To the editor:
Re: "Taking responsibility for city litter," Jan. 16.
Excellent observations and suggestions, to which I would like to add. For a period of nine months, my partner and I (both over 65) walked every morning from our home on the sidewalk down two streets in south Vancouver. A distance of 1,850 meters, according to Map my Walk. The first day we collected two garbage bags worth of candy wrappers, McDonald's take-out containers, bottles and beer cans, women's underwear, children's shoes, mittens and gloves etc.
Then every day as we repeated the same route, we would collect a store plastic shopping bag full of the same items that
had been thrown out in the pre-
vious 24 hours.
At first we were looked at strangely, but after a while as we talked to the residents, we could see that certain sections would be much cleaner than other parts, reflecting the cultural background of the residents. And we had hopes that more people would take ownership of a section of their neighbourhood. We then went travelling for a few months, and now the streets look the same as before. We can only conclude that it will take a lot more of local residents' initiative to have our city look like the most beautiful and liveable city it can be.
Local fast food outlets that produce most of the litter could take a much greater if not a leading part in promoting a "clean living space" for us all.
Anders Lonnqvist, Vancouver
