GuelphToday received the following Letter to the Editor from reader Bill Summers, who hopes to see more residents picking up garbage this spring:
With the warm weather and everyone out and about it is time to look at cleaning up the garbage on our trails, sidewalks and roadways. I realize it is not a controversial topic but it is one thing we all can do to ensure that the city looks inviting to all.
Since January I have cleaned up about 60 bags of garbage in the downtown area bounded by the rivers, down to Edinburgh, up to Eramosa and over to Norfolk / Gordon St. I have been away for a few weeks and sadly on my return I collected another 8 bags in a portion of this area. I hope that my actions convince others to clean up around them and take some responsibility to put your garbage in the many bins that they city has put out.
I pick up garbage as frankly I just cannot stand looking at it as I walk by. Sure, there are other things I could be doing but there is a certain level of satisfaction by cleaning up whatever can be seen by others. Yes, there are a lot of interesting things but alas no loose change this year.
Though I do not look for a thank you one given does go a long way in helping me persevere when the arms are getting sore and the back a little tight. The one thank you that I will never forget happened near Allan Mill. I was carrying my garbage picker and two big bags of garbage down the sidewalk when a posse of preschoolers went by with their teacher. The teacher told the kids to please give me a wide berth or something to that affect. I truly believed that she was sacred of me! One of the last boys in the rather long chain stopped and said “Thank You Sir for looking after our environment”. I was a little shocked with his speech and his delivery. I had to call out to the teacher give this one a gold star or at least an extra cookie.
Hope to see others out there doing the rather mundane but rather satisfying job of picking up garbage.
Bill Summers
