On the first Saturday in May, Green Up Day, thousands of Vermonters hit the roadsides and pick up litter that has accumulated during the winter. By early May the snow has melted, but the spring vegetation is low enough to not obscure trash. Here’s what I found today, pretty much in descending order:

Cigarette buts and packs – Apparently there are a lot of people who travel on my road who think cigarette butts are biodegradable. These people probably aren’t reading this blog, but just in case you are – they’re not. When I started out this morning at the bottom of my driveway with the goal of a pristine roadside, I picked up every cigarette butt I saw. Then I realized I would be there for days if I picked up all the butts. So, I decided to focus on the big stuff and concentrated on cigarette packs instead.

Plastic and Styrofoam – Sometimes there was an entire bottle or bag to grab, but more often it was smaller pieces of plastic or Styrofoam that had fractured due to exposure to the elements. This characteristic of many plastics results in small pieces of plastics in our soils which end up in the guts of animals at all levels of the food chain. This is also happening in our oceans.

Beer cans – The five cent can deposit is not enough of a motivation to return a beer can.

Car parts – Some were identifiable (hub caps, muffler parts) and some were not (internal stuff, I presume).

Random stuff– Snack food wrappers, wires, votive candle, golf ball, plastic tool carrying case with weed growing out of it.

Green Up Day always leaves me with mixed feelings. I make a point to participate as it is a display of the pride we Vermonters take in our beautiful state and it gets non-biodegradable stuff where it belongs. Plus, there is a noticeable difference in the roadsides after Green Up Day. Vermont is green again.

But in general litter just gets me down. I’m sure some of the pieces I picked up from the roadside got there inadvertently, accidentally blowing out of someone’s car. But likely most of it was chucked out the window without respect for the environment and the people who live on and travel my road every day. Most of my findings were not biodegradable either, a somber reminder of our society’s acceptance of disposable non-biodegradable goods, here for the long term.

On the brighter side, I saw a frog and a slug who thankfully was not in my garden. I found (and left) orange and banana peels (I had to take the sticker off the latter though). Most of all, thanks to those of you who gave me and other Green Up volunteers happy beeps, waves, and shouted “thank you” out your window.