EIRD DAY..
You know that old saying one thing leads to another? Today was the perfect example of that...I went birding early and I didn't take the time to make myself a sack lunch. So of course I got hungry..

We are about to get 2 more days of rain so I wanted to just spend the day peacefully engaging nature, hiking, birding, listening, observing...this is how I spend my time when Im birding...it's not just about the bird.

So when I left Goodale park it was coming up to noon and I felt hungry...so I did for the second time this month go to a fast food place, Zaxby's. I went inside not wanting to waste any gas idling in a drive thru...I ordered Fries, a piece of Texas toast and a soft drink. I should of brought my own container in since it was a self serve drink machine...but I didn't think of that till I was faced with a Styrofoam cup, plastic lid, and plastic straw. I almost reacted like she had placed a tarantula on the counter in front of me. I think I even said out loud...."OH, Its all bad stuff." She was too busy saying next..

So off I went like a good little American and filled my crap cup with my crap soda. Then when my fries came they were in a Styrofoam tray with lid, it had a wax paper liner, my toast was in a paper foil lined pack...and the entire meal I carried out in a paper bag tote, and there was 2 paper napkins in there too.
I was mentally picking this packaging apart as it was handed to me...I poked around inside not even bothering to check the food.

But it was my cross to bare since I had made this blunder of not bringing my own sack lunch with me...and so with my head down I headed out to the van...and headed out to the highway turned right and over the Wateree river bridge to my next stop.
The Riverside park...it's a new spot that has only been a park about 3 yrs and the first year it had major flooding and was in pretty bad shape and closed for 6 months! So there is some picnic tables, so I sat to have my lunch and while I ate I replanned this packaging...the cup could be a waxed paper cup, there is now plant based plastic cups...that bio degrade! Lids too...And the Styrofoam tray could be a paper/cardborad tray or what's wrong with a waxed paper container for this? Straws can be paper, and the paper tote was good but it had a little plastic reinforcement at the handles...The whole meal could have been placed in a waxed cardboard box! And If they encouraged people to bring their own cup....that would be wonderful...In house drinks should be in washable glasses.
I noticed the bags going out the drive thru window were Plastic like the kind you get in Walmart!!

I had 2 big problems to bring home...one says it degrades in 4 yrs...one did not I put the plastic lid and straw in my plastic recycle bin...I don't trust my county is doing the right thing and I've thought of doing an investigative report on this and send it to the paper! I think they take the plastic and dump it in the city dump!!

Any ways...we should NOT have to attempt to recycle this corporate debris. It's their product...they are forcing us to pollute our planet in order to use their product.

So I was gonna toss my paper items in the trash can at the park...at least that would degrade...when I went to do that I spotted an O'possum in the can! He was not actively digging he was curled up in a defeated ball and looked exhausted...he got in but the slick tall sides of the can prevented him getting out! POOR thing.

He looked as if he had been in there a while. So first off I went to the edge of the woods and got a long stick...placed it in the can...But he had no strength to climb this stick...the can was very heavy and hammered into the ground but the actual liner was removable..so I set about removing the top which was a heavy metal with a large hole in the middle for tossing the trash inside the can. I tossed that on the ground...and then he looked up at me and kind of hissed...poor thing...

So I then attempted to remove the plastic liner it was one of those large black rigid plastic trash cans so I managed to get it up the metal holder was at least 3 ft tall...and with the trash, water from yesterdays rain, and the possum it was heavy...BUT I got it out...then I tipped it over on its side and tapped the bottom of the can with the stick...he still did not come out but he stood up...So I held the bottom up higher to give more tilt and out he came....He was so stiff and sore he could barely move, poor thing I can relate!!

He was quite an old fellow and it was obviously a male....but eventually he hobbled over to the woods...And I put the trash can back together...

Later I flagged down the ranger, and he said he had removed all but this one can from the park, for this reason...and he has asked for a wildlife free type can but so far none has come his way from the County...He said he has released 3 and found one dead in a can when the flood came...he said he only empties the can every other day!

The point is trash is dangerous stuff!! I may contact the county parks n rec and request this can be replaced..

So I was able to save this possum, if I had not stopped for the food and been so disgusted with the amount of rubbish I had to discard just for one meal I would not have found the Opossum...a silver lining I suppose.

Companies have to help us make this a zero problem! They created it, not US...so they should fix it!!

I wrote to Zaxby's and recommended they take another look at the one time use products they send out the door and into the environment. I asked for a reply so we'll see.
https://www.ecoproductsstore.com/

ITS not like we don't have solutions we do as you can see, if you follow that link...and here is the lucky guy who gets to live another day!