Mr Trash Wheel

[stoneaxe]

Seems like a great idea.....the numbers are astounding.  Littering in general pisses me off...always disgusted by the trash that is exposed along the side of the road in the spring when the snow melts and the amount of junk along the shore everywhere you go. One of my pet peeves is the slobs that toss their cigarette butts on the ground.....the world is their ashtray after all. I wish we could shame the slobs into acting differently but I doubt any of them would care enough to stop. Things like this at least provide some solution.

http://www.discovery.com/dscovrd/nature/mr-trash-wheel-removes-4000000-cigarettes-from-baltimore-harbor/

406 TONS of trash removed since May of 2014....over 7,000,000 cigarette butts

http://baltimorewaterfront.com/healthy-harbor/water-wheel/

[PDLSFR]

It's nice to see the accomplishment of such a preventive thing, if more people just took the time to think about what they are doing and stop being so ignorant of their actions, the earth would be a cleaner place.

I see the cigarette toss thing all the time and as someone that never smoked it also drives me nuts to the point where I used to say something to the idiot but have learned to stop doing that at the risk of being stabbed or shot as well as embarrassing my daughter when she see's her dad ready to punch someone over littering.

it's great to see that Rhode Island is in the process of banning smoking at all State Beaches so hopefully it will spread to the privately owned ones as well (1st Beach - Newport, etc) as that may cut down on some litter and make it a little bit healthier.

[eastbound]

why aren't these devices in all polluted US waterways? seems a no-brainer, appropriate technology, which looks like it cant cost much to build/operate.

i just sent link to riverkeeper--ickysppon, you onto this?

[stoneaxe]

I was thinking the same thing East.....should be one in every harbor at least.

[clay]

Wow I'm loving this!  Thanks for sharing, I believe sharing stories like these can only help.  I enjoy seeing creative solutions, seems like it's more productive than focusing on the problem. 

For as long as I can remember I have seen signs in California that say "$1000 fine for littering", and it seems like littering has become worse.

For myself I find that only I can change myself.  The more shame or blame (punishment) that is used to try to change me the more resistant and defiant I am.  On the other hand the more praise, encouragement, and recognition I get for the things I do right, the more right things I do and the more energy I have to be my best self.