Stash Your Trash

While visiting my local truck stop lately, I’ve noticed a bit more trash than usual making its way into the parking lot area and being wind-blown into neighboring properties. As hard as the workers try at maintaining a clean lot for professional drivers to park in, it is no wonder they have to charge for a lot of parking spots these days.  I decided to take a walk around and snap a few photos of what I mean and if a picture is worth a thousand words, then the wafting scent of human urine in the warm desert air should be the equivalent or “War and Peace” from cover to cover!  As hard as I fight to be the exception to the stereotype that these few “dirty birdies” have caused drivers to be labeled with throughout the years, I can only imagine what the truck stop staff think when all of this goes on daily.

Although I don’t claim to be perfect by any means, I always exert a certain level of respect for my environment and those around me, that it is evident I want people to think differently of me.  I do take it a little far on cleanliness sometimes, like the time I was caught in the morning fog up on the roof of my truck wiping off the dew so it wouldn’t streak my paint when the sun came out.  One of the things I despise most though is when I see someone littering. It boggles my brain how someone could think to leave a jug of urine lying around, or even toss a half full cup of coffee out the window when leaving the fuel island, despite the trashcans located at each fuel pump!  I mean, I go as far as to not even spit sunflower seed shells out the window because I would feel wrong doing so, let alone some of the things I see out there from other drivers all the time.

One thing that can be done by each and every one of us to help combat the problem is to “stash and trash” rubbish properly.  Although it seems simple enough, the fact that these littering events are witnessed quite often goes to show that the industry could benefit from more people taking up proper garbage disposal.  I always carry a few extra grocery shopping bags in the truck and hang them one at a time, out of sight and out of mind, to collect my trash until I get to a proper receptacle.  Don’t be part of the problem, be part of the solution!  Respect the property that is provided to you to use like truck stop parking lots and rest areas by taking your trash with you, or depositing it into provided litter cans.  Walking the extra 50 to 100 steps to find one will do you good and help promote a better image for all of us!