Trash
One of my duties as a campground host at Wallowa Lake State Park was to clean out the campsites after campers left. I was actually quite impressed with how clean most of the campers left their sites—with the exception of the firepits. For some reason, people seem to think the firepit is a trashcan. It is not. Volunteer campground hosts have to shovel out everything you throw in there and a lot to times it can be quite gross.
The trash I picked up was mostly tiny scraps. The number one item was most definitely the cyclophane wrappers from juice box straws. Not the straws, mind you. The wrappers for the straws. Second to that was either bottle tops or those little plastic square things that close bread bags.
Here’s a list from one day’s trash pickup:
- Twist ties
- Hair ties
- Zip ties
- Zipper pull
- Milk caps
- Water caps
- Propane canister caps
- Beer caps
- Beer tabs
- Foil bits
- Cellophane bits
- Marshmallow sticks
- Tent stakes
- Rubber bands
- Rubber package
- Cigarette butts
- Chewing gum
- Corn husks
- Corn cobs
- Corn foil
- Banana peel
- Egg shells
- McDonald’s cups
- 4th of July plastic red white and blue stars
- 4th of July red white and blue banners
- Bits of ribbon
- Bits of string
- Bits of rope
- Broken glasses
- Found sunglasses (with a note)
- Dog hair
- Dog poop
