Fewer trash cans in parks: A student’s perspective

That’s the BigBelly solar-powered trash compactor west of the Alki Bathhouse, a demonstration project of sorts for the city, which is reducing the number of trash cans in local parks (as reported this week by the Times). When the trash-can-reduction campaign came up in the WSB Forums, member Que mentioned that her 8-year-old daughter had an opinion on the matter, after deciding to practice her reading by perusing the aforementioned article. We invited Que to offer her daughter the chance to practice writing by elaborating and sharing it with us (and you). Here’s the result!

I read the newspaper and there was an article about how they were taking the trashcans away from the parks. I don’t believe that they should take the trash cans away because then people will litter. Everyone uses the parks. People use them for playing and having fun and having picnics. We need to have trashcans because people will leave all their trash in the parks. This will make the parks disgusting. Then the parks will be full of trash and bags of poop. That will make the parks not fun anymore and the Moms will not want to take their kids there for picnics because they will be gross. I don’t think that the city is going to save enough money to make it worth having yucky parks. How much money would we all give to have nice parks? The city should find a different place to save that money.

– Rosemary A.
age 8

26 Replies to "Fewer trash cans in parks: A student's perspective"

  • Timothy Clemans May 29, 2009 (12:04 am)

    Very cute! Now if only the Parks Department had the same common sense of this eight year old.

  • Mike May 29, 2009 (12:21 am)

    I totally agree with the 8 year old. 100%

  • JanS May 29, 2009 (5:02 am)

    Amen !

  • sa May 29, 2009 (6:05 am)

    Rosemary for Mayor

  • Brian May 29, 2009 (6:08 am)

    It seems harder to find trash cans anywhere these days. I think the broader issue is we are such a throw away society, that would be fine if there were still only a few billion people on the planet. As long as the population keeps pushing upwards we are going to have to modify our behavior. 1 dog per family?

  • Jo May 29, 2009 (6:13 am)

    Good job, Rosemary.
    You said it better than most adults would have.
    Thanks for sharing your very grown-up 8-year old perspective.

  • anon May 29, 2009 (6:34 am)

    Great Job Rosemary!

    An eight year old has more intellect than our city leaders!

  • Babs May 29, 2009 (6:44 am)

    I wonder if the person who made this decision to remove trash cans from public parks where people go in high numbers was in charge of plowing Seattle streets in December 2009?

  • JunctionMonkey May 29, 2009 (7:29 am)

    The issue really is that someone has to empty those trash cans so how do you pay for the people, truck, service, debt, etc. More trashcans mean more expense for an already cash-strapped city budget. Budget cuts mean cuts in services. In a perfect world you would take your refuse with you and dispose of it at home.
    Either way – you pay for it.

  • sam May 29, 2009 (7:58 am)

    Good job Rosemary!
    I hadn’t really been too concerned about it. Usually don’t have a lot of throw away items. But she brought up a good point that I hadn’t thought about.
    the dog poop.
    I don’t want to carry around a bag of dog poop with me until I get home, especially when I’m also handling a child, assorted child items, and possibly food too. that’s just gross.

  • hollyplace May 29, 2009 (8:21 am)

    I was lucky enought to meet Rosemary at the park last week during low-tide. What a wonderful, caring girl. Not only was she spreading the word about the trash can problem at the park(I over heard her telling her friend about it), but she offered to push my 2-year-old on the swing while I had a picnic with my friend. She was delighted to have the attention of an older girl, and then later Rosemary took the time to point out starfish to our kids. Be proud of yourself Mom, you are raising an amazing girl!

  • Tom May 29, 2009 (8:47 am)

    Hooray! Well said Rosemary!

    And as for solar powered trash compactors?

    Anybody remember those self-cleaning, vandalism-proof, vagrancy-discouraging robo-toilets that the city paid an exorbitant amount for as a “pilot project” that were recently disposed of on eBay?

    http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2008-08-15-seattle-toilets_N.htm

  • gidget May 29, 2009 (9:22 am)

    We need trashcans in parks. This is the value of infrastructure and why we all need to pay our fair share of taxes. Personally, I thank Tim Eyeman.

  • publicadministrator May 29, 2009 (10:14 am)

    Forgive me for now joining the chorus praising the wisdom of an 8 year old, but by my reading the objective of the pilot project isn’t a reduction of trash cans themselves, but rather the expensive of trash collection.

    One of my jogging routes goes right by the Alki Bathhouse and in my 15 years of residence in W.S. it’s not uncommon to see trash cans overflowing during this time of year. (Thank you patrons of Spuds and Pepperdock.)

    Junction Monkey has it right, Parks is trying to balance their diminshed budget by reducing labor costs. Park operations are funded to a large extent through the REET (real estate excise tax) and real estate buying/selling has dropped off the cliff.

    Finding ways to reduce costs sometimes involves trial & error. And yes the public toilets(successful in other cities such as Toronto and San Francisco) failed here. No one wants to see crows and gulls picking through trash left out indefintely, nor an expensive boondoggle. But in this instance I prefer to wait for the results before denouncing the effort.

  • Jon May 29, 2009 (11:41 am)

    While they’re at it, they should bring back the trees too, so you can actually walk trails and feel like your out in nature. Whats with all the concrete tennis courts and stuff in parks, i think its a waste of tax payers money to have that sort of stuff, if you want to play tennis join the YMCA or some other country club.

  • Jim May 29, 2009 (11:54 am)

    It is unfortunate that people are afraid of solar compaction technology because the public toilets were a disaster. The BigBelly is not a public toilet, so why compare them? Why not compare it to a solar parking meter, which has proven to be a success in Seattle. Or better yet, look around the country and learn that these compactors have been installed with great success in 30 states and 15 countries. see http://www.phillythrowsgreen.org for one reference. Use Google to find thousands. The BigBelly exists because it fills a big need – providing essential services for taxpayers at a fraction of the operational cost (and total cost) of traditional methods. Or, just write it off as a boondoggle, just like the toilets, with no rational reason to associate the two.

  • Jim May 29, 2009 (11:56 am)

    PS — I commend the Parks for looking into this. I think they will come to the right decision. They are good people and they do care.

  • miws May 29, 2009 (12:13 pm)

    Yes, great job, Rosemary! And sa, I agree! Rosemary for Mayor!

    .

    I saw TR’s invite to Que, on the Forum topic, and was excited to see the outcome. I think it would be great to see more of kids’ point of view on things, here on WSB, if it would be feasible.

    .

    I’ve always enjoyed kids’ perspectives on stuff, whether it’s the “Aw shucks! Ain’t that cute?” kind of stuff ala Art Linkletter’s Kids Say the Darndest Things!, or the more serious, and quite thought provoking ideas many of them have such as what Rosemary said, that show great insight from such young minds

    .

    Mike

  • Que May 29, 2009 (1:45 pm)

    Thank you to everyone for their wonderful supportive comments. As a Mom, I could not be prouder of her. She was so excited about getting to share her opinion with the rest of “The Blog”! So, a big thanks to you all! And a thanks to TR for being supportive of our young writers (and budding policy wonks apparently!) in our community.

  • a parent May 29, 2009 (2:07 pm)

    Rosemary you get a “4” (above standard) for persuasive essay writing! Your teacher can use your writing as a “kid example” to show next year’s class!

  • homesweethome May 29, 2009 (2:09 pm)

    Just a little perspective – imagine living in DC or NYC just after 9-11. No trash cans. No mailboxes. Everyone survived. Litter did not grow exponentially, bags of poop did not cover the sidewalks. People did what backpackers have done forever – take their trash home.

    Sure we need trashcans – but it seems like we criticize our city government for spending and then complain when they try to balance the budget. It can’t be both ways. If folks are willing to carry a cloth bag to the grocery, I don’t see why folks can’t take their trash home and dispose of it.

  • Katy L May 29, 2009 (4:50 pm)

    Dear Rosemary:
    Thank you soooooo much for writing that article. Me and my friends are totally into the environment. Thank you again for writing that!

    Your Friend Greta (7 years old)

    Hey Rosemary,
    I think that blog was a great idea and if my 4th grade teacher had read it, she would have wanted you transferred to her class immediately.

    Keep helping the environment,

    Bailey (10 years old)

  • neighborly May 30, 2009 (7:17 am)

    How about using this as another way to educate and empower children? Teach them to “pack it in, pack it out” when they go to parks. Then they can reduce the amount of packaging they bring, and recycle and compost back at home. As a teacher, I always have my students do this on field trips, and by the end of the year, they’re bringing lunches in re-usable containers. It’s a great life-long skill that could prevent overflowing cans of the future.

  • Johnson May 31, 2009 (12:49 pm)

    What a brilliant parks policy!

    It’s going to do wonders for garbage awareness, cause it’ll be all over the place.

    I will still take bags when I walk my dog, but anyone who thinks I’m taking that stuff home with me is dreaming.

    let me thank all those in advance who will be taking dog poop home that someone else leaves in any park — by carrying it home on the Park Dept. approved environmentally sound transfer method, “Shoe Soles”

    Any 8 year olds gonna be on the ballot next election?

  • julie June 4, 2009 (4:48 pm)

    Even though Rosemary is a cute little girl, she is wrong. These days Public Parks are dumpsters, such is the number of trash cans you find there. The question to ask is why, I mean WHY do people bring trash to Public Parks? Why do people BUY trash in the shape of half food and half disposables. It is time we stop being trash making machines and start shaping up. Good luck with that? You bet. It is really a shame to blame it all on “the people” while there is no challenge to better our relationship with the environment. I hope Rosemary grows into a wise woman that realizes that she can survive without consuming and dumping the sheer amount of trash we go through today for no reason other than buying whatever appears on TV. In an extreme case, we should never carry more trash than we can take back home anyways.

  • Que June 8, 2009 (12:43 am)

    Julie, As her mother, I think that she is responding to the fact that not everybody that goes to the park is going to be responsible and “pack in and pack out” and leave the place better than when they got there. I certainly believe that we should be mindful of how much waste is produced by our consumerism. She is too. However, she is saying that realistically people are not all in line with that type of thinking and that as a result, people will litter and not clean up after their pets, and we will be left with gross, trashy, unusable parks. It is not her lack of idealism (as she does in fact have quite a bit of that) but her tendency to balance that with the realism that not everyone will behave like she has been taught to and believes is right.

Sorry, comment time is over.