Inspiring, not shaming: St. John's woman posts litter online to encourage change

When Laura Casey moved recently to the west end of Water Street in St. John's, she began to find disposable coffee cups left in her driveway.

Her new home was near a Tim Hortons and a bus stop, and Casey said that seeing the garbage left behind led her to begin picking it up as she made her way around the city — and posting about it on social media.

"I don't like the term shaming. That's not the intention," she said of her Instagram posts, which show the litter she picks up while walking around the city.

"It's to reach the people that are willing to hear the message."

That message? Even if you didn't put the litter on the ground, you can still take some responsibility for it.

"People constantly walk past garbage, thinking that it's another person's problem," Casey told the St. John's Morning Show.

"It's our problem."

170 pieces of litter each

Casey isn't the first in the city to share that message. Two St. John's women, Kiley Best and Kim Byrne, started the PloggingNL social media account to encourage others to pick up trash when they're on the move.

A 2017 report from the province's Multi-Materials Stewardship Board found that the women have plenty to pick up, estimating that there are 170 pieces of litter for every single person in the province.

The city's deputy mayor, Sheilagh O'Leary, said that she commends Casey on her efforts.

"I do the same thing," O'Leary said. "When I go out hiking, which I do often, I pick up the garbage along the way and then just dispose of it in the next garbage receptacle that I can find."

Sometimes finding that receptacle is the issue, said Casey, adding that even in busy areas of the city garbage cans are often full or in bad condition.

On Monday, O'Leary brought up the issue of getting more lids on the city's concrete garbage containers, something she said she has advocated for for several years, at a city council meeting.

The concrete open-faced bins are durable and don't blow over in the wind, she said, but the open top means that garbage can blow around, snow can get in, and people can easily fill them up with household garbage.

Some of the bins have had covers put on them, she said, but she expects to get information from public works about the number still left open in the coming days.

Everyone's problem

The City of St. John's is responsible for things like providing and cleaning out garbage bins, O'Leary said, and the city-supported non-profit organization Clean St. John's works on education and community cleanups.

However, the city's residents play an important role too, she said.

"I really do believe that there really has to be a combination of personal responsibility around littering issues as well as the work that the City of St. John's does with the public works department."

Posts on social media are part of taking that responsibility, Casey said. She believes by using her own sphere of influence to reach other people, they might change their own behaviour and also start picking up litter.

Ultimately, she said, making that change is doable. She herself nests coffee cups while walking her dogs — "see how large my little sword can get before I hit a garbage bin" — or puts litter in the reusable shopping bag she carries.

"It's not too hard. We've trained ourselves to carry around a little computer every day. We've trained ourselves to not leave the house without that," she said.

"We can train ourselves to bring a disposable cup or a bag."

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