Thank you for your article, “What can be done about people who trash Prestige Way?” Sustainable Plymouth is making headway on recycling and waste reduction along with assisting the town with its Hometown Cleanup. There is much to be done on this topic, and I would know as I continually pick up approximately 9,500 linear feet of roadways on an ongoing basis. I might slack off a bit due to work and weather, but I try to stay on top of it which is never ending. I typically take two five-gallon buckets with me and will always fill them even though I have picked that stretch of roadway up within the last week or so. What you will find is that general littering is a mix of repeat offenders, uncovered trucks and trailers and sloppy waste disposal pickups.
How would I know this information as to where the trash is coming from? I often find Poland Spring’s water along Warren Avenue as they occur in the same areas over a half mile stretch of roadway, so a repeat offender is likely. The nips same types of nips are often in the same areas and several are ones that aren’t very common but are always along a certain stretch of roadway. I have been finding foam insulation along a stretch of Sandwich Road and down the northbound on ramp to the Plimoth Patuxet Highway which likely came off of a truck or trailer that wasn’t covered or enclosed. I have also found this with roof shingles and chunks of PVC board that are often strewn along a quarter mile stretch of Warren Avenue. I find additional trash along Cliff Street and Sandwich Road on Tuesdays when several of the disposal companies pick up trash. The trash is often not far from the emptied trash containers that often have their lids off.
The most common items along our roadways are cigarette butts. The section of Warren Avenue that I try to keep clean has about 200 to 300 cigarette butts per 800 to 1,000 ft. Last fall, I did a new section of Warren Avenue that was approximately 800 to 1,000 feet long and I found hundreds of nip bottles. I’ve attached two photos of the nips, one is of a five-gallon bucket overflowing with the nip bottles from that stretch of roadway and the other is when I combined two overflowing five-gallon buckets of nips from the spot into my blue wheelbarrow.
I’ve seen a large uptick in discarded vaping pens which contain lithium-ion batteries. Many of these pens get run over and crushed so they are likely leaking into our stormwater management systems and out into the Eel River and Long Beach, which is another concern.
One area with repeat dumping is on the on-ramp from Sandwich Road to the Plimoth Patuxet Highway where I’ve found an approximately 70-inch flat screen and a 23-inch flat screen. There were several decomposing bags of trash, a few tires and several cell phone boxes of hypodermic needles along with the same types of trash you would find elsewhere along our roadways. People just dump their trash everywhere and they don’t seem to care or respect our environment.
This is my own opinion but I found the older generations born around or before 1950 seemed to get annoyed with litter and always picked it up. These seniors are more engaged and try to make a difference more so than younger generations. Most people seem to be too busy to bother. I get many, “Thank you for picking up trash,” but what would be most helpful and productive is if these people and others actually picked up trash.
This is not just a trash problem but a social issue as we need to band together to fix our environmental, social and other issues and if not, we will fall as a society. I must say that I do see hope with the younger generations. Kids from 10 years old and up do thank me and are interested to know how they can help.
There is also the dog waste issue which is huge from both a plastic issue and bacteria and nutrient loading issue to our local waters. I’ve been finding the bagged dog waste all along the stretches of roadways that I pick up along. These bags are typically thrown into the wooded areas along the roads but also into the Eel River, wetlands and on Long Beach.
There is one area on the corner of Cliff Street and Sandwich road on the southside where people have been throwing bags of dog waste for years. I would estimate that there are likely over 1,000 bags. In past years, you could smell the dog waste on hot days emanating from this area.
Sustainable Plymouth is working on the plastic trash issue right now and we have also discussed potentially having local businesses sponsor sections of roadway cleanup in Plymouth. I would like to see significant fines such as $500 or $1,000 with up to $10,000 for major dumping be proposed and voted into law here in Plymouth. Another bylaw should be significant fines for those who bag and throw their dog waste (litter) and a slightly lesser fine for not curbing their dog. There should also be a Massachusetts law to ensure all trucks and trailers have a permanent cover over them so we can reduce litter and something should be done to ensure the waste disposal companies take the time to pick up all the trash and not have spillage or physically pick up any loose trash/littler.
Picking up the litter around Plymouth should help boost our tourism so it should be more of a priority.
– Garrett Tunison