Don't be a litter bug - especially wtih those buggy gloves and masks

A few years ago, it was nip bottles. Everywhere. This was first observed by my sister Kath and her friend Deb, who were coming across empty nips - mostly Fireball Whisky and Raspberry Stoli - on their walks in Wellfleet. Then I started noticing them around here. One litterer upped the ante: an empty pint of Captain Morgan's. On my front steps.

Then last year I began noticing dental flossers. Everywhere. I've never actually seen anyone using a flosser out in public - isn't this something folks do at home, in the privacy of their bathrooms - but there they were, on the ground, all over the places.

Dental flossers? Huh? I mean, nip bottles kinda-sorta made some sense. But dental flossers?

And now, in the past few weeks, it's disposable gloves and masks.

On every walk I take, I come across one and/or the other. I began taking pictures - here's one from Sunday afternoon, in the Boston Public Garden, where I also spotted a couple of rolled up hospital johnnies. I don't even want to go there.

At first a bit shocking, after a day or two, spotting blue or white jazz hand latex gloves, or a disposable or homemade mask, became a big nothing. It's everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. Why bother to record them. Plenty more where that came from apparently.

ABC News did a report on it, and it's becoming a worldwide phenomenon.  

Galway is my favorite place in Ireland. Their City Council recently posted shot of gloves strewn all over the city with this note:

If using plastic gloves when out in public or when shopping it is essential to dispose of them properly.

Please dispose of these gloves in the nearet bin or bring them home with you and dispose of them in the general waste bin. Littering is never acceptable.

Gaillimh Abu! 

I've also seen pictures of gloves all over the streets of Paris, another one of my favorite cities.

And, of course, gloves and masks are being tossed across the U.S. of A., from sea to shining sea.

This litter is your litter, this litter is my litter,

From the Redwood Forest to the New York island...

I understand the desire to get rid of these little beasts. I wore a pair to the grocery store the other day, and by the time I got home, there were pools of sweat in each of the finger tips. But I waited until I got home to peel them off and toss them in the trash.

Does wearing the gloves do any good? 

The CDC is okay on our using them, as long as we dispose of them properly, which doesn't include the option of tossing them on the ground the minute you feel the urge to purge.

But here's what WHO has to say:

The World Health Organization has said people are better off washing and sanitizing their hands than using plastic gloves because bacteria and germs that stick to gloves could be spread to another person.

So maybe I'll just reserve use for when I'm cutting up chicken in my very own kitchen, and forget wearing them on when I'm on the outside world. 

If others still want to wear them when they're out and about, fine. Just don't toss them on the sidewalk outside my house.

On the mask front, we're now being encouraged to wear them when out and about, and I'm in compliance. While I await deliverance - the assortment of masks I've ordered from Etsy - I'm getting by with artisanal, hand-crafted masks of my own. 

I have two, one is bandana-based, and then there's my more medically-appearing one, created using a cloth dinner napkin and rubber bands:

I'm guessing that the effectiveness of amateur-hour masks in terms of preventing the catching or spreading of COVID-19 will prove to be minimal at best. This entire effort is likely the equivalent of taking off our shoes before getting on a plane. Still, I predict that by the end of the week, people will be calling out anyone who dares venture out sans mask. 

Maybe once everyone gets there supply of $10 a piece cloth masks from Etsy they'll be less likely to toss them aside than they do the flimsy paper disposable ones.

I will observe here that every place I've seen discarded nip bottles, dental flossers, gloves and/or masks, there is a trash receptacle no more than 10 seconds walk away. Same goes for the streets of Galway. Bruscar (litter) cans are all over the place. What is it with people? Sheesh!

Randomly disposing of masks and gloves is especially foul. If I touch a nip bottle or a dental flosser, it's probably not going to kill me. No such guarantee when it's PPE we're talking about.

When the country first began paying attention to littering back in the late 1950's or so, the campaign slogan was "Don't be a litter bug." Time for an update: "Don't be a litter bug with your buggy litter."