We can see it everywhere: on our way to work through the city, when taking a walk in the forest or visiting a beach on holiday. It seems our waste has reached every corner of our planet. 

While in some places it is just a plastic bag or a bottle, elsewhere we find entire waste dumps in nature. 

When you start recognizing waste in nature, it can emotionally wear you down but don't lose hope! Stay calm and talk to others about this topic - be it like-minded people willing to help or local authorities responsible for keeping the region clean. 

We are all in this together! 

1. Don't despair

We all know recognizing the impact of pollution can be depressing. But instead of stressing and worrying, use this knowledge for something good and do as much as you CAN DO. You cannot clean up the entire world, but if we all do a little bit, we can create a cleaner and healthier planet for future generations.

2. Don’t blame

Sometimes it is easy to point fingers at people around the dirty area. But in reality, it is impossible to find “the” culprit. A dirty beach does not mean that the people who live there have contributed the most. Once lost in the environment, litter can travel far distances and for a long time until the place where you find it. What’s more, we cannot be sure our waste always ends where it should, mostly because of the malfunction of the waste recycling and disposal systems.

3. Pick it up

Even if it is not yours, if you notice trash on the ground, just pick it up. Do nature a favor and leave the place cleaner than you found it, hoping that others will do the same. It lowers the burden on each individual (picking just one piece of trash doesn’t seem too hard, right?) and definitely helps the environment.  

4. Make it a habit 

Just like brushing your teeth or looking left and right before crossing the street, we can create a daily habit of picking up just one or two pieces of waste wherever we go. This way it won't overwhelm you but will certainly make your surrounding cleaner. You will be surprised how quickly you can “put it forth” and make others around you notice the problem and hopefully change their habits too.

5. Report it

If it is too much for you to clean up, even with a group of volunteers or if you successfully organized a Community Clean Up and have to dispose of the waste you collected, contact the local municipality services and ask them for help. In theory it is their responsibility to keep the area clean yet they often don’t pay enough attention to it or even ignore trash reports of the inhabitants. Cleaning the waste with a group of friends and asking for waste collection usually turns out much more effective so if you can, engage your community! 

6. Share your knowledge

The majority of waste in nature is unknown to the public and those who have the power to make a difference. You might be the only and first one noticing a wild waste dump, and it's important to not look away even if you have no capacity to clean it yourself. You can map litter using Open Litter Map, an application that lets you map litter on a world map, sharing the data online as open source material. Open Data can be used by anyone, cities and countries, politicians, NGO’s (organizing local clean ups), activists or scientists. 

Do whatever you can, but do something good - the planet really needs us in this quest for a cleaner environment, especially considering it is mostly our trash. 

Do you pick up trash when on a walk? Or maybe take part in community clean ups? Share your thoughts! 

Gina Mareen Prasuhn comes from Germany and lives in Portugal. Exploring and documenting nature is her passion - on her blog, she shares her fascination and knowledge and hopes to inspire with it. She sees life in harmony with nature as an opportunity to cope with our current global crises.

She works in environmental education and as a writer & linguist and collaborates on projects related to environmental awareness, marine litter, nature conservation, biodiversity & regenerative agriculture.