Why You Should Pick Up Rubbish
There are many reasons to pick up rubbish that you find. The most important reason is that it helps the environment. The rubbish that is not picked up can find its way into the waterways and other places where animals live. It can be a danger to wildlife and public health.
Where there is a lot of trash, there can also be vermin which is another danger to public health. Picking it up will prevent the vermin from gathering and can prevent health issues. You can also just make the environment look better by cleaning up. You want to do your part in cleaning up and helping the environment in many ways.
If you need a rubbish collector to pick up the garbage that you have collected, there are many companies that you could call. You could also check out https://ridlyrubbishremoval.com.au/ to see what they have to offer. They have been around for a few years and can help answer any questions that you might have.
This article will help you to learn how to pick up rubbish from your neighborhoods and highways. It will let you know some of the safety aspects of picking up trash. You can also do more research to find the information that you need.
How-to Pick-Up Rubbish
- Roadways and Streets – Roadways are covered in litter and need cleaning desperately. There is a lot of litter on roadways including cigarette butts, plastic, and paper products. This is mostly on highways and side streets because motorists like to litter. They will just throw it from their cars as they are driving.
You need to be very careful when picking up trash on the roadways. You don’t want to pick it up from the middle of the street. You should also wear a safety vest that can be easily seen by drivers. You should also should only do this during daylight hours.
- Transition Spaces – Another place to pick up litter would be transition spaces. Transition spaces are those such as doors and entranceways to businesses such as movie theaters and libraries. These places usually ban some items from their businesses such as food or drinks. The most common rubbish found here is candy, gum, and cigarette butts.
Heavily populated areas such as downtowns, shopping centers, and convenience stores. Make sure that you have permission from the owners before you begin picking up. Most will gladly let you do this without any problems. Otherwise, they would have to pay one of their employees to do it for them.
- Recreational Areas – Recreational areas such as parks and hiking trails also have lots of rubbish. You should also think about beaches and picnic areas. These would be other places to pick up litter. You can pick it up while you are hiking or camping.
Ocean trash is something that needs to be cleaned up. This litter can harm the sea life that uses the ocean as its home. If you go to the beach, bring along a couple of rubbish bags so that you can pick up all the garbage that you see. You don’t want to leave it behind so that it could be a danger to sea life.
- Storm Drains – Storm drains are designed to take water from the streets and send it to the nearest waterway. Some people use these drains to throw in their rubbish. This causes them to flood and causes them to go to the waterways that are nearby. This can harm wildlife.
The most common rubbish found around here are cigarette butts, plastic bottles, and food wrappers. Be careful when cleaning around the storm drains and only remove trash from the surface using a rake and wearing gloves. You never want to remove the grates from the storm drains because that can cause a danger to you and others. You want to be careful when picking up rubbish.
- Your Neighborhood – You could join a volunteer organization in your neighborhood that cleans up trash. You can do an internet search to find local organizations that are near you. There are also many cleanup days or weeks in many cities and towns around the country. You could join any of these groups to clean up rubbish.
You could also join a group that does roadway cleanup such as Adopt-a-Highway and Sponsor-a-Highway. See here for more information about those groups. You can do more cleanup with a group, and you are safer when you are working with others. Consider joining a group when you are doing litter cleanup.
- Use a Litter Pickup Stick – Use a litter pickup stick to pick the litter from the ground. It is one of the handiest tools that you can use. It enables you to pick up trash from the ground without having to bend over. You also don’t have to touch the trash if you use the stick.
There are a couple of different types of pickup sticks. One has a clamp on the end of it that is operated with a lever at the top of the stick. The other type has a sharp point on the end and allows you to poke the trash to pick it up. Both are good for the job, and you can choose the one that best fits your needs.
- Reflective Safety Vest – Another important tool that you need to use is a reflective safety vest. These come in many fluorescent colors such as orange, green, and yellow. Many of them also have reflective strips on them. These increase your visibility and will help you to stand out to motorists.
You want to wear these vests at all times when you are picking up litter. You want to keep safe and be visible to others around you. You especially want the motorists to see you while they are driving. This could avoid a terrible accident.
- Multiple Trash Bags – You will want to carry multiple trash bags with you so that you can pick up a large amount of rubbish. You may not have access to recycling bins or trash bins, so you need many of them. You could also use one or more for recycling, and others for things that can’t be recycled. This will help you to get more done at one time.
You could purchase a bag holder that will allow you to hold multiple bags with you. You might even want one for each hand so you can have one side for garbage and one for recycling. You can then put them into the correct receptacles when you are through. This will help you to be more responsible.
- Sturdy Gloves – You also need sturdy gloves to wear while you are picking up garbage. You don’t want to get the garbage on your hands. You also don’t want to be poked or scratched by things that could hurt you. You want to be very careful, so you don’t hurt yourself.
If you are using a pickup stick, you will still need to wear gloves. You will be picking things off the stick and placing them into your bags. You want to protect your hands during this time. You don’t want to be hurt.
- Appropriate Clothing – You will want to dress appropriately for the area and the weather, you don’t want to get too hot or too cold while you are doing the job. Make sure that you have checked the weather forecast before you go so that you know what to wear. If there is sun, you may also want to wear a hat and sunglasses. Make sure to use sunscreen no matter the weather.
Make sure that you are also wearing close-toed shoes so that you don’t hurt your feet. It doesn’t matter if it is hot or cold, you will need to wear these types of shoes. You also want to wear bug repellant so that you don’t get bug bites while you are doing your job. Make sure that you are protected from all bugs, especially mosquitos, fleas, and ticks.
- Avoid Hazardous Materials – Avoid all hazardous materials so that you don’t get hurt. These hazardous materials could include needles, human waste, personal hygiene items such as condoms and tampons, electrical items, dead animals, bottles of unknown liquids, unlabeled bottles, and potentially dangerous chemicals. If you see these items, you need to call the local authorities or the landowner.
You want to be careful of all the hazardous materials because some could be deadly, especially chemicals and electrical items. You need to use common sense when dealing with garbage because you don’t want to get hurt in any way. You just want to clean the environment and do a good deed.
Conclusion
There are many tips for you to pick up rubbish in your area. You can do a lot of good work with the environment if you do this. You want to keep the environment safe for wildlife and sea life and you can do this by removing trash from their habitats. You can do your part in helping clean the earth.
Eric Dane