Last July, an environmental journalist, named Starre Vartan, posed this question on Mother Nature Network, “Are you one of those ‘weirdos’ who picks up litter?” She followed that up with, “I am too…” Yep, there are thousands of us rubbish removal weirdos out there, happily picking up other people’s rubbish and carting it out by the tonnes!
In fact, according to a February 2018 report released by the UK Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs, 303,000 volunteers participated in the Great British Spring Clean, including men, women, and children (and some happy to help dogs toting out rubbish too!). Further, during the Great British Beach Clean, there was an average of seven hundred forty-four pieces of rubbish removal collected for every one hundred metres of beach cleaned.
But why do we “weirdos” join forces and litter pick like this? And… why do we do it for free? And… why do we continue to do it over and over again?
As it turns out, there’s a scientific explanation as to why we litter pick rubbish removal. The “feel good” centers of our brains are stimulated by the release of “good samaritan” hormones. Moreover, the habit becomes addictive! When we can actually see the evidence of our good deeds, as in clean parks, clean streets, clean beaches, and clean neighbourhoods, this launches a chemical reaction inside our bodies that gives us positive feedback!
This physiological process includes the release of endorphins, serotonin, oxytocin, and dopamine which makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside! We feel full of happiness when we litter pick. Some people have coined this euphoric feeling a “helper’s high.”
In fact, one scientific study found that people who volunteer, and feel good about the charity work they’ve done, have lower rates of cardiovascular disease. Wow! So, if you give from the heart, you improve your own heart’s health and you feel happier in the process! That’s really something to think about. Here’s another interesting tidbit scientists have found: brain scans prove that when people are asked to remember and describe their volunteer efforts, the same pleasure centers of the brain light up! So, you get all happy again just by reliving the volunteer experience in your mind.
Okay, so maybe people involved in rubbish removal efforts aren’t weirdos after all!
Since 1970, the state of Vermont, USA, celebrates a “Green Up Day” to litter pick the roads all across the state. The event happens on the first Saturday of the month of May so the most recent Green Up Day just occurred. The official website reports that more than twenty-two thousand people participated this year, across two-hundred forty-seven communities, covering more than thirteen thousand miles of roads!
That’s a lot of people who just made their lives a lot happier. And… we all know that happiness is contagious! We now know too that this happiness makes us healthier too.
A south Burlington Vermont man was asked how he felt after the event. His reply was an enthusiastic, “Proud, happy, and excited!” A woman from the same area was asked the same question. She said felt, “Proud and Happy!” Notice a pattern?
We litter picking weirdos take reusable bags with us for long walks on the beach, beachcombing not only for treasure but also for rubbish removal. The seagulls curiously follow along as we do so, circling and squawking. It sounds like they wholeheartedly approve! We show up with our families in tow for organized litter picking campaigns. We make a point of teaching our children why it’s important to pick up fly tipped rubbish removal. We also teach them how to do it safely (wearing gloves, not touching needles, etc).
So, why don’t you and your family join in and revel in the euphoria of rubbish removal! If you can’t find a litter picking event to attend, strike out on your own. All you need is a reusable bag and big heart! When you pick up that first bag of rubbish removal, if you can’t find a recycling bin, throw it in your boot and take it to the nearest recycling centre or, if more convenient, put it in your own recycling waste removal bin at home!
Here’s another way to make those feel good hormones soar: Call Clearabee, a sustainability leader in the UK, to set up regular rubbish removal service and or set up a special booking when you clean out your cupboards. Clearabee has rapidly grown to be the largest on demand rubbish removal service in the UK (England, Scotland, and Wales).
There’s two reasons for Clearabee’s rapid growth:
1. They go well beyond the norms in terms of customer service! They’re always courteous, flexible, and on time! They schedule bookings when their customers want them, not the other way around like the local councils do unfortunately. They take every measure, in fact, to make their service convenient for you.
2. Here’s where the feel good hormones start to surge: Clearabee diverts more than ninety percent of all the rubbish removal they collect from the landfills! This is massively important to controlling global warming and keeping waste removal toxins out of our water, away from the wildlife, and out of our own food chain. So, if you use Clearabee’s service, you’ll be doing your part to divert rubbish removal from the landfills, and in the process, you can stimulate your feel good hormones!
Have a good day and feel free to be a rubbish removal weirdo hero! Be happy, healthy, and teach your kids to be wonderfully weird too, and litter pick away!
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