So at the time of writing , team CompoCloset are hanging out in southern Spain. The other day we popped out for an afternoon swim (Seriously - in February!? I love this place!). Anyway, a big swell was passing through and as I swam, for the first time I noticed the amount of plastic debris floating around me. Drinks cartons, straws little flecks of this and that. Honestly it was really horrible.
I'd heard of microplastics in the sea but it always seemed remote and far away. Not anymore. I was swimming in trash and it was fucking horrible.
I found out about leaveitbetter through camperdreamin's insta account. These guys inspired me to porcure a litter picker from a leading online 'jungle themed' retailer. After missing the wind to go kiteboarding this afternoon due to working on Rangr with Kalp, I took the opportunity to clean up the local river. I'd walked over the bridge many times and it's right by the kiting spot. Every piece of plastic was destined for the sea just 75 yards away...
Not today.
If it doesn't look 100% pristine after my hard labour, it isn't. I left paper where it was as this will break down. I was not sure where some of the paper had come from as there was a suspicious looking pipe on the side that I'm not sure is upto building standards. Sadly some plastics were also buried in silt and the litter picker couldn't get them without serious digging. Nevertheless, hopefully people will see the improvement and think twice about littering there again.
I confess, I became slightly angered by people carelessly discarding trash. But in reality, it is probably just lots of people losing a little trash here and there. Sure, there'll be some assholes tossing cans and bottles down from the bridge overhead, but the polystyrene or plastic bags probably just blew there after being lost by accident.
What if everyone removed a bag of plastic once in a while? That's the hope for the leaveitbetter community. If campers and RV-ers left their spots better than they found them we could be a welcome force for good. Until new spaces became available at least the existing ones would be cleaner - and the seas would be too.
Until then, plastic will continue to kill wildlife and enter our food chain.
If this has inspired you to get your own litter picker and you want a double whammy - check out this beauty from WaterHaul . IT Folds down nice and small and it's made from used fishing nets. Discarded fishing gear really get my goat by the way... but that's another blog post.
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