Let me introduce myself
It was an averagely warm, temperate summer's day in Scotland in August 2014. I love to be fit (despite the fact that I have no six pack) and cycle, especially during the summer months but there came a point where like the average youth in the UK, I got bored. I was also at my wits end in terms of reporting litter digitally to West Dunbartonshire Council and modestly hoping they will collect & dispose of it like everyone else in the UK thinks that way (only, they also half-hate their government at the time - I blame Mageret Thatcher and David Cameron). One day, it got to the point where I was so bored, even with my video games & bicycle by my side, that it hit me: "Why not pick it up yourself? After all, you're fed up of the Council not doing it." So the idea came unannounced but as no surprise at the same time: ultimately, I was in almost complete denial about it since Primary and Secondary School (or High School to any of you Americans/Canadians reading this blog! Only, do exclude Primary School away from the definition of High School). Who WOULD want to get to know a good youngster with averagely successful grades, loves to play video games... who just happens to have a weird hobby of picking up rubbish? Nerds, OAPs, Teachers, Visiting Politicians and Wimps possibly.
Next came the huge task of convincing my overall commercial parents my idea (by 'commercial', I charactarize my earlier highlight of the British Public modestly putting their trust in the authorities to deal with almost EVERYTHING (including litter)). After I did and as expected, they put up a small verbal fight: "C'moan son, the Council does that!" "That's no your job, it's the Council's". Eventually after several hours, they were convinced and scheduled another day of good weather on the dog walk along with only a small plastic supermarket bag to get started.
The only kind of Litter Picker available to us was the item grabber that my Gran Hume had in her Hardgate (see Google Maps position here: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Hardgate,+Clydebank,+West+Dunbartonshire+G81/@55.9246638,-4.4119991,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x48884fb45d368ce5:0x251805e64a75600?hl=en) flat before she went into BUPA Hill View Care Home as a result of her Diabetes and Dementia. Followng my mum's advice about not expecting to collect much litter, we did not opt for using a proper black bin bag and set off into Overtoun Estate Woods (see these links: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/55%C2%B057'04.8%22N+4%C2%B032'02.4%22W/@55.951336,-4.5361787,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0?hl=en
http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/wood/33197/overtoun-estate/
http://visitwoods.org.uk/en/visit-woods/pages/wood-details.aspx?wood=33197#.VnXBa_mLTIU
http://www.west-dunbarton.gov.uk/leisure-parks-events/parks-and-greenspaces/woodlands/overtoun-estate/) now hunting for even the tiniest bit of rubbish with my excellent eye sight.
Everytime I finished my collection, I'd take a picture of it with my iPhone 4 and post it only to Facebook and Twitter using the following Hashtags: #CleanUpOvertounWoods or #HiddenLitter or #LitterSeizure just to make it sound more cooler. I did not use PIRIKA (which can be downloaded onto both Android and iOS devices: http://en.corp.pirika.org/#story) nor start picking up rubbish in Levengrove Park (which is where the Council most like to litter pick, which explains the lazyness of some of the park users. I did at least aim to get rid of marine litter.) until late-October 2014 when I did a wee search on Youtube to find out about attitudes towards litter in different countries and somehow, Japan really stood out as country not just for being clean but because of the surpising mindset of its citizens.
Take one example on 14th June 1998 during the World Cup when Japan qualified for the first time ever to play against Argentina in Toulouse, France. Their fans turned out in numbers never seen before by the International Soccer Community, even though around 12000 Japanese fans fell victim to ticket scams. Out of all the the over 33000 fans in the stadium, 70% were Japanese, with an additional 10000 (who lost their money to the scams) viewing the game from outside the stadium. Unfortunately, Argentina won 1-0 against Japan but their defeat didn't seem to phase the Japanese players; in fact, they felt as if they were playing in the National Stadium in Tokyo. When the game finshed, the fans gave the world a great lesson of courtesy and respect by CLEANING THE STADIUM SEATS. And it wasn't just their rubbish they were picking up; it was EVERYONE ELSES! Afterwards, they all put the trash in the bins outside the stadium. The Stadium Authorities, French Media and even FIFA themselves were astonished and baffled at the somewhat unseen behavior of the Japanese fans. It's just a shame that 17 years on, many Western sports fans still haven't learned this lesson; which probably explains why drunk/tipsy football fans shout the most (so far, friendly) abuse at me everytime they see me sometimes picking up bottles and cans with my bare hands! That's why I began searching for similar apps and came across PIRIKA (which means 'clean' in the ancient Ainu language in Japan). Being bored, I decided to try it out and see what happens. It turned out to be far for easier to use than I thought - plus it can also be automatically translated to English if you are using devices with more recent updates like my iPad.
Even though I officially became the first British, let alone Scottish, person to use the app, not a lot of Japanese people using the app averagely like (or thank, in this case) every single one of my statuses but at least I know they appreciate what I'm doing. And here I am today!
Here are some extra Hashtags I use:
