Many moons ago, when I was negotiating a Catholic convent school education, one of the nuns put a question to us.
I can still see Mother Patrick standing at the top of the class, looking out over the ever-present spectacles perched on the end of her nose, her white coif contrasting sharply with her black veil.
She looked at each one of us at the same time, in the way only nuns can manage, and asked us how long it would take to sweep the streets of inner-city Paris.
Paris? Paris?
Some of us had never been as far as Dublin! We had no idea how big Paris was.
Much bigger than Dublin, she said, unhelpfully.
We guessed days. We guessed weeks. We guessed months. We went around the houses with our answers, not one of us getting it right. Eventually, she gave in and put us out of our misery.
Ten minutes, she said. Just ten minutes if everyone swept outside their own doorstep.
That stuck with me.
To this day, I can’t go for a walk without picking up any litter I see. My doorstep is wherever I happen to be.
And I’m not alone.
Two long-time Budapest residents, Richard Holmes (UK) and Michael O’Regan (IRL) are of a similar mind.
While Holmes feels a compulsion to pick up litter (it’s the way he’s wired, he says), O’Regan had it drummed into him in school in Ireland. ‘You put your crisp bag in your pocket until you got home to bin it.’
Oh, how that resonated.
Both lads live in the Buda Hills. Both are regular forest walkers. Both are disgusted by the litter they see when they go off the main trails. ‘It’s terrible to see how disrespectful people are of the environment they use every day’, says O’Regan. ‘Nature should be kept in its natural state’, adds Holmes. ‘Seeing all that litter really annoys me.’
Back in 2022, with the support of the Irish Hungarian Business Circle, Holmes organised a Plastic Pickup Day and invited O’Regan along.
It was a great success.
They have had a couple of other outings since then. Now he and O’Regan have set up a Facebook Page and are busy recruiting more volunteers. ‘The more people we have, the more rubbish we can pick up,’ Holmes notes.
‘Whatever you’d find in your bin at home, you’ll find in the forests’, Holmes says. Plastic bottles. Sweet wrappers. Crisp bags. Even household junk. Some littering is deliberate. Most is thoughtless.
His pet peeve? The humble cigarette butt. According to Earth Day, it’s the most abundant form of plastic waste in the world.
I learned something new. I’d thought that butts were made of cotton or paper but I was wrong. They’re made of cellulose acetate, a man-made plastic, and contain toxic chemicals (think arsenic and lead) that stick around long after the 10 years it can take the butt itself to degrade.
While the new 50ft refund on drinks bottles and cans might make a dent in the plastic waste, there’s still way too much of it out there.
The page, Plastic Pick Up Hungary, is nationwide. Anyone can use it to organise initiatives in their area. It’s not just about Budapest. The lads will help out with advice and contacts. They’re hoping to get schools involved, too, because that’s where it starts. Kids have to learn that littering is not okay. ‘Despite the Greta Thunberg effect’, he says, ‘kids these days don’t really get what it means to be green. It’s up to adults to lead by example.’
Plastic pickup events are great ways for parents to introduce their children to social responsibility. And they’re great ways to socialise and meet new people, people who value nature as you do.
The lads schedule two events a year, one in spring and another in autumn. They scout out potential areas first, making sure to pick somewhere they can have the biggest impact. They coordinate with Pilisi Parkerdő Zrt, the company that manages the Pilis forest, which goes all the way to Visegrád. They supply the plastic bags and pick up the rubbish the crew collect.
The next outing is scheduled for 21 September at 2 pm. They’re meeting at the Hűvösvölgy P+R next to the Children’s Railway.
Check out the page. Like it. Spread the word. Mark the date in your diary. Show up. Pick up. And feel the satisfaction of a job well done.
Mary Murphy is a freelance copyeditor, blogger, and communications trainer. Read more at www.unpackingmybottomdrawer.com | www.anyexcusetotravel.com | www.dyingtogetin.com
