Such a lot of rubbish

The IW Festival is over for another year - after a bit of a downpour on Friday night the weather was good over the weekend and by all accounts a good time was had by all.  I mentioned last year that we tend to avoid the area for the duration owing to traffic congestion and restrictions, and although in previous years the music has wafted our way (a prevailing wind helps), we heard nothing at all this year.  We aren't on the main road anymore to watch the shuttle buses taking the festival-goers to and from the ferries so the whole event almost passed us by completely.  I say almost, because this year I fulfilled a long-held wish (I admit I have some odd wishes!) - I worked for two days as a litter-picker, helping to clear the site of rubbish after everyone had left.  To say that it was an eye-opener is putting it mildly indeed.

It's a huge site, far bigger than I had realised (I walked well over 6 miles each day), and cleaning it up is a massive logistical task.  It's an ideal job for someone like me, who needs to tidy things up (!) but I was simply astounded by the sheer volume of rubbish that is left in the aftermath of such a weekend.  Just so much, everywhere.  I have heard tales of the rubbish, and seen litter-stewn fields driving passed in the car, but the first-hand experience was something else.  Tents, folding chairs, camping and sleeping gear, clothing, and the remains of drink and food, plastic bottles, beer cans, wine bottles . . . everything you would associate with lots of people having a really good time, but it was just abandoned at the end.  Truly staggering.  Mountains of rubbish.  

I'm still trying to get my head around it all.  Have we become such a 'throw away', disposable society?  Are products produced so cheaply, in such vast quantities, that they no longer have any value at all?  Have we abandoned all responsibility for our own rubbish that we just leave it for someone else to pick up and deal with?  The thought of all that 'stuff' ending up in landfill (I would love to think that it was all going to be sorted and recycled, perhaps some will, but the sheer volume suggests most just won't); the food wastage (why buy it if it's not going to be eaten?)  I even saw two pushchairs abandoned on rubbish piles.  I don't mind admitting that I brought one or two items back with me because I knew I could put them to good use; if I'd had a lorry I could have easily filled it with more very useful bits that could be repurposed, recycled, upcycled or just mended and reused, and at least what I salvaged isn't going to end up in landfill. 

There are so many aspects of this and I shall probably be pondering it over for some time to come.  I have no idea what the answer is, if there even is one.  I am glad I had the opportunity to help clear the site, and I acknowledge that earning a little bit of money was a very nice bonus indeed.  It is rewarding to enter a field that's covered in rubbish and after two or three hours of hard work, to leave that particular space a good deal cleaner than it was.  I really enjoyed doing something quite different, and the weather was lovely.  I got to wear a high-vis jacket, quite the fashion trend, and am now adept at picking up plastic cable-ties, bottle tops and cigarette stubs with a litter-picker.  But I was, and still am, staggered by the amount of rubbish that was simply left behind. 

And now I need to catch up on a bit of work around the house.