Balloon littering

[txdon]

Balloons I can handle. It's the +200 pounds of alcohol bottles and cans that end up on the sides of my road each year. You KNOW someone was drinking and driving.

Exactly. Now here is where we need NEW Laws on selling cold beer. (Easy to enforce on the sellers) Especially in single 32oz cans sitting in a tray of ice at the convince store.

 

[dave1949]

We have a 5 cent deposit on all beverage containers except milk. Beer bottles and cans are 95% of the containers I see along the road, I suppose to get rid of potential DUI evidence/probable cause. The only reason the deposit law works to reduce litter here is because people will walk the roads picking them up for the deposit; they are still getting tossed.

Our local bottle picker got fatally run over a couple years back.

 

[DT86]

Exactly. Now here is where we need NEW Laws on selling cold beer. (Easy to enforce on the sellers) Especially in single 32oz cans sitting in a tray of ice at the convince store.

That was the biggest shock my first trip to Texas. Tall Boy cans sitting in ice right beside the checkout. I thought "no wonder truck brush guards are built in Texas, they're all driving along drunk and hitting s**t."

 

[Billrog]

Thought I'd post a pic. of the balloon I found in a small fir tree this winter with the needles burned in approx. 12" diameter that concerned me could start a forest fire in dry season. I've seen lots of them in the night sky but figured the candle would go out before the balloon ever landed.

 

[PILOON]

I get far more trash from the garbage trucks. They use the trucks that pick up the cart and dump it. On windy days(everyday) the trash blows out and they do not get out and pick it up.

I will take the balloons. The mini hot air balloons are a different story. I used to make those out of dry cleaning bags when I was a kid. Good chance of starting a fire when they come down. We use alcohol as the fuel so only burned for less than a minute but still a risk.

Even worse here. They use 1 ton PU's with open backs and the hydraulic lift/dump mechanism.
The driver knows only one speed. Pedal to the metal!, hey he spins wheels going downhill (and up)

On the upside we know if he has passed. Cancelled checks, newspaper, milk cartons everywhere he has gone.
The PU meets a big compactor truck at intersections and transfers his load.

Now to solve the trash problem they want to install MOLOCKS every mile or so and we will be the trash transporter.
A MOLOC is a huge bag 3/4 buried in the ground that they will empty every couple of weeks or so.
They want 3 MOLOCKS, recycle, trash and compost able.

So in future my car will smell like the trash truck all so city can save a few $$'s

 

[txdon]

Thought I'd post a pic. of the balloon I found in a small fir tree this winter with the needles burned in approx. 12" diameter that concerned me could start a forest fire in dry season. I've seen lots of them in the night sky but figured the candle would go out before the balloon ever landed.View attachment 415876View attachment 415877

Thanks for posting the pic. Those candle balloons are worrisome. They all don't self extinguish.

 

[PILOON]

We have a 5 cent deposit on all beverage containers except milk. Beer bottles and cans are 95% of the containers I see along the road, I suppose to get rid of potential DUI evidence/probable cause. The only reason the deposit law works to reduce litter here is because people will walk the roads picking them up for the deposit; they are still getting tossed.

Our local bottle picker got fatally run over a couple years back.

Here in Quebec the deposit applies on all but wine bottles and water bottles.
Our booze is distributed by the Govt liqueur board and naturally they do not wish to collect empties.
The official argument was that wine consumers were more responsible than beer and cola folks and would not litter so wine is 'no deposit'.
I can only suggest that the water bottles came after the poorly written deposit laws were written.
That and the big players in water have powerful lawyers that were able to block any amendments so they passed fines down to the consumer level.

Tins are $$ for the gov't as aluminum is cheaper to recycle than smelting new product.
Read that the aluminum tins actually is reused for up to 9 times.

Some plastic is recycled but it ends up as a # that they do not want in the recycle bin.

 

[txdon]

That was the biggest shock my first trip to Texas. Tall Boy cans sitting in ice right beside the checkout. I thought "no wonder truck brush guards are built in Texas, they're all driving along drunk and hitting s**t."

Good observation.
Actually they are protection from all the wild pigs and deer on the roadways. So when you hit a deer going 75mph you can repair the truck AND the brush guard.

 

[dave1949]

Here in Quebec the deposit applies on all but wine bottles and water bottles.
Our booze is distributed by the Govt liqueur board and naturally they do not wish to collect empties.
The official argument was that wine consumers were more responsible than beer and cola folks and would not litter so wine is 'no deposit'.
I can only suggest that the water bottles came after the poorly written deposit laws were written.
That and the big players in water have powerful lawyers that were able to block any amendments so they passed fines down to the consumer level.

Tins are $$ for the gov't as aluminum is cheaper to recycle than smelting new product.
Read that the aluminum tins actually is reused for up to 9 times.

Some plastic is recycled but it ends up as a # that they do not want in the recycle bin.

I forgot wine and liquor bottles, they are 15 cents. I have no idea why. Orange juice in a waxed cardboard carton has no deposit, OJ in plastic does. Bottled water has a deposit. Every year or two the beverage distributors who have to deal with the empties accounting try to get rid of the deposit law.

#2 and milk cartons are the only types of plastic we can turn-in for recycling now. I guess there isn't a good recycling market for the rest of it which is a shame.