Nothing ruins a lovely walk in the park like littered walkways.
A Reddit user shared a video in the r/SanDiego subreddit of the littered walkways at Sweetwater Park in San Diego.
(If you can't view the embedded video, click here.)
"Imagine using a public park and playground for a birthday party and leaving it like this when you're finished," the original poster wrote in the caption of the video. "Shame."
The video shows balloons, food waste, and other trash blown into the plants on the side of a pathway.
"It's all around gotten much worse," the OP added in the comments.
According to Keep America Beautiful, nearly 50 billion pieces of trash are dumped along U.S. roadways and waterways each year. As many as 90% of people believe that litter is a problem.
Trash that isn't properly disposed of can have harmful effects beyond being an eyesore. Trash can pollute soil and waterways by transporting harmful chemicals. Littering can also contribute to air pollution and rising global temperatures, causing health problems such as respiratory disease and asthma.
Trash can also harm wildlife — both marine and on land — that mistake trash for food. Even a small amount of plastic consumed can be fatal to marine wildlife, according to NPR. This is especially true for plastic trash — it breaks down into minuscule microplastics, which account for about 8% of the world's ocean.
By disposing of trash properly, we can help protect the natural beauty of our parks and the wildlife that inhabits them.
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Heck yes 👍 Commenters shared their frustration about trash-littered parks.
"There's trash everywhere," one person wrote. "Nobody cares anymore."
"I hike almost daily and it drives me crazy how overnight you see trash appearing in the canyon trails," another commented.
Others shared how they help combat the problem.
"It drives us nuts too," one commenter wrote. "We always picking up trash on hikes (today) use a grabber and trash bag."
"I bring a grocery trash bag or two on my daily jog and when I go hiking, to pick this type of stuff up," another said. "It's the broken window theory. I think people litter more when they see litter so I try to leave places better than when I found them."
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