Why all the trash & why do we pick it up?

Environmental Hospitality (EH) is one of Northwest Hospitality’s most successful and appreciated programs. In 2019, we coordinated over 100 volunteers and picked up over 23,000 pounds of litter. In 2020, interest hasn’t waned even in the face of COVID-19 but we’re only at 2,000 lbs this year thanks to the decrease in events.

All of our programs elicit a whole spectrum of feedback but off-the-cuff and ill-considered critiques of our environmental hospitality are some of the most frequent.

Why is there so much trash?

It makes sense to be frustrated, angry, and confused about the litter generated by our un-housed neighbors. Why can’t they clean up after themselves? Don’t they want to keep their area clean so they don’t attract attention and get kicked out? How can they live like that? What about the environment? Why should we help pick it up, they’ll just trash it again.

All valid questions that crumble under the slightest interrogation.

What are their options?

It is emotionally challenging to put yourself into the shoes of any of our neighbors but even a brief attempt clearly illuminates an overwhelming lack of options. What would you do, in your present circumstances, if you didn’t have weekly trash service? Hop in your truck and take your bins to the dump every week or two. Our neighbors don’t have trucks and can’t afford dump fees. There is no trash service with no official address and, again, many couldn’t afford it even if it was an option.

Public trash disposal areas have been attempted in some areas but are typically dismissed by municipalities because housed people abuse them as free dump sites to avoid paying for their own trash.

We’ve recently had some minor success coordinating pickups with the Health Department and Solid Waste Division but it relies on a few encamped individuals rallying their group to bag their trash or tackling it single-handedly. Many people are motivated to take this on, hence the successes we have seen, but many others can’t be bothered to pick up their own litter because…

Why should they care?

Nobody cares about them. We have closed our doors to them, shunned, ignored, and stigmatized them. All betrayals that are made worse by whatever traumas have contributed to their present circumstances; in most cases, traumas that would destroy most of us without question. So, when their options are so limited - with endless barriers, dead-ends, and judgement - it’s not hard to see why they don’t go out of their way to properly dispose of their waste.

People could expend energy maintaining a clean site but at any moment they may get asked to pack up and go; or just go and forfeit everything they own. There is no guarantee that a clean area will prevent sweeps, though it does seem logical and that theory is one of the many driving forces behind our EH program. We hope that with less trash, authorities will see fewer complaints and groups will find themselves shuffled along less frequently. But our hopes don’t equate to security for our neighbors so this constant threat of being swept out of an area is just one more reason for them to toss up their hands when it comes to all that bagging and dumping.

Survival-mode

When everything is a challenge - next meal, wet sleeping bag, leaky tent, wallet stolen while sleeping, kicked off the bench at the park by a police officer, haven’t showered in 2 weeks, can’t shave, going to the bathroom in a bucket…if you’re lucky - it is vital to not miss an opportunity to survive. This survival-mode takes all kinds of shapes in different types of people: scavenging, stealing, “McGyver-ing,” etc. This behavior can look like hoarding to the unsympathetic eye, it is in a way, but it’s not as reckless and irresponsible as it’s dismissed by most. There is a purpose to collection, different for each individual but motivated by the same needs and desires every one of us shares: access to food, shelter, clothing, safety, security, cultivating relationships, entertainment, etc. Not having a place to put our waste wouldn’t stop you or me from buying our necessities so why should we expect our neighbors to forgo their essentials just because they’re without viable options for disposal?

Why is environmental hospitality so important?

Environmental Hospitality is 50% a service to our homeless neighbors and the community and 50% environmental stewardship. Both are equally important.

For the environment, to state the obvious, once something has been littered it has to be picked up. Waiting for someone else to do it seems like a great way for nothing to ever get done. There is a vast number of people out there eager to volunteer and motivated by the condition of our environment and we are happy to provide a structure for volunteers to do the work that so obviously needs to be done.

Environmental Hospitality events also provide great opportunities for our outreach teams to meet people, build relationships, and discuss needs and resources. Furthermore, showing how much we genuinely care through this type of outreach directly addresses the Why should they care? segment above; if we can demonstrate our caring then some will be compelled to pursue opportunities which represent a doorway to progress, as we’ve been fortunate enough to have witnessed more times than I can count.

If we don’t like seeing our neighbors living in squalor and suffering through each day, then it’s incumbent on us to create opportunities for them, not shut doors, windows, eyes, and ears to their plight and hope they go away…or call in the authorities to make them go away and fool ourselves into thinking they’ll be better off wherever they end up.

Finally, cleaning up this mess is good for our neighborhoods. Even if we’re cleaning it up for the 3rd time this year. It brings compassionate people together for tangible service that helps people and the environment alike. It brings the challenges of our un-housed neighbors to light and instigates conversations about what else can be done. It makes people feel and believe that we don’t have to continue accepting the past failures of our society to find solutions for our neighbors.