Three separate places I went to at 8 in the morning. Gas station, dunkin’ donuts, and then a convenience store. All of them, trash is full. People wonder why they litter in the USA, there’s nowhere to throw away trash when you’re out. It’s unbelievable People can just go to work and choose not to do their job anymore. That people see this and they don’t have any problem with it, no interest at all to keep things neat and tidy and clean. Nope.

  • Nikelui@lemmy.world
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    25 days ago

    In Japan it’s almost impossible to find a trash can on the streets and yet people don’t litter. The problem is the culture centered around consumerism and waste.

    • Routhinator@startrek.website
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      25 days ago

      This. Throwing your trash on the ground because you can’t find a trash can amounts to childish entitlement in my eyes.

      No trash cans in the forest, is OP saying they just litter all through nature when they go camping?

          • shalafi@lemmy.world
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            25 days ago

            Keep up the good fight! I’ve got several miles of trail cleaned behind my hood, one more major path to go!

            Maybe you do this, if not, take a plastic retail bag, fold it over twice, while pressing the air out, roll it up tight and rubber band it. I always have 2-4 highly compact bags.

        • Miles O'Brien@startrek.website
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          25 days ago

          I once dropped a water bottle out of my backpack, and couldn’t find it when I retraced my hike, but I did start noticing tons of trash everywhere.

          So I started keeping a trash bag in my backpack, and filling a small bag every time I hike.

          I may not have found my bottle, but I’ll make sure I clean up more than I left every time I’m out.

      • Godnroc@lemmy.world
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        25 days ago

        It’s somewhat comforting to know that no matter how far out in the wild you go you eventually find signs of humanity.

        The fact those signs are pieces of trash that someone either left or blew in on the wind is depressing.

      • spookex@lemmy.world
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        25 days ago

        Funnily enough that’s where I find most of the litter in Japan, like, if you go to any non-main road that goes through a bit of forest, you will see signs threatening fines for littering, with a bunch of trash tossed in that exact area.

        I have seen cans, bottles, ACs, TVs, baby car seats, bags, and general household trash. Also found a golf club once that I actually brought home because I thought that it was neat. And this is only along a single stretch of road that is only like 1km long.

        So Japan isn’t some miracle society that doesn’t litter, it’s just that they do it someplace that is somewhat out of sight.

    • dance_ninja@lemmy.world
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      25 days ago

      With respect to Japan, there’s definitely a culture difference, but I don’t think it’s the consumerism/waste culture. There’s so much excess packaging in Japanese food products.

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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        25 days ago

        Yeah, East Asia doesn’t even try to minimise packaging. Environmentalism just isn’t the same there or something.

      • Nikelui@lemmy.world
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        25 days ago

        I might be wrong, but I assume that the food packaging is a necessity because of the extreme humidity, otherwise it will spoil very fast.

        • dance_ninja@lemmy.world
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          25 days ago

          Packaging is fine, but it’s multiple layers sometimes. I feel it’s more for presentation than function.

      • snooggums@lemmy.world
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        25 days ago

        Yeah, but do they wolf down a half pound of meat plus fried potatoes and a half gallon of sugar water four times a day in Japan?

          • snooggums@lemmy.world
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            25 days ago

            Smaller portions creates exponentially less waste. It also isn’t frequently greasy western fast food waste that is inconvenient to carry around for any period of time.

            Like I wouldn’t mind carrying around a paper wrapper from a nice sandwich place, but fast food waste is greasy and likely to leak.

            • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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              25 days ago

              Dude, larger portions have less packaging, just because of the square-cube law. I’m actually having trouble thinking of a counterexample, even.

              • snooggums@lemmy.world
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                24 days ago

                Larger portions need less wrapping per lb, but more overall packaging than a smaller item. You know, like how more filling requires a bigger tortilla.

                You are also missing the point about the multiple, larger, individually packaged parts. Like how one container from a sit down restaurant is less overall trash than a bag of multiple wrappers, ketchup packets, and a cup from fast food.

                Also, the grease.

                • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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                  23 days ago

                  East Asia loves individually packaged everything. Americans would need to eat ridiculously more food to beat them, just by quantity like you’re suggesting. They do eat a bit more, on average, but not that much - and the gap is closing.

    • tunetardis@lemmy.ca
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      25 days ago

      In fairness, I remember a time when everyone smoked in Japan and flicked cigarette butts all over the place.

    • StaticFalconar@lemmy.world
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      24 days ago

      Plenty of consumerism and waste in Japan. For trash, it’s socially acceptable to ask a store to use their trash can.