By Renate Purdy
I live between White Oak and Long Point roads and really enjoy my daily walks “right outside our front door,” within the natural preserve and bird and wildlife sanctuary between Long Point Road and Del. 9. I would enjoy the scenery even more if it wasn’t for empty beer cans and liquor bottles, fast-food containers and plastic straws, cigarette packs and plastic bags by the roadside and in the ditches. For a year now, I’ve been “in the trenches” with the Delaware Department of Transportation’s Adopt-A-Highway Program, picking up that garbage just along “my” 2 miles on Long Point Road. I fill an average of three contractor-size garbage bags about once a month.
My family also enjoys hikes in the many beach areas along Del. 9, particularly in Port Mahon, outside of Little Creek. When we first discovered Port Mahon about 18 years ago, there would be the occasional empty can or cigarette pack, and we would enforce our family’s Scout motto of “leave no trace,” even for other folks’ garbage. Over the years, littering has kept increasing to the point where, when you drive out to the boat launch now, you best keep your eyes fixed on the ocean, as all you’d see on the west side of the road — a good 20 feet deep into the reeds — is trash. How could any group of people even clean up that much litter within Adopt-A-Highway?
But wait, there’s worse. Go east on White Oak Road and, behind Dover Park, turn right onto Acorn Lane. You’ll have to agree that the landfill in Sandtown is cleaner! Makes us wonder if some folks don’t have garbage cans at home. And sadly, since the ditches are literally overflowing on Acorn Lane, garbage has been spilling out onto the shoulders, fields and even residential front yards along White Oak Road, all the way out to Del. 9.
For years, local news media have been reporting about the growing problem of littering and illegal dumping along Delaware’s roads, also lamenting that DelDOT and Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control employees and law enforcement officials alike are swamped with more and more roadside trash to clean up and offenders to track down. Hefty fines, apparently, have not worked as a deterrent.
What can we do? Right, what can we do — every one of us?
Enjoying that burger/chocolate shake/doughnut/coffee in the car while the sun sets over Port Mahon? Sure! Throwing the containers/sippy cups/utensils/wrappers out the car window after? Really? How about the empty cigarette pack — or even the still-glowing cigarette butt? We won’t mention the liquor bottles and beer cans … that’s a story for another day — and another agency to deal with.
Let’s check for a moment what happens to our garbage by the roadside if left unattended. According to Wikipedia, an aluminum can will decompose in maybe 80-100 years, while your average Styrofoam cup or single-use plastic bag (the kind that’s now banned from Delaware stores) sticks around for a minimum of 500 years. During that time, everything on those raw materials, like the colorful coating of a paper plate or the print on the water bottle’s label, will seep into our groundwater. Mowers will shred soda cans and plastic cups to razor-sharp bits, dangerous nest-building material for wild birds and hazardous stepping ground for pets and wildlife alike.
While we certainly can’t stop climate change or reverse our planet’s pollution single-handedly, we can all make a difference in our everyday behavior and improve our personal relationship with Mother Nature, which will translate into one great legacy we’ll leave to the next generation. Our children are watching!
If nothing else, as I said earlier, roadside litter we dispose of casually just spoils the otherwise beautiful view of our fellow humans, who are out on these same roads walking, biking, horseback-riding and enjoying the scenery that nature offers to all of us.
Renate Purdy of Dover is the office manager at Wyoming United Methodist Church, where volunteers are also involved with the Adopt-A-Highway Program along Wyoming Mill Road.
