This weekend I finished a sad springtime ritual: picking up roadside trash along our wooded property. This year’s snow melt revealed 94 beer cans and bottles, 20 miniature liquor bottles, and 18 pint- and quart-size alcohol bottles, in addition to 60 water and soda containers, a large garbage bag of paper coffee cups and other junk, three hub caps, and a tire.
I’m never sure how to react to the sheer volume of trash that I collect each spring. Do people forget that undeveloped land is owned by someone and treat it as a dump? Are they trying to get rid of the evidence of drinking and driving? Are they neat people who can’t stand a mess in their cars so they transfer it outside without thinking of the consequences to someone else?
As disappointing as the litter is, the more profoundly disturbing aspect of the roadside clean-up is realizing how many people are endangering themselves and others by drinking and driving. If our little slice of Harvard is any indicator, this appears to be a big problem in our little town.
I also want to take this opportunity to celebrate the unsung stewards of our town—the people I see routinely picking up trash on their walks and those who raise their kids to respect the land by not littering.
Nancy Meyer
Bolton Road
