Why is it that people here in Tulsa can't attend an hour long fireworks display on July 4th without leaving litter all over the place? Veterans Park was a mess the morning of July 5th, despite trash cans placed every 20 feet or so throughout the park.
Yet in Wisconsin, a car show that runs 4 days and brings in over 100,000 people produces almost NO litter?
I drove through Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Oklahoma last week and Oklahoma by far was the dirtiest state when it comes to litter and trash next to the road.
What is it about Oklahoma? Do people here have so little pride in their state that they don't care? Or are Oklahomans too ignorant to know any better? Perhaps they're just rude.
We should be embarrassed that our fellow citizens just don't seem to care.
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Kind of a random rant.
Was there picnicking and 90,000 people arriving and departing within a 4-hr span at your miraculously clean midwestern car show?
I was at Boulder Park and had to walk about 200 yds to find a trash can to throw away my garbage (once a Scout . . . ). When I finally found one, it was overflowing and I had to place my trash sack next to the can.
I doubt that Tulsa has a dramatically higher rate of littering than anywhere else. It's probably just an issue of convenience. Maybe Tulsa Parks & Recreation Dept. could arrange for more trash cans/trash collectors at large events.
I wish I knew the answer. I've noticed the same thing.
Most of these mouth-breathers obviously have no pride in themselves, why would they have pride in their City / State or the environment around them?
I'm sure some also think they're simply 'too good' to waddle over to the trash can.
Just the other day I was driving down Riverside and this sh*tty Caprice just dumped 2 fast food sacks out of their window. I just don't understand...
quote:
Originally posted by Floyd
Kind of a random rant.
Was there picnicking and 90,000 people arriving and departing within a 4-hr span at your miraculously clean midwestern car show?
I was at Boulder Park and had to walk about 200 yds to find a trash can to throw away my garbage (once a Scout . . . ). When I finally found one, it was overflowing and I had to place my trash sack next to the can.
I doubt that Tulsa has a dramatically higher rate of littering than anywhere else. It's probably just an issue of convenience. Maybe Tulsa Parks & Recreation Dept. could arrange for more trash cans/trash collectors at large events.
Yes, there were meals being served constantly.
I don't know what the conditions at Boulder Park were like, but if they had more trash cans at Veterans Park, there wouldn't have been room for people!
If you traveled much at all, you'd know immediately that Tulsa has a much worse problem with litter than other cities. Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Minneapolis/St. Paul...all were much cleaner than Tulsa. It was a dramatic difference.
Try driving a mile anywhere in the city and not finding litter. It can't be done.
I can tell ya this, Ohio is not exactly the Nation's cleanest state, and I'd bet Oklahoma is cleaner than Ohio. I have never noticed Oklahoma to be a dirty state, but then there's alot of things I fail to notice. I know when I lived in Texas they had slogans such as "Don't mess with Texas", "Don't lay that trash on Texas" and other such anti-litter slogans like that. I dunno if Texas still uses those slogans or not...
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Originally posted by grahambino
Just the other day I was driving down Riverside and this sh*tty Caprice just dumped 2 fast food sacks out of their window. I just don't understand...
You can imagine what their home looks like.
People around here can be really inconsiderate. I also noticed the litter at Veteran's park -- it was something to see.
It's not just trash. I think the same thing is true of smokers violating the local law and smoking in front of doorways downtown.
Some people just suck.
I remember when Tulsa had the label as America's Cleanest City. That was when there was a $100 fine (1960's dollars) for littering.
FWIW I think there were a lot of kids in the crowd at Veterans and once the show was over it was dark and the crowds just started moving. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.
The mentality is starting to go towards "it's a city function...they will clean up!"
It's their "God-Given right" to be lazy. They don't realize/care that everything costs $$.
I just got back from north central Wisconsin, also. One observation: Everyone recycles everything up there. When we asked about it, they said that recycling is free, but trash service is really expensive. If the trash haulers notice too many recyclables in your trash, they can refuse to pick it up!!! I love it! As a result, everywhere you went (bars, gas stations, public parks, airports, etc) they had three bins: paper, aluminum/metal, and plastic...plus one for "trash."
Bring back deposit bottles and cans.
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Originally posted by breitee
Bring back deposit bottles and cans.
+1, that would go a long way.
While I find the sentiment about the clean car show (different crowd, event organizers probably had clean up crews, trash cans were probable in place, not 90,000 people in and out in 4 hours), the sentiment about there being too much trash in Tulsa and Oklahoma is true. Not sure why, but help fight the good fight, pick up some every now and then.
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Originally posted by Breadburner
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[}:)]
Killing me.
What gets me is the lack of recycling. I see college educated middle class people throwing aluminum cans or plastic bottles in a trash can and I think what planet do these people come from? Don't they understand that not recycling is no longer acceptable? Even my own (extended) family doesn't recycle. After a family event I dig their cans and bottles out of the trash and put it in our recycling bin.
It's like finding out people don't wear shoes or know how to write.
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Originally posted by Hometown
What gets me is the lack of recycling. I see college educated middle class people throwing aluminum cans or plastic bottles in a trash can and I think what planet do these people come from? Don't they understand that not recycling is no longer acceptable? Even my own (extended) family doesn't recycle. After a family event I dig their cans and bottles out of the trash and put it in our recycling bin.
It's like finding out people don't wear shoes or know how to write.
well there is a certain person on this board that could probably work towards fixing that if he can stop licking KKTs boots long enough.
One only needs to look east to Fayetteville to see a good recycling program.
Shut up inteller.
I have spent over two decades building recycling infrastructure in this town. I have gone all over the country to bring recycling businesses to Oklahoma. I have built 12 recycling businesses in the metro area and employ over 100 workers who help people recycle seven days a week. I have written legislation, given hundreds of speeches, and have picked up and shoveled tons of recyclables myself.
What have you done, inteller? You are a pimple on the butt of this town and should be squeezed till your head pops off.
Cities that charge alot for trash pick-up get alot of illegal dumping. People don't want to pay a ton of money to get some trash hauled away, so they get rid of their trash another way.
Speaking of recycling RM, what the most worthwhile recycling items (common to a household):
Aluminum cans?
Glass?
Plastic (what kinds)?
Paper (newspaper)?
Steel (tin cans?
Sorry to sound crappy on this, but what is it worth recycling? I do cans and paper pretty well. Working on the glass. Is glass and plastic worth it? I hear plastic prices are rising, does that help you?
Kind random, but I was wondering that. Either economically or environmentally, what should my priorities be.
quote:
Originally posted by cannon_fodder
Speaking of recycling RM, what the most worthwhile recycling items (common to a household):
Aluminum cans?
Glass?
Plastic (what kinds)?
Paper (newspaper)?
Steel (tin cans?
Sorry to sound crappy on this, but what is it worth recycling? I do cans and paper pretty well. Working on the glass. Is glass and plastic worth it? I hear plastic prices are rising, does that help you?
Kind random, but I was wondering that. Either economically or environmentally, what should my priorities be.
Thank you for the question.
The most important item to recycle based on dollar value is paper. That is why you have a company that provides free bins to arera schools and churches. Paper is the cream off the top in the residential recycling business. 45% of all the revenue I made last year was on one commodity newspaper. Magazines, junk mail and office paper all are most valuable.
The price of newspaper I get is higher than the price I get for steel and steel prices have tripled in the last three years. The difference to consumers is that you can easily sell a load of steel at multiple locations, while the couple of buyers of newspaper only talk to you if you got a ton or more at a time.
I make more money in December from Newspaper because the paper is bigger. There were Sundays that I made fifteen cents profit per edition. I have no idea how the Tulsa World can pay such high prices.
"Newspaper, it's too valuable to line bird cages ever again."
RecycleMichael
quote:
Originally posted by T-Town Now
Why is it that people here in Tulsa can't attend an hour long fireworks display on July 4th without leaving litter all over the place? Veterans Park was a mess the morning of July 5th, despite trash cans placed every 20 feet or so throughout the park.
Yet in Wisconsin, a car show that runs 4 days and brings in over 100,000 people produces almost NO litter?
I drove through Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Oklahoma last week and Oklahoma by far was the dirtiest state when it comes to litter and trash next to the road.
What is it about Oklahoma? Do people here have so little pride in their state that they don't care? Or are Oklahomans too ignorant to know any better? Perhaps they're just rude.
We should be embarrassed that our fellow citizens just don't seem to care.
I have often wondered the same thing TTownNow. I don't really know the answer but I guess it is just the growing lazy attitude of society in general. I walk the streets of my midtown Tulsa subdivision about twice a month, picking up trash, pop cans, straws, cigarette butts, and a multitude of human trash along the street and gutters.
I don't understand the lazy, slovenly attitude of my neighbors either. When I see trash in my yard or on the street within 50 feet of my house, I pick it up and dispose of it properly, immediately, within my first sighting of said trash. My neighbors can have beer cans and such lying in their front yard for days, and will not pick it up until they see fit to cut the grass or it becomes an obsticle. Go figure.
I guess my parents did their job with me in instilling pride of ownership and a basic sence of decency.
quote:
Originally posted by Steve
I have often wondered the same thing TTownNow. I don't really know the answer but I guess it is just the growing lazy attitude of society in general. I walk the streets of my midtown Tulsa subdivision about twice a month, picking up trash, pop cans, straws, cigarette butts, and a multitude of human trash along the street and gutters.
I don't understand the lazy, slovenly attitude of my neighbors either. When I see trash in my yard or on the street within 50 feet of my house, I pick it up and dispose of it properly, immediately, within my first sighting of said trash. My neighbors can have beer cans and such lying in their front yard for days, and will not pick it up until they see fit to cut the grass or it becomes an obsticle. Go figure.
I guess my parents did their job with me in instilling pride of ownership and a basic sence of decency.
I have the same thing in my neighborhood, Steve. Those little newspapers that get thrown on driveways will lay there until Mother Earth recycles them. People will drove over them for months and not pick them up. Trash in the curb? It's someone else's problem.
I drove from downtown Tulsa to 51st and Sheridan for lunch today. I saw litter everywhere, all along the way. One of the best examples is the Broken Arrow expressway on ramp heading west. Trash EVERYWHERE. And LOTS OF IT. I guess they haven't mowed that area recently and shredded it up into tiny pieces, because that's the only way it will get addressed.)
Most Tulsans apparently have absolutely no pride in their community. It's embarrassing. And we wonder why so many have a negative impression of Tulsa. One only needs to look at the sea of trash everywhere in the city to understand why. If the people who live here have that little respect for the city, why should an outsider care?
One time I was driving around town and realized that the QT logo was everywhere...on the ground. Once I started paying attention, I realized that QT cups where thrown all over the place, and you could even recognize them while driving down the highway.
QT is such a good corporate citizen...what are they doing for clean-up and recycling efforts in town?
I used to get the dishwasher safe #2 plastic QT cups and would take them back dozens of times for refills. Now, you can still take your cup back for refills...but they seem sort of flimsy, so I'm not sure how many people think to do it.
Also, why is it that you can't recycle #2 plastic if it doesn't have a "screw top?" I used to throw old stadium/QT cups in the recycling, until I was told that they wouldn't actually get recycled! Why isn't a #2 a #2?
And, why can't we recycle #5s in Tulsa? (Like yogurt cups or cottage cheese containers.)
I appreciate the recycle days at the fairgrounds. It gives me a way to responsibly get rid of stuff that there is no other way to do.
Thanks red arrow.
Those weekends are among the most gratifying in my job. Regular recycling saves landfill space or trees, but collecting those chemicals twice-a-year saves lives.
We have collected materials from almost a hundred thousand homes in the Tulsa area. Every gallon we collect is a victory to make Tulsa safer.
Ponder, start a new thread asking your recycling questions and I will try to answer.