To the Editor:

From doing another year of Lose The Litter roadside trash clean-up I’d like to share some observations.

First, thanks to the Newtown Lions for organizing. Thanks too for what I’ve heard is over 100 volunteers that did litter clean-up. I’d also like to thank past Legislative Councils for passing the plastic bag ordinance. The crew I was working with didn’t pick up a single plastic bag.

Newtown looks better and the environment is better off. There was plenty to pick up. How some people think the rural character of the town includes throwing trash out the car window is pretty sad. OK, yes, suburban and urban areas have lots of litter too.

I just find it more incongruous in Newtown.

Last year there was a surge of discarded COVID masks. This year very few. I don’t have an explanation. But what is most striking every year is the number of empty “nips” collected. I must have picked up over 100.

A few days after Lose the Litter, I heard about a report that 150,400 of these 1.5 oz liquor bottles were sold in Newtown in the past 6 months. The volume of empties along the side of the road will dispel any notion that there isn’t alcoholism in Newtown.

I expect that many of us will do this again next year. I’m hoping for a nice long walk down a Newtown road ending with a near empty trash bag.

Ned Simpson

Newtown