long Malt Liquor)
  
• 5 glass bottles (1 Mistic Orange Carrot Juice Drink, 1 Sprite, 1 Heineken, 1 Budweiser, 1 Smirnoff Ice Malt Beverage)

Reusables:

• 3 plastic carrier bags
  
• 1 black pen

Trash:

• Lots! Individual items weren't logged. Included were many cigarette butts.

The "Great Value" brand is new to me. The label says it's bottled by Niagara Bottling and distributed by Wal-Mart.

Items collected during July 2009

I'm still avoiding bringing home other people's recyclables, out of concern I'll bring home H1N1 flu. Instead, I've spent quite a bit of time picking up non-recyclable trash, which seems preferable at this time because the bags of trash can be tossed straight into a trash can without having to enter my home. (Recyclables almost always need rinsing.) I didn't even attempt to keep a list of the trash I picked up during the month of July. I did note, however, that it included an unusual quantity of foam packaging, much of it broken into pieces.

When I picked up recyclable bottles and cans that didn't have visible contaminants, I sometimes threw them into a recycling bin at work without bringing them home for logging, so I can't provide a complete list of recyclables collected. However, the following list should be fairly complete.

Recyclables:

• 12 aluminum cans (1 Natural Light beer, 2 Diet Pepsi, 2 Heineken, 1 Miller Lite, 1 roadkilled Coors Light, 1 round Coors Light, 2 Miller High Life, 2 roadkilled Diet Coke)
  
• 20 plastic water bottles (7 Deer Park, 2 Aquafina, 6 Kirkland, 1 water bottle without a label, 1 VASA, 2 Poland Spring, 1 Dasani)
  
• 1 torn plastic bag

Reusables:

• 2 black pens
  
• 5 plastic carrier bags
  
• 1 small plastic bag
  
• 1 very long, very narrow plastic bag

One odd thing about the July tally is that it doesn't include any glass bottles. It's possible I picked some up and threw them in a recycling bin at work without logging them, but it's still odd that there would be such a discrepancy between the number of glass bottles and the number of aluminum cans. I can't explain it.

I have largely given up on picking up plastic bottles, because I find the environmental benefits of recycling plastic less clear than the benefits of recycling aluminum or glass. However, one day I felt compelled to pick up numerous plastic bottles. I was participating in a group walk for a cause I believe in, and was dismayed to find my fellow participants tossing their used water bottles onto the ground. I always find it disconcerting when people who are activists for one of the causes I believe in turn out not to care about one of my other causes, in this case the environment. I wanted to say something, but settled for whipping out a bag and filling it with discarded bottles. I wish I could also have collected the hundreds of bottles that were "properly" disposed of in overflowing trash cans, but I lacked the time and bag space to do anything about those. I'm already thinking ahead to the next walk, and am wondering how to raise the issue of plastic pollution with the organizers and participants. Any suggestions?

Items collected during June 2009

I'm still avoiding handling other people's trash, out of concern I'll bring home H1N1 flu. However, there have been times when I couldn't resist picking up recyclables or reusables, usually because they were within 10 feet of the river and I knew that picking them up was a now-or-never thing.

Recyclables:

• 4 glass bottles (1 Everfresh Grape Strawberry, 1 Elephant Malt Liquor, 1 Corona Extra, 1 S. Pellegrino mineral water)


• 4 aluminum cans (1 Steel Reserve lager, 1 Yuengling lager, 1 roadkilled Diet Pepsi, 1 Heineken)


• 3 plastic bottles (1 Dr Pepper, 1 Dasani water, 1 Strawberry Powerade Zero)

Reusables:

• 1 trash bag


• 1 plastic produce bag


• 1 newspaper bag


• 3 plastic carrier bags


• 1 black Sharpie marker

The trash bag and produce bag had never been used, and were still folded tightly in the way plastic bags are only when they're brand new. I've never figured out why unused bags are so commonly found in the environment. It's especially hard to understand when it comes to bags like trash bags that actually cost money to the people who lose them.

Items collected during May 2009

I'm still avoiding picking up recyclables and reusables due to the presence of swine flu in my community. However, I've made a few exceptions:

Recyclables:

• 2 plastic bottles (1 Tropicana Strawberry Melon Juice Drink, 1 Deer Park water)
• 2 glass bottles (1 Starbucks Coffee Frappuccino Coffee Drink, 1 Jim Beam Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey)
• 1 aluminum can (Bud Ice)
• 1 instruction manual for a Nokia 6205 phone

Reusables:

• 2 small plastic bags
• 1 plastic carrier bag

Trash:

• 1 polystyrene cup with a plastic lid and straw (McDonald's)

Most of the items were picked up only because of special circumstances. The Tropicana bottle rolled up and down the bus I was riding for a good 10 minutes, finally reaching the steps and rolling off the bus when the doors opened to let me off. As the only passenger disembarking at that stop, I felt responsible for it. The glass Starbucks bottle was on the road directly in front of a parked car's wheel, and would likely have been smashed when the car was next used, causing a hazard to bicycle riders on that street. The small plastic bags were picked up while I was walking the dog and knew I would likely get to use the bags within minutes. The plastic carrier bag was picked up when I made an impromptu trip to the grocery store and, realizing I didn't have enough shopping bags with me, grabbed a bag from the sidewalk near the grocery store.

The whiskey bottle, beer can, water bottle, Nokia manual, and McDonald's cup were collected after being on the ground for so long that I concluded that any flu viruses clinging to them would have expired days or even weeks ago from exposure to the heat. I've started making a note of the other recyclables I pass so I can pick up those that have been lying around for a day or longer.

I wish the Nokia manual had been picked up by whoever owns the Nokia phone. The manual lay in the street for a long time, and I left it there until rain was imminent.

Recyclables collected Monday, April 27, 2009

• 3 plastic bottles (1 Deer Park water, 1 Powerade Zero, 1 roadkilled Snapple Fruit Punch)
• 1 plastic dry cleaning bag

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The recyclables listed above are the last I will be collecting for a while. My community is one of those affected by the new flu virus, and there's a chance that some of the recyclables littering the neighborhood will be contaminated with the virus. The chance is very, very low, and if I lived alone, I would continue to pick up other people's discarded recyclables. However, I don't live alone. I live with my family in a home with a single bathroom, and the sink where I rinse recyclables is shared by everyone. I hope the flu panic will be over soon so I can return to picking up recyclables. There have been so many in the days since April 27.

Items collected Saturday, April 25, 2009

Recyclables:

• 2 aluminum cans (1 Budweiser, 1 roadkilled AriZona Green Tea)
• 2 plastic bottles (1 Deer Park water, 1 Sprite)
• 1 newspaper section

Reusable:

• 1 plastic carrier bag

Recyclable collected Friday, April 24, 2009

• 1 plastic bottle (Powerade Mountain Berry Blast)

Recyclable collected Thursday, April 23, 2009

• 1 plastic bottle (Coca-Cola Zero)

Recyclables collected Tuesday, April 21, 2009

• 2 plastic bottles (1 Velicoff Vodka, 1 Lemon-Lime Gatorade G)
• 1 glass bottle (Conundrum California white table wine)

I came across the wine bottle while on my way to a grocery store that sells wine, and was faced with a dilemma. Having a big wine bottle sticking out of my bag while I was in the store would have made me look like a shop lifter, but leaving the bottle where it was would have meant needing to backtrack to pick it up before going home with my groceries. The solution I hit on was to take the bottle to a small store just down the street from the grocery store. The cashier there is aware of my habit of picking up recyclables and thinks it's great, so I was confident he wouldn't mind holding onto the bottle for me while I did my shopping. Things turned out even better than I had planned when he said he had a load of recyclables of his own that he needed to take to the big bin at the back of the building and would take my bottle with his recyclables if I watched the store until he returned.

Items collected Monday, April 20, 2009

Recyclables:

• 2 plastic bottles (1 Minute Maid orange juice, 1 Gatorade)
• 1 aluminum can (Busch Light beer)

Reusable:

• 1 small plastic bag

Trash collected Sunday, April 19, 2009

• 1 plastic bottle containing trash (bottle labeled Welch's Strawberry Mango Splash)

I should have pulled out the trash and put the bottle in the recycling bin, but I was in no mood to handle wet, disgusting trash with my bare hands.

Items collected Friday, April 17, 2009

Recyclables:

• 2 plastic bottles (1 Lipton Green Tea, 1 Gatorade Rain)

Reusable:

• 1 plastic carrier bag

Recyclable collected Thursday, April 16, 2009

• 1 glass bottle (brown bottle without a label)

Recyclables collected Wednesday, April 15, 2009

• 1 plastic bottle (Odesse Vodka)
• 2 aluminum cans (1 Big K Diet Cola, 1 roadkilled Miller Lite)

Items collected Monday, April 13, 2009

Recyclables:

• 1 thick newspaper section
• 4 plastic bottles (1 Lipton Brisk Lemon Iced Tea, 1 Glaceau Orange-Orange Vitamin Water, 1 roadkilled bottle without a label, 1 Purex laundry detergent)
• 1 glass bottle (Corona Extra)

Reusable:

• 2 plastic bags
• approximately half a cup of Purex laundry detergent

The laundry detergent bottle was broken, which is probably why it was abandoned by its previous owner. However, by carrying it with the broken end up, I was able to bring it home and pour the remaining detergent into an empty shampoo bottle. I detest the smell of Purex and won't use it myself, but a friend uses it so I'll give the detergent to him.

Recyclables collected April 8-10, 2009

I didn't get a chance to use the computer for several days, and left the recyclables I found those days in three neat little piles. Unfortunately, I ended up knocking them over, and can't say with certainty which recyclables were picked up which day. This is a compilation of all the recyclables picked up over the course of three days:

• 2 aluminum cans (both Steel Reserve High Gravity Lager)
• 8 plastic bottles (3 Dasani waters, 1 Aquafina water, 1 Deer Park water, 1 Camelot water, 1 Tropicana orange juice, 1 Tropicana apple juice)

Recyclables collected Tuesday, April 7, 2009

• 3 plastic bottles (1 Velicoff Vodka, 1 Tropicana Twister, 1 roadkilled bottle without a label)
• 1 aluminum can (roadkilled Modelo especial beer)

Recyclables collected Monday, April 6, 2009

• 1 aluminum can (Diet Coke)
• 2 plastic bottles (1 Gatorade "G", 1 Glaceau Vitamin Water)
• 1 glass bottle (Coca-Cola Classic)

I had heard that all Coca-Cola sold in the United States came in plastic bottles or aluminum cans, with glass bottles being used only in other countries, so I can't explain the existence of the glass bottle listed above. It was buried in mud and may have been on/in the ground for a long time, but surely not for years.

Recyclables collected Sunday, April 5, 2009

• 1 plastic bottle (Deer Park water)
• 1 aluminum can (Bud Light)
• 1 glass bottle (bottle labeled Nantucket Nectars Lemonade but used to hold beer)

Recyclable collected Saturday, April 4, 2009

• 1 plastic bottle (caffeine free Diet Coke)