Trashed: A Place for Everything, Everything in its Place

This week, "Try This, Morristown!" went out on the town for Festival on the Green and got trashed.

What? That's right, we got trashed ... and that trash went where it belongs, in the trash.

For fear of sounding like I am on a soapbox, one of my biggest pet peeves is the laziness, or just thoughtlessness, that comes from littering. Calling "laziness" a pet peeve sounds a little hypocritical coming from this mouth, but there is a difference between the pile of laundry that is long overdue in a pile on my bedroom floor, and the empty soda bottle that was dropped right next to the recycling bin.

Not all of it is laziness or thoughtlessness, however. Some of it is simply the amount of waste produced by the amount of people this world has. A stiff breeze can take a paper plate atop an overflowing pile of refuse in the garbage can in the Green and send it flying past patrons eating burgers outside The Office. Someone tried to do their part and put their trash in its appropriate place, and still they didn't succeed.

But, don't give up! And, don't assume every single thing requires a new piece of trash.

Like getting coffee at Greenberry's every morning? Take a reusable cup with you. There, you've just removed 365 pieces of trash from the waste cycle!

Like soda? Buy a two-liter bottle instead of those overpriced 20 ounce bottles.

Don't care? Or do you not think it is as bad as I am making it out to be?

Then, maybe you should attend the "Speedwell Avenue and Beyond" cleanup, set for 9 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 9. Starting from the firehouse on Speedwell Avenue, participants will register, get their supplies and head out to pick up trash. The town-sponsored project is being organized by Kathleen Margiotta and the Clean Communities program.

I'll be there. I hope you will be, too.

And, yes, of course it is unfair to go out to a massive festival with thousands upon thousands of people attending and gripe about trash. This is only one extreme example. However, take a walk down any street on any given day. You are bound to find some trash.

What to do? Pick it up, throw it away. Don't want to touch something potentially gag-inducing? Ask a friend to do it. When they ask why you won't do it, tell them "that's what friends are for."

OK, I'm getting off my soapbox now.