Anyone is welcome to disagree with me on this but as far as I am concerned a road trip is not complete without a customary stop at one of SA’s many roadside picnic tables to enjoy padkos from the coolerbox. Sandwiches made in the early morning hours, cold chicken from last night’s braai or take aways from the town you just stopped at, all go down a treat while perched on a concrete stool under the shade of a weeping willow or tall blue gum. Cars whizz past and trucks thunder in your ears but nothing can deter from this compulsory road trip activity. Unfortunately there is something which I found on my recent road trip that has begun making these stops unbearable. Litter. As it is, most of these rest stops are poorly maintained and this is all too noticeable with overflowing bins and litter strewn all around on the ground. Saddening.
I love travelling, especially long road trips and am happiest when sitting in the passenger seat staring out the window watching the scenery stream past. As a result I started to take note of the litter in and around the towns in South Africa and realised it is an ongoing epidemic and the biggest culprit appears to be KFC. Or at least their clientele. Everywhere I spotted litter there were always the recognisable red and white boxes. I first noticed this one day as I was driving home from town. Now you should know, I treasure the fact that I live in the country and every trip home is a small journey as I cruise the winding roads and pass lush paddocks towards the nature reserve where I stay. This was rudely interrupted on two recent occasions when I came upon KFC take away boxes lying in the road as if they had been chucked out a window. I growled out loud and decided this was worth a rant to see how many others experience the same. I even came across a Joburg Zoo advertisement that used a KFC packet in it’s anti-litter campaign!
On a recent flowers trip starting in the Northern Cape then across to Springbok and down into the West Coast, a sunrise start after a stopover in Kuruman took us through the middle of town only for my litter theory to be proven exponentially. There in the parking lot of the local KFC we saw litter strewn from one side of the parking lot to the other, boxes lying against the curbs and cold drink cups rolling around in the morning breeze. Not so picturesque. From that point onwards we couldn’t help but notice the constant litter problem from Upington to Paternoster. And yes KFC was in most places a culprit, but believe me they are certainly not alone in this.
Shouldn’t fast food outlets be made to take responsibility for the disposal of their waste, even after it has left the shop? Messages on burger cartons could be in bold encouraging the finger lickers to dispose of the rubbish in bins or to recycle them. Posters in the outlets with anti-litter campaigns or even a closing phrase from the sales assistant on handing the food over “please throw your rubbish in the bin when you are done otherwise we guarantee indigestion”. Okay maybe not that extreme but you get my drift.
Growing up in Botswana we always joked that the National Flower of Botswana is the plastic packet and in some areas of South Africa it is starting to become a featured blossom. So the next time you see someone litter or heaven forbid you yourself are considering hurling your take away box out the window, stop, think and take action. Otherwise we are our own worst enemy and that leaves me wondering who are these litter bugs and how can we teach them otherwise? Do you think KFC is our biggest litter bug?
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