Trash Cleanup at Rooms To Go in Orlando, Florida
Yesterday I was out biking with my friends Juli and Harley and I took them to one of my favorite mulberry trees to enjoy nature’s bounty. We were greeted by an environment littered with garbage.
I have been coming here for over a year and always looked at the trash and thought about picking it up. It seemed like a daunting task though. With friends, I got the idea that maybe it could be done.
We got right to it. I usually use bags that I collect from within the litter to hold the garbage in order to not create more trash just to collect trash.
But we quickly realized that wasn’t going to be enough, so we went inside the store and asked for some garbage bags.
It didn’t take us long to realize that the garbage was coming from the business next door. All or most of this trash, was thrown here over the last few years from the truck drivers at the Rooms to Go at 5200 E Colonial Dr Orlando, FL 32807. Plastic bags full of to-go containers, chip bags, and no less than 200 soda bottles full of pee made up a good bulk of the trash along with truck tires and parts. It was hard to believe that this business would allow this to happen.
We picked up over 2,000 pieces of trash in just about an hour. When I lifted my head and scanned the area, I was shocked at how transformed the place was. Right in front of my eyes I saw it go from a trash dump to a clean-ish lakeside spot.
With just a small portion of time amongst friends, we did something worthwhile.
When a place is clean, people are more likely to keep it clean. When a place is trashed, people are more likely to keep trashing it.
Now the important part is to change the habit of the business and people there. We went into the store and talked to an employee and told him what was happening. I will be monitoring the place to see if trash is continued to be dumped there. If it is, then I will report the store. Not because I have any desire to get anyone in trouble, but because it’s their basic responsibility to put the garbage into a dumpster, not the lake.
Picking up trash is not the solution, and neither is putting it in a dumpster. A better solution is to not create the trash in the first place. But some situations call for a good old trash cleanup with friends!