We’re still shacking up in a hotel while we wait for all our worldly possession to find their way to the  Bay Area, but until then I decided there was no reason why I couldn’t start back up with the #OnePiece photo project.

My initial impression of the Bay area is that it is by and large well taken care of in terms of litter and waste management. However, even here, with the high population density, there are areas that are a bit neglected or forgotten. Our hotel is in a business park and on a stroll today around the area I saw only two trash bins which were full already. I walked down a scenic lane with hedges and trees on both sides. From far away these look lovely:

But as I walked down this lane I noticed far too many pieces of litter tucked under and even IN the hedges. Some of it can be blamed on the wind, but a lot of it had to be purposely placed their by other pedestrians who just didn’t want to hold onto their trash until they could reach a trash bin:

On one level, I can understand that an area is bound to be more littered if there is no place to put that litter. On the other hand, I don’t know why it’s so hard to hold onto the trash you make until you can get home at least.

We’re in this hotel for another 9 days and I may just informally adopt this little section of my walk and clean it up. I think a year ago this sort of thing would have gone right past me and I wouldn’t have even thought about it. So I can appreciate why it can go unnoticed.

Now that we’re in the Bay Area I was thinking about starting a social club that’s based around cleaning small areas of the city that seem to be neglected. I’m inspired by groups like Bunch of Fools and similar groups in India that have sprung up all over the place to fill the gaps left by municipalities.