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Allemaengel t1_jcg7aeq wrote

I was a part of an Adopt-a-Highway in Bucks County and I now work for a Township public works department in the same area. Cleaning up roadside trash and outright full-scale dumping represents a significant part of my job.

The trash is relentless, the drivers reckless and, in addition to the slobs, a lot more comes off top-loading trash trucks and blows from curbside residential trash and recycling cans than people would guess.

In any case, working in Bucks County, growing up in the Lehigh Valley, and living in the Poconos, I can see we are particularly trashy as a state. I've been to a number of other states with a fraction of the roadside trash that we have.

I can honestly tell you PennDOT doesn't have the staffing or budget to do much more than they already do.

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Ribzee OP t1_jchou33 wrote

Yep, relentless is the word. Some people ask me how I cope, knowing that in weeks and sometimes mere days, the trash will reaccumulate. I've had a couple people drop out because they hated knowing it would always come back.

But my thought is that whatever I can get out of the environment today, this week, this month, is trash that won't harm the environment, people, or wildlife and won't make it to waterways where that's the last anyone will ever see of it.

My sister travels a bunch around the country and always texts me the state of cities she visits. They are always, always better than Pennsylvania. Gov. Wolf rolled out a Litter Action Plan in the state November '21 and I've yet to really see any change. Gonna take a herculean effort to shift away from "trash acceptance."

Thank you for what you do in your job. So necessary!

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Allemaengel t1_jci2lub wrote

Thank you and the same to you.

I was blown away by how clean Vermont was when I visited. Actually Kentucky was pretty decent too.

Personally, I hate the muddy water-filled tires loaded with mosquito larvae the worst of all.

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Ribzee OP t1_jci594h wrote

Aw ,man. Hate tires! I have a hard enough time rolling them out of the woods or whatever. I'm really bad at rolling them straight! But then to also have the water sloshing around inside. Sometimes I'd rather leave 'em.

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Allemaengel t1_jcjlhqj wrote

So true. I try to get them out due to the mosquito-breeding issue and West Nile virus.

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