ContributorCan we end the steady flow of trash tossed out of car windows onto the roadside throughout Belmont? Why do drivers in such a lovely town have such bad habits? Plastic water bottles, coffee cups, soda cans, and whiskey bottles are cluttering our streets.
Maybe start with a public education campaign: training in the schools, signs along the roadside, and signs in the stores that sell the bottles and coffee. Remind people daily that it is our civic duty to protect the environment and not to sully our surroundings with trash of any kind. It should be a deeply ingrained habit and cultural norm to hold onto our personal trash until we see a garbage can. And recycle it whenever possible.
How about signs asking people not to litter and warning of a fine? I’ve been told Belmontians do not like signs. I like signs better than trash. Our Belmont Town Meeting and Select-people should develop a solution consistent with State law, stepping up individual responsibility.
Most homeowners clean the edges of their own property, but not so much across the street or around the corner in front of public land. We could all go a little further in our clean-up efforts. Carry a plastic bag when we take our walks.
Clubs and companies could do better. When I suggested to an official of the Belmont Country Club that they pick up the extensive trash on the edge of their beautiful property on Concord Ave, they told me it was the town’s responsibility to clean ten feet into the public-facing edges of their private golf course.
We have a problem, a relatively simple problem, that we should collectively fix as a town, as individuals, and as public and private entities privileged to reside in our lovely town of Belmont.
Dorothy Stoneman, Marsh Street
