Talking trash on the streets of St. John's

Several weeks ago, while I was walking into work, I ran into a spot of difficulty. I had left the house with a paper cup, holding the cooling remnants of a coffee I had picked up earlier while running errands.

Not long after I left, I had knocked back the last of the coffee, leaving myself in the position of having about 40 minutes of walking … and an empty cup. I really should have finished it before I left. Alternatively, I should have transferred it to one of the travel mugs I tote around.

No worries, I thought. I'll drop it off along the way.

That, I found out, was easier said than done. As I proceeded on my route — starting out along Macdonald Drive, heading in to CBC — I looked around for a garbage can. I opted not to cross the four-lane road when I saw one across the way, near a playground, assuming one on my side of the road would soon enough be upon me.

Nope.

After walking the long strip down past Portugal Cove Road, I found one along the trail that runs by Kent's Pond.

That's not a huge inconvenience, I guess, but being conscious of holding one item of trash for a conspicuous period of time made me more alert about my surroundings, and particularly how well we're set up to keep St. John's nice and tidy.

Counting trash cans

After depositing the cup, I decided to do a count of how many other trash cans I passed as I walked the Parkway.

Believe it or not, I didn't encounter a single one along my side of the road — which, it should bear mentioning, is one of the busiest in the city — until I entered Memorial University's campus, and even then that only happened when I got to the residences at Paton College.

I noticed something else as I moved through the campus to get to my office: I had plenty of opportunities there to properly dispose of any trash I might have. Every time I turned my head to look, I could see a large container where something like a coffee cup could be dropped. The university is clearly thinking about this more than the city.

While I do have a collection of reusable coffee containers, I do go through my share of paper cups while I feed my on-the-go coffee habit.

So, too, do thousands of other consumers, many of whom drop them on the ground.

A broader view on staying clean

St. John's has been trying to shake off that "dirty old town" image that got stuck a while back, with varying degrees of success. While it's terrific to see the work of St. John's Clean and Beautiful and efforts like the 15-Minute Community Clean-up (a project of CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show), perhaps a broader view — one about planning — is needed.

People in this town litter. Maybe some of them even like it, or at least enjoy doing it.

I notice coffee cups all over the place, and not just in gutters, drains, school grounds and private lawns. Indeed, I've had the habit of taking photos of beverage containers that have been left on shelves of various retail establishments.

What really irritates me is that I often see trash containers just a few metres away. Is it really that hard not to look for one, or even to walk to the cashier and ask them to deposit it? I can't imagine an employee refusing it.

But when cans and containers cannot be easily located, it becomes harder to criticize people for littering. The same applies for blue-box solutions that promote recycling.

The experience has made me more observant of what's around us, something that frankly I hadn't been that aware of.

I have a modest suggestion for the council. Along major thoroughfares, why not put a container on every major block, or at most every two? (Some of the materials I've read about urban waste management recommend two per block, but that's for far larger cities with urban transit systems.)

We also should have far better opportunity to recycle while we're on foot. I'm happy to put newspapers and pop cans in a recycling container, at least when I've got an opportunity. After a few decades of recycling awareness campaigns, it seems wrong to throw away something you know can be handled in a better way.

Quite a lot of thought, time and money have been invested around the world on keeping streets clean. The whole concept of "street furniture," for instance, puts an emphasis on comfort, access, use and tidiness. It's more than benches, too; some cities are rethinking the design of their walkways to make it easier and more pleasant for people to be outdoors.

St. John's has been stepping up its game on waste management over the last few years, and it shows. Yes, there's plenty of room for improvement, but I think the next steps should really involve a street-level focus.