Ok this is probably going to make some truck owners mad, but its the truth as I see it.
The other day I was driving on 99 south and watched several white plastic grocery bags whoosh out of the bed of the pickup truck in front of me. I watched them float to the side of the road, and my eye immediately saw more debris. In a half mile stretch I saw the following trash items along the roadside:
plastic garbage bags
plastic grocery bags
plastic lawn chair
plastic bucket
plastic 2 liter soda bottles
sofa cushion
newspapers (couldn’t tell if it was the ER or the News and Review)
soda cans
small plastic soda bottles
When I briefly lived in Paradise ten years ago I saw similar stuff flying out of the backs of pickup trucks going down the Skyway constantly and I was reminded of that again when I saw the bags float out of the back of the truck on 99. I was also reminded of the many times I’ve walked by a pickup truck in a parking lot an seen a collection of trash in the bed because the owner is too slovenly or lazy to clean it out..
It’s not just trash haulers en route to the dump that don’t secure loads, some owners just get lazy and toss their daily soda cans, newspapers and junk mail in the back of the truck intending to “clean it up later”. But having seen firsthand how many times I’ve seen drivers whom are oblivious to the fact that their pickup truck is floating out wind driven garbage while they drive down the road I’m pretty sure this is a significant contributor to roadside trash if not the biggest.
You could blame the problem on intentional littering, but how many times do you see people tossing 2 liter plastic bottles, plastic buckets, plastic lawn chairs, cushions, or newspapers out their car windows?
Please folks, if you own a pickup truck, its not a license to litter. Secure or empty that trash before you drive.