Fondly Remembering my First

No, not my first love. Not my first car. My first real litter pickup.

It was dawn. At the ocean. I'd just moved to the beach community of Lauderdale by the Sea, FL. Sitting cross-legged in the sand, enjoying sunrise with a hot thermos of coffee, I noticed a large object dancing in the surf. As I walked toward the shore to inspect I saw it was a plastic bucket. It kept bobbing back and forth, getting within 10 feet of land, then being dragged back out with the current. I realized I had to grab it quick or it would be swept out to sea. I waded deep into the water, and after numerous tries, was finally able to save the bucket.

I stood there a moment, relieved to have rescued this turquoise, paint-ball splattered, ugly plastic bucket. Looking around I noticed other pieces of small litter sitting on the wet sand glistening with the early rays of morning sun.

I've always cared about littering. Often I'd picked up litter I'd seen someone pitch, handing to them saying, "You must have dropped this." I'd called out my uncle when he threw a soda can out the window on back road in KY. His response: "Oh, they don't care about that out here in the country."

But I'd never actually done a real litter pickup.

April 2007. Bucket in hand, I walked along the beach gathering litter for the first time.

INVITATION to all litter pickers. Do you remember your first time picking up litter? I think it would make interesting reading. I bet others would be interested to hear what personally made you become passionate and proactive for litter prevention. If you'd like to share your experience I'd be happy to add it to this post. Contact me by email at Sharon@MuseumofLitter.org or Facebook www.facebook.com/MuseumofLitter or Twitter @MuseumofLitter.

Bernie Paquette of Vermont Litter With a Story to Tell shares the story of the first time he picked up litter.

Willy Jones, 11,  aka 'Willy Jones Whale' or 'Willy Jones Litter', is my new litter hero. PA is starting a filament recycling program because of him. His mother relocated to Maine so he could be close to and act on his passion for whales. He began picking up litter as a way to protect whales after he had a most amazing encounter with one. I sobbed as I read about his experience. Read about this AWEsome, beyond his years, amazing, human BEing here:

http://m.thetimes-tribune.com/lifestyles-people/waverly-youth-passionate-about-whales-1.1088782

http://www.abingtonsuburban.com/news/prince-of-whales-1.1177841

http://www.newburyportnews.com/local/x1592794613/Willys-whale-of-a-tale?mobRedir=false

 

Comments

[Stephane]

The first time i started picking up litter,was around 10 years ago,noticing sea glass chunks whilst on holiday on the North Yorkshire coastline,(UK),apart from that,the beach was fairly clean.That snowballed into collecting more sea glass,pottery,bones, then came driftwood and in the past couple of years metal. Where we live,i have to say plastics are not too much of a problem,but if i come across any when beachcombing i pick up whatever i find,usually drinks bottles. The funny thing is that, when i started finding metal pieces,the shapes,textures,colours were so interesting, i put them aside in my garage.A while later i started thinking that they should be used again in some way and i started coming up with designs, combining all those materials found on the beach and turning them into usefull or decorative objects.In a way giving them a second/third/fourth... lease of life.