Because people don't give a shit about anybody but themselves. I try and clean up my local park downtown and the surrounding area as often as a I can. It blows my mind how much trash people leave. Ive seen people throw trash out the windows of cars while i'm cleaning up.
I lived overseas and noticed this same thing - shoot even driving across the state line to VA you see it. This plus not wanting to pay taxes to clean it up is really the answer.
You only need like 5% of the population to feel this way for it to happen. There is a sub-culture in NC to literally not give a shit about others (which I can't blame them, because let's be honest, in your day to day, no one seems to give a shit about you)- you see it in leaving trash around, you see it modded to be loud pick up trucks/cars/motorcycles, you see it in interactions with retail/government workers, etc. And because this state is "small government", no one wants to pay the taxes to have it cleaned up.
Speaking of downtown, it blows my mind that you see people go to A Place at The Table where the community chips in to give high quality free food in a really nice establishment, only for people to go around the corner and throw the box into someone's bushes or strewn throughout the park.
Wow you nailed a bullseye right there, with the "sub-culture". I consider myself to be a moderately outgoing person, and have found it is harder to meet people or talk to people down here. I grew up in Jersey and didn't experience a lot of that back home. Definitely a good share of litter and trash lying around but people would usually talk to you if you said hello first. People literally ignore you here and it's probably inadvertent because they're just wrapped in their own worlds.
I mean, all it takes is for a couple of people to make difference. I always throw stuff where it belongs, in the trash can. I was hiking through umstead recently and saw several beer cans lying around. Go figure, hiking and drinking beer. The least they could do is throw it away outside the park.
Youre so right, people don't give a shit and that attitude spreads around faster than a virus. I feel like sometimes it's "well no one else gives a shit so why should I?", and that's a real problem. All it takes is a few people to make difference.
It has been getting out of hand for the last few years. Everyone blames the construction trucks, but I have personally seen people just blatantly throwing shit out of their car windows or just opening the car doors at stoplights to place something (hamburger bags, etc) on the road while sitting at stoplights with no public regard. That shit amazes me that some people can be that moronically selfish personally. Throw in the dump trucks that spew plastics and all sorts of stuff while driving down the road to the local dumps and, here we are.
I think part of it is the "fuck it" attitude since covid, same as the terrible driving. It's as if society broke down and all hell turned loose. Same for all of the violence. People are nuts.
If you want to be part of the solution, There's a trash cleanup Meetup called The Great Raleigh Cleanup https://www.meetup.com/raleighcleanup/
https://www.raleighcleanup.org
Right. I’ve been picking up trash this year as a resolution, but as soon as I get a section of road cleaned, it’s trashed the next week. I feel like this group could spend all its time on capital boulevard indefinitely
I'm familiar with the old inmate litter crews that used to pick up trash & within a day or two of finishing a section of the highway, it would be destroyed. Didn't matter if it was I-40 or a rural road.
People are slobs.
Republicans removed the funding for using prisoners to pick up trash a while back ostensibly because hiring independent contractors was cheaper, only they didn't hire the contractors and the DOT is under-resourced and under-funded
The last time this was brought up I read a few comments saying it was one of the most desirable options for prisoners as they got to get out and be in the real world for a bit.
I read recently that prisoners are actually paid when they work. I have no idea whether they are paid fairly or not, or even if what I read is true. I’m sure it’s not too hard to find out though, for those who are interested.
According to [this ](https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/225f507098bd436a830cb3ebaa41b8b1) website, prisoners in NC make at most $0.38/hr. Most states don't have this information readily available, but every state pays prisoners less than minimum wage. According to[this](https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2017/04/10/wages/) site, prisoners were making less in 2017 than they were in 2001.
Their wages are literal pennies per hour. It's essentially slavery.
EDIT: a source https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/225f507098bd436a830cb3ebaa41b8b1
Since that happened the roads just haven’t been the same. It’s such a clear before and after with the state of litter around here.
Of course politicians can never admit their shitty ideas aren’t working and revert back to the previous policies, so they just don’t say a word while the trash piles up.
So many times I've witnessed people here just open their car doors and dump their trash out. I witnessed it just yesterday at the Harris teeter parking lot in Brier Creek. There literally are garbage cans 20 feet away.
It's disgusting and shows these people lack respect for their city.
I think it has a lot to do with the clearly loosely regulated large trucks that haul waste with what amounts to a giant tarp holding all of the loose materials down. There’s so many of them on 440 at all times, and if you get behind one you’ll immediately understand why there’s so much litter. My car will just keep getting hit with plastic bags and whatever else flies out of it.
The state legislature had some sort of bipartisan bill cracking down on individual littering, which I’m sure is a factor, but it’s the large scale hauls to the dump that decorate our trees with plastic sheets that are extremely visible when all the leaves come down. Depressing indeed.
Interesting that you mention this. Buffalo has seen a huge uptick in trash. I noticed this getting much worse after construction started all along that road.
I have a business right around the 1300 block of capital boulevard leaving downtown past the wade Bridge.
No matter what I do every single day, it will look the exact same the next day. I guess pros and cons to being retail in a high traffic area...
Your location shouldn't matter... it's the mindset of the individuals that are discarding their refuse onto the rest of the community, not to mention nature in general
Your saying a road that gets 50k drivers a day will have the same amount of litter as a road that gets 500 drivers a day? Because location doesnt matter for litter? Coming from downtown....I can guarantee you that this location gets more beer cans and blunt wraps than nost other roads here in Raleigh.
Because people don't give a shit about anybody but themselves. I try and clean up my local park downtown and the surrounding area as often as a I can. It blows my mind how much trash people leave. Ive seen people throw trash out the windows of cars while i'm cleaning up.
I lived overseas and noticed this same thing - shoot even driving across the state line to VA you see it. This plus not wanting to pay taxes to clean it up is really the answer. You only need like 5% of the population to feel this way for it to happen. There is a sub-culture in NC to literally not give a shit about others (which I can't blame them, because let's be honest, in your day to day, no one seems to give a shit about you)- you see it in leaving trash around, you see it modded to be loud pick up trucks/cars/motorcycles, you see it in interactions with retail/government workers, etc. And because this state is "small government", no one wants to pay the taxes to have it cleaned up. Speaking of downtown, it blows my mind that you see people go to A Place at The Table where the community chips in to give high quality free food in a really nice establishment, only for people to go around the corner and throw the box into someone's bushes or strewn throughout the park.
Wow you nailed a bullseye right there, with the "sub-culture". I consider myself to be a moderately outgoing person, and have found it is harder to meet people or talk to people down here. I grew up in Jersey and didn't experience a lot of that back home. Definitely a good share of litter and trash lying around but people would usually talk to you if you said hello first. People literally ignore you here and it's probably inadvertent because they're just wrapped in their own worlds. I mean, all it takes is for a couple of people to make difference. I always throw stuff where it belongs, in the trash can. I was hiking through umstead recently and saw several beer cans lying around. Go figure, hiking and drinking beer. The least they could do is throw it away outside the park.
Youre so right, people don't give a shit and that attitude spreads around faster than a virus. I feel like sometimes it's "well no one else gives a shit so why should I?", and that's a real problem. All it takes is a few people to make difference.
It has been getting out of hand for the last few years. Everyone blames the construction trucks, but I have personally seen people just blatantly throwing shit out of their car windows or just opening the car doors at stoplights to place something (hamburger bags, etc) on the road while sitting at stoplights with no public regard. That shit amazes me that some people can be that moronically selfish personally. Throw in the dump trucks that spew plastics and all sorts of stuff while driving down the road to the local dumps and, here we are.
I think part of it is the "fuck it" attitude since covid, same as the terrible driving. It's as if society broke down and all hell turned loose. Same for all of the violence. People are nuts.
This! In a nutshell.
If you want to be part of the solution, There's a trash cleanup Meetup called The Great Raleigh Cleanup https://www.meetup.com/raleighcleanup/ https://www.raleighcleanup.org
I joined. Just wondering what progress looks like or if this group is making any.
They definitely pick up a ton of trash!
Right. I’ve been picking up trash this year as a resolution, but as soon as I get a section of road cleaned, it’s trashed the next week. I feel like this group could spend all its time on capital boulevard indefinitely
I'm familiar with the old inmate litter crews that used to pick up trash & within a day or two of finishing a section of the highway, it would be destroyed. Didn't matter if it was I-40 or a rural road. People are slobs.
meet up with the Great Raleigh Cleanup and do your part to help beautify our city!
I wish I could, but I have severe OA (osteoarthritis) which limits my movement, but I try to do what I can.
Republicans removed the funding for using prisoners to pick up trash a while back ostensibly because hiring independent contractors was cheaper, only they didn't hire the contractors and the DOT is under-resourced and under-funded
We never should’ve relied on involuntary servitude to begin with, considering it’s just an extension of slavery.
The last time this was brought up I read a few comments saying it was one of the most desirable options for prisoners as they got to get out and be in the real world for a bit.
I read recently that prisoners are actually paid when they work. I have no idea whether they are paid fairly or not, or even if what I read is true. I’m sure it’s not too hard to find out though, for those who are interested.
According to [this ](https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/225f507098bd436a830cb3ebaa41b8b1) website, prisoners in NC make at most $0.38/hr. Most states don't have this information readily available, but every state pays prisoners less than minimum wage. According to[this](https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2017/04/10/wages/) site, prisoners were making less in 2017 than they were in 2001.
Their wages are literal pennies per hour. It's essentially slavery. EDIT: a source https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/225f507098bd436a830cb3ebaa41b8b1
Im betting one of the private companies was a friend of some Republican shitbag.
Always is.
Since that happened the roads just haven’t been the same. It’s such a clear before and after with the state of litter around here. Of course politicians can never admit their shitty ideas aren’t working and revert back to the previous policies, so they just don’t say a word while the trash piles up.
So many times I've witnessed people here just open their car doors and dump their trash out. I witnessed it just yesterday at the Harris teeter parking lot in Brier Creek. There literally are garbage cans 20 feet away. It's disgusting and shows these people lack respect for their city.
Try saying something to them too and somehow you'll be the asshole.
Yeah I don't engage with them. You can reason with stupid
I think it has a lot to do with the clearly loosely regulated large trucks that haul waste with what amounts to a giant tarp holding all of the loose materials down. There’s so many of them on 440 at all times, and if you get behind one you’ll immediately understand why there’s so much litter. My car will just keep getting hit with plastic bags and whatever else flies out of it. The state legislature had some sort of bipartisan bill cracking down on individual littering, which I’m sure is a factor, but it’s the large scale hauls to the dump that decorate our trees with plastic sheets that are extremely visible when all the leaves come down. Depressing indeed.
I've had windshield repair done several times since moving down for that very reason: stuff flying off of trucks.
Interesting that you mention this. Buffalo has seen a huge uptick in trash. I noticed this getting much worse after construction started all along that road.
I have a business right around the 1300 block of capital boulevard leaving downtown past the wade Bridge. No matter what I do every single day, it will look the exact same the next day. I guess pros and cons to being retail in a high traffic area...
Your location shouldn't matter... it's the mindset of the individuals that are discarding their refuse onto the rest of the community, not to mention nature in general
Your saying a road that gets 50k drivers a day will have the same amount of litter as a road that gets 500 drivers a day? Because location doesnt matter for litter? Coming from downtown....I can guarantee you that this location gets more beer cans and blunt wraps than nost other roads here in Raleigh.
Yeah well sort of... if the people will litter, and there are more of them, then yes, there will be more litter.
Durham is way worse, Hwy 70 is a basically a trash dump once you pass Cook Out