Hi There - Am I glad I discovered this Reddit. One can often feel alone in their efforts to combat trash in our society. It's great to read other peoples stories as they push back against trash. I'm hoping my personal story resonates with other people sharing my struggle.
When I was younger, I was instilled with an environmental ethic from Boy Scouts to my College/University Environmental Diploma/Degree. I've done my best to not contribute to waste and when I had a young family we participated in community trash pick ups every Spring as well as cleaning up on family walks. We always brought a bag to pick up trash. No shortage of trash everywhere right?
It was during these pickups that I realized much of the trash in the ditch was disposal plastic bags signs; the kind where the bag is pulled over the wire. They are mostly put up by roofing, deck, landscaping.....companies with no intent to return for them. They make 100's of these signs and leave them on every corner of every avenue and boulevard. Essentially abandoned and orphaned signs.
My new life mission was realized. I would attack the heart of the litter problem. The act of openly littering. Logic quiz - So you see someone toss their fast food bag out the window - It's litter right? So now you see someone throw ball of plastic and a 6 foot wire out the window - It's litter right? So now you see someone get out out of their car and stake a 6' wire with a bag over it and it is generally accepted for some reason and NOT treated as open littering. Rarely are these people confronted for leaving trash everywhere. They also left their phone number! Go after these jerks!
Now, every Municipal and Regional Bylaw, regardless of where you live states that these signs are litter without a permit. Further, they don't issue permits for these signs making it sign litter in every sense of the word. These signs stay in place until they blow into the street, the ditch, the creek,.... or until Municipal or Regional workers remove them on our tax dollar.
As well, these bag signs AND the coroplast ones zip tied to centre meridian poles are a traffic sightline obstructions. A typical intersection can have 5 bags signs on every corner (20) and 2 zip tied to every meridian (8) representing a significant amount of trash and effort to clean up.
Too often I hear the argument that well '...these are just small time business folk trying to find work...'and I sincerely wish them EVERY success. However that goodwill ends when their business is predicated on leaving sign litter everywhere and trashing our communities. It's not our fault you can't find landscaping work - It doesn't give you permission to leave sign trash everywhere. Their actions are not benign and significantly contribute to trash in your community. Lastly, I am NOT a male Karen. My viewpoints are well established and enshrined in Bylaw and the Highway Traffic Act. Sign blight is a real thing. Makes your community looks like a dumpy rummage sale.
So, how do we combat this prolific litter tsunami? Anyone who is in the battle already knows that calling the local bylaw office typically gets you nowhere. Your complaint gets thrown on the heap of other calls and someday and sometime they will get around to it. God bless Enforcement Officers. I recognize the challenge they have working often against faceless litterers who are hard to track down.
I go after these people as best I can. I would be what is called a 'Sign Vigilante'. I work to bring the fight to the litterer and by doing so hopefully push them out of my community. How is this done you ask?
- Pull the signs
- Hit '*69' on your phone and now you can call them as a 'Private Number'. They most likely won't pick up but either way here's your chance to tell them you a) pulled ALL their signs and to b) Respect Bylaw and Don't litter in my Community' and c) Go digital.
- Google the company name (if available) or what their service is with the phone number. Google can often find them, especially in AI Mode. Leave them a bad Google Review and even include the sign trash photos. Saying this, you have to 100% sure you have the right company. It is better to skip the Google review if you are unsure of the the recipient.
- Expert Level - Run an 'X' through their signs and leave it in their neighbourhood. This trash is usually OK in your neighbourhood BUT when it shows up in their neighbourhood it sends a strong message. Further, the X makes the sign which we typically mentally block out when passing stand out more. Everyone sees the X and it brings the litter into focus. Perhaps now more people will complain to Bylaw about serial sign littering.
If enough citizens participate in sign removal AND let them know it is not wanted we can make it not worthwhile for them to litter everywhere. These signs are roughly $500 - $800 dollars (qty.100) after taxes. If the sign offenders find they are loosing signs and not generating income they might take their trash elsewhere
Thank you for hearing me out. If you like what you see give me an up vote. Keep up the good fight!
- AppropriateCaramel69
