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Before this gets totally derailed, YES I know this post title contains a double entendre. Please giggle without your fingers.
The Walker Evans Effect wroteYesterday afternoon I was driving up 71 to head to Skreened to give out those MILK tickets I mentioned here on my blog. I got off at the North Broadway exit and stopped at the exit ramp light. I noticed the SUV in front of me opening the driver side door, and watched them proceed to empty an ashtray full of cigarette butts onto the ground. Must have been 40-50 cigarette butts. I get pretty annoyed seeing people throw one cigarette butt on the ground, but this action really set me off. My hand was about an inch away from just laying on my horn, but instead I decided to report them.
I whipped out my cell phone and started to dial 1-800-NAIL-A-DUMPER, as I thought I had remembered seeing on a billboard somewhere, but I realized that was way too many numbers. NailADumper.com was the website, but I had no clue what the number was. Instead I called my wife at work and had her pull up the website and report them for me. I read their license plate over the phone to her, the make and model of their vehicle, and told her what exactly they dumped. I'm sure the person just gets a warning via snail mail or something, but hopefully it's enough to make them aware that people are watching them. I hope they're fined for their actions though.
After I got back home, I spotted an email from NailADumper.com with my info that my wife provided. Once you report someone, you're registered as a "Litter Marshall" and given a number. I'm number 201. Has there really only been 201 people reporting illegal littering or dumping in all of Central Ohio? Sort of makes me feel guilty that I've never done it before.
So I thought it might be a good idea to encourage everyone else to take the initiative to step up their game on this. Their actual phone number has no easy-to-remember device to it.... it's just 614-871-5322. I saved it into my phonebook on my cell phone though, so I'll have it handy for next time.
I just don't understand what's going through someone's mind when they throw trash out of their car. They've got trashcans at home. There are trash cans they could use at any gas station, restaurant, store or nearly any other place they could have possibly been driving TO or FROM last night. What was the emergency that required emptying their ash tray out on the road? Weak.
Launched in August 2010, TheMetropreneur.com is a local online resource devoted to small business development and entrepreneurship. Its aim is to tell the stories of Central Ohio's business community, foster regional economic development and assist entrepreneurs with its resource-heavy focus.