New garbage disposal site on Central Avenue, Greenwood?

Now that I have your attention, please read on and feel free to share this letter with your friends, neighbours and grown children - just in case they don’t read the paper.

Last summer, I wanted to write a letter expressing my annoyance with the ignorance of some litterbugs in our area, but I held off - until now.

I have calculated it takes exactly four kilometres to eat your fast food or drink your beverage from the local coffee shops. It was easy to come to this conclusion because, every time I mow my lawn, I first have to walk the very large road frontage of my property with garbage bag in tow to pick up all the food wrappers, coffee cups, cigarette packages and, yes, even your beer bottles off my front lawn.

Ever hear about a little garbage bag in your vehicle? Or, better yet, you know darn well it won’t be long before you go through the next drive thru, where they have conveniently placed several garbage cans around the building for your use. I understand it is a fast-paced, busy life we all live, but do you really think it takes longer to toss it in the trash can as you drive by it than it does to roll down your window and toss it on my lawn?

To the point of what has steered me to write this letter: I have just finished, for the third week in a row, picking up the garbage in the front parking lot of the new Shoppers Drug Mart facing Central Avenue, where many people gather in their vehicles to chat, drink coffee, pass the time, count cars or do whatever. I pull in the parking lot on my way to work, garbage bag in my gloved hands, pick up all the crap, throw the bag on the back of my truck, proceed to work and throw the bag in my garbage dumpster. I am occasionally one of those people who sit there and talk with friends while drinking my coffee, but I keep my litter with me and my visit is short.

I am in no way affiliated with this store, other than the fact I enjoy shopping there and I am proud to have such a nice store in our area.

Why, you ask, would I bother to pick up someone else’s garbage? The only explanation I can come up with is I have the common sense to keep our community litter-free, the decency to respect private property and the desire to continue to be able to occasionally sit there and drink my coffee while chatting with friends.

For all you rude, disrespectful people out there tossing your garbage in the parking lot, let me provide you with some very easy instructions: located approximately 10 feet from where you park your car there is a garbage can on the sidewalk. Approximately 25 feet across the street, there are three garbage cans. Approximately 50 feet across the parking lot there is a garbage can located at the service station - you can even go in there and ask for one of those nifty little plastic bags you sling over your gear shift or hang on your window handle! Even better, you can just hold your garbage until you go through the drive thru again and deposit it in the trash can.

I feel pretty confident in saying you probably will no longer have the “option” of sitting there in your vehicle for much longer. Anyone with common sense knows it is not their “right” to sit on private property; it is a “privilege,” which will probably be lost due to the ignorance of a few.

I know my written opinion will probably tick off a few people. So be it.... The more they talk about it, the more aware everyone will be about the situation. Just maybe there will be a lot fewer garbage tossers in Greenwood!

Thank you,

Sandy Deveau

Greenwood