Litter: a reflection
On Saturday 20 November about a dozen of Levin Uniting parishioners gathered at the church to be briefed by our Ministry Intern, Brett, and then, armed with gardening gloves and sunhats, and plastic bags supplied by the District Council, we spent an hour collecting rubbish from the adjacent Adventure Park. We returned with a total of four large black plastic bags of aluminium cans, bottles and sundry plastic items. The Park is well designed with strategically placed rubbish bins and yet users had often – it seemed – just thrown away these items!
Some years ago I dug out an old compost pit. Discarded organic material [vegetable peelings, hedge clippings...] put into the compost pit over many years had become fertile black soil which I spread onto the vegetable garden. But I also found plastic bags, lolly wrappings and tins which had hardly biodegraded at all and seemed likely to remain unchanged for – perhaps – hundreds or even thousands of years!!
And therein lies the difference between human litter and natural litter! Trees naturally shed their leaves each year; leaves which fall to the ground as ‘litter’ are immediately attacked by micro flora and fauna which release nutrients back into the soil, to be picked up by tree roots as lifecycles continue. We can help by spreading wood chips and pruned branches on the ground surface. In a natural ecosystem, litter is essential as a means of recycling nutrients.
But, in our industrial economy, we have invented materials such as plastic which do not quickly break down when discarded. And so we have albatross’s dying because of plastic bottles in their stomachs, we hear reports of plastic bags in the deepest ocean trenches and microplastic particles in beach sand around the world... I even remember a tidal waterway in Jakarta, Indonesia, which was so clogged with debris that no water could be seen!
New uses are being found, such as making plastic bags into fence posts! Research is also underway to invent materials that combine strength with quicker rates of breakdown or decomposition,... but careless and thoughtless behaviour still sees plastic items thrown out of car windows or otherwise discarded to clog footpaths, parks and other public places. ‘Out of sight, out of mind’ is a common attitude in our wasteful, throwaway society!
Over time ‘nature’ has developed the ability to breakdown all items of litter discarded by plants and animals, but nature cannot quickly break down human litter and so rubbish accumulates to pollute the land and sea scape, and toxic smoke pollutes the atmosphere!
As Christians we are challenged to love the world and to care for our planet. A good place for each of us to start is on our properties, and around our church. As faithful servants of our Lord, Sadie tends the church garden, Murray mows the lawn, David, Paul and their works team keep the church and grounds secure, well painted and tidy – all for God’s glory and as a witness of care to the general community. Let us all love as God loves, by caring for our environs – not just today, but every day!
Rev Dr Bob Eyles
Worship Leader and retired minister