Nesquehoning (20-Dec-2015)

My third visit to this section of route 209 between Nesquehoning and Jim Thorpe. Each time I have cleaned a different portion and even after today there is still much more to do. Since it was a nice day without rain or fog, I decided to work on the side of the road without a guardrail and very little shoulder. I don't really like the idea of working that close to traffic, someone has to do it though or the trash just piles up. The goal for the day was three bags and as always I was focusing on plastics, styrofoam, glass and aluminum.  

Not far from the car I found this syringe. In previous posts I have shown that they can be found almost anywhere and roadsides are not an exception. I bottled this one up and didn't think much of it, I also didn't think I would come across many more of them. 

There are more than a couple of these drains along this section of 209. Over the years I have seen PennDOT workers on multiple occasions clearing these drains of debris and trash. They do the same thing with all of it. Take a shovel, scoop it out of the drain and pile it up along side it. I will admit this practice does do the job of clearing the drain, however, wouldn't it make more sense to remove the trash and maybe dispose of it properly? I think if this was done there would be no chance that same trash would plug the drain again, but maybe I am just asking too much. 

One nice thing is that much of the trash I took out today was visible from the road. This means at least those who travel this section on a regular basis will notice a difference and see that someone cared enough to clean it. In a perfect world that should be enough to discourage littering in the future. I know it won't happen and it will probably be full of trash early next year, but at least some will see the difference.

The first bag was filled in no time. I took it on the other side of the road where there was a pull-off for pick-up after I was done. 

More needles. This time there were many of them and they were scattered on the roadside. Even found the bag on the right, it had three new needles in it. I carefully bottled all of the loose needles and put the bag in my pack.

Another drain and more trash. At this one there were a lot of items covered in gravel. I picked up what I could see and continued on. 

Take a careful look at this photo. Can you guess what I was capturing with it? If you guessed syringes you are correct. In total along this section of road I collected sixteen of them. Why are there so many needles along this roadway?

These two items topped off my third bag of the day. This was the first Marge head I have found. I think it may have been a golf club sock, possibly something else. Any guesses are welcome in the comments, any comments are also welcome in the comments. 

This is where I ended the day, looking at more trash. I have to look at the forecast for this week. If more than one nice day it predicted I will try to get back to this this week. If not it will end up being one of the first clean-ups of next year.  

I went and got the car and drove to pick up the bags. It is really nice that a difference can be seen in this area. The other clean-ups on this roadway didn't make it look much different in passing on the road, this one was a very clear difference. Since I found so many syringes along the roadway I did take them right to the Nesquehoning Police Station. The Chief of Police, Sean Smith, greeted me at the door and was nice enough to take the syringes. Thank you very much to Officer Smith and to the Nesquehoning Police Department for taking and properly disposing of them. 

You too can help with taking out the trash! If you get out hiking take a grocery bag with you, give it a second use and fill it with trash while you are out! Every bit helps. You can also help contributing to this project here: Help Fund Taking Out the Trash

Nesquehoning (14-Dec-2015)

Another section of road, I really dislike roads. This is route 93 just outside of Nesquehoning. Most of the day was full of fog and raining off and on. In this weather I didn't want to do a roadside, but I couldn't get out until this afternoon so the clean-up had to be close to home. I decided on 93 over 209 just because there is more room to move off to the side when traffic passes.

This was above the embankment on State Gamelands. 

It didn't take long to fill the first bag with styrofoam, plastics and aluminum.

Same old thing, bottles, cans and cups.

These were the only items that stood out. 

Two bags and a grocery bag of glass bottles was the total today. I know I didn't have much to say in this post, but there was nothing that really stood out. I am going to be going on a night hike tonight so if I find any trash or any wildlife I will post again either tonight or tomorrow. If the weather cooperates I will be doing a trash sort day and taking what I have accumulated to the recycling center. 

You too can help with taking out the trash! If you get out hiking take a grocery bag with you, give it a second use and fill it with trash while you are out! Every bit helps. You can also help contributing to this project here: Help Fund Taking Out the Trash

Nesquehoning (12-Dec-2015)

Back on the road again. I chose this section because it had just rained before I arrived, the roads were a bit slick and not to far down the roadway is a guardrail I could safely collect trash behind. I didn't realize I would fill a full bag before I even made it to the rail. If any of today's post sounds like I am frustrated or annoyed, I am, also road clean-ups aren't my favorite thing.

This was less than ten feet from where I parked. Green briar surrounded more of the recyclables and it wasn't easy even with the tongs getting them out of it. I was very displeased to see the political sign. I think politicians should be held accountable, with at least a small fine, for every sign their support groups don't retrieve. 

A mystery bag, how I don't love surprises. From what I can see it had recyclables in it so I took it. Who knows what I will find when I open it on the sort day?

Tires, tires, tires, tires, who will take tires for free? I have contacted different government agencies with little success. I just checked out Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection's site again. I found this link: http://illegaldumpfreepa.org/report-it/, so I tried it. My hopes are not set high, when I submitted the report it did say I would receive some sort of correspondence from someone within 48 hours. There was no place to leave actual comments, I used the other trash section to explain how I came across these tires and what I am doing with this blog. I also offered to move all of these tires to the roadside. All I need is someone to pick them up, it should be simple, I am offering to do all of the hard work. I am very interested in the response. If it is a positive one and gets this area cleaned up in a reasonable time frame every large dumpsite I have found will be submitted. 

All of these items were gathered from a small area just down the embankment by my car. Several empty oil cans suggest to me that the pull off I parked in may be used by some for oil changes. Others just use it to dump trash and tires. I ended up with a full bag before I even started walking down the road. I left it on the side of my car and continued on. 

If I am remembering correctly this is the fourth site I have found 2-liter bottles with the plastic inserts on the bottom. It is amazing that some of them still look like they could have been on a store shelf yesterday. How many more of these will I find? 

The second bag full. In the photo it may seem like a good distance from my car, it really wasn't. Way too much trash.

This was the best find of the day. It was a slight distraction from the bottles, cans and other trash.

There are items I come across that really make me wonder. I have seen someone walking this section of road before with the same kind of pack and I would be willing to bet this is the same one. I half expected to find a body down the slope, but thankfully it was just the bag. Why would something like this be left there? I thought it best not to touch anything and I left it as I found it. From what I could see all of the books were religious and the medkit was new with a zip tie still on the handle. There was also random car parts including a headlight, which is part of the reason I first thought there might be someone down the bank.

Littering off of this section of road is nothing new. Several places I think were used as old dump sites. At the start of todays clean-up I was collecting glass, but with the sheer amounts of old glass I just had to give up that endeavor and leave it. Some of the old glass bottles are more durable than todays, yet some are much more fragile. I really don't want to be picking through broken glass on the sort days or have a bottle break on the trek back and have a bag rip open. For glass in the future I am going to have to buy thick reusable bags and designate them specifically for glass. These two Pepsi items show how old some of the piles are along the road. The bottle was complete and not even a chip and the can was steel. It was the first old steel can that I could actually read the label on.

Third full bag of the day and although the car wasn't far the walk back seemed like forever with the two bags, my pack, my hook and camera in tow. 

This was it, three garbage bags and a bag with two water jugs. I thought it was pretty good, but it really didn't make a difference as far as you can see driving by. Once I do the opposite side of the road passers by might actually noticed that someone cleaned the roadside. 

You too can help with taking out the trash! If you get out hiking take a grocery bag with you, give it a second use and fill it with trash while you are out! Every bit helps. You can also help contributing to this project here: Help Fund This Project!

Nesquehoning (10-Dec-2015)

Today I worked on a small section of route 209 just outside of Nesquehoning. With the recovering pup at home I did not want to go too far from the house and I didn't want to be out too long. In the past this portion of 209 was regularly cleaned by inmates from the local prison. Not sure why they no longer clean this area, but it was probably either budget or safety concerns which ended this practice. In recent years there have been a number of fatal accidents along this section and it really isn't the safest place to do a clean up. I am sick of seeing all the trash on the roadsides leaving town, so I think I am going to continue working on this area at least for awhile. I set my goal at filling two bags and I was off collecting. 

Like many roadsides it was bottle after bottle, can after can and the occasional roadkill. In this photo you can see all three. 

From the road I could see a lot of trash down this steep slope. I worked my way down and found the safest routes to each piece I could see. 

More pull tabs today. It seems the inmates only cleaned what was right next to the road and never ventured down the side. Inside this can was a rolled up Wise chip bag. I tried to find a date on it, but there was none I could see.

This was the second bag of the day, most of which came from the slope. The bottles and cans I gathered by the bag filled it and part of my backpack too. 

With the second bag filled I headed back to where I left the first. If you can see my car in the background you can tell how small of an area I worked on and I really thought two bags was a lot for such a small area. You can also see other trash items still left behind. I was working on aluminum, plastics, styrofoam and glass, items like paper products I leave behind because they will biodegrade in my lifetime. 

This was it, two full bags. I think this shows that it isn't just a handful of people that litter out of their cars, it's a lot that do. Something has to change in our society. All of this trash goes somewhere and it is better if it is recycled than left in our environment. From what I have seen with litter and other environmental issues, things are not getting better, but they should be. 

You too can help with taking out the trash! If you get out hiking take a grocery bag with you, give it a second use and fill it with trash while you are out! Every bit helps. You can also help contributing to this project at: gofundme.com/takingoutthetrash