To the Editor:

I love the beauty of Martha’s Vineyard: the lush, changing landscape, the rolling hills, splashing waves and ocean vistas, coexisting wildlife, strolls to our shops and eateries, cultural mix of people coming together to form our Island community, the small-town feel; home to all of us who live here. The shared natural beauty is stunning. Except when it is not.

There are a number of us cleaning up after others. As in a messy home that needs tending to, we notice the garbage strewn along the roads and shorelines, in the water and woods, on the paths, and even peppering the sidewalks through our towns. We clean it, and the litter is right back the next day. I am sure you know that aside from looking ugly, the litter is detrimental to the health of our land and sea and all of the inhabitants that call this Island home.

Littering is a criminal violation in the state of Massachusetts. The commonwealth defines litter as garbage, paper, refuse, bottles, cans, rubbish, or trash of any kind or nature. (This includes nip bottles, cigarette butts, released helium balloons. It means all trash of any kind.)

As far as we can tell, there seem to be three significant sources of the litter found on our roads, beaches, paths, and sidewalks: people blatantly littering, uncovered trucks, and recycling/rubbish trucks that are less than efficient in their removal efforts.

To those of you who blatantly litter, we see your cans, bottles, to-go food and beverage containers, plastic bags, dirty diapers, wet wipes, cigarette material, balloons, and plastic straws. Perhaps you need to carry a small garbage bag around in your vehicle so that you can put all of your trash into it. Then you can dispose of it properly. In particular, balloons cause distress and death to marine mammals, birds, and other wildlife that mistake them for food.

To those of you driving uncovered trucks hauling recycling, rubbish, or other material, your bags, wraps, jugs, bottles, polystyrene (Styrofoam), and paper trash are flying out and about. Whether you operate a commercial or private vehicle, the rules are the same. Your haul needs to be fully covered. If you are driving a vehicle that is not adequately covered, you can get a ticket, whether or not anything flies out of it. Since most of the flyaway trash we find is on dump days, you can do better.

To the operators of the recycling/rubbish trucks that are less than efficient in their removal efforts, too much of the plastic and paper from your pickup seems to miss its mark, flying roadside instead of into your trucks. All of the above applies to you. I encourage you to look in your wake when you pick up people’s recycling/garbage. It is your responsibility to properly get their items completely into your trucks. Otherwise the blowing trash pollutes our neighborhoods.

I call upon the Island’s selectmen, our conservation and environmental groups, the boards of health, harbormasters and assistant harbormasters, police departments, Chamber of Commerce, recycling/rubbish hauling companies, business owners, residents, anyone with a phone camera that will record license plates or offences, to take action. Our shared home is being polluted before our very eyes. What will we do? Here are some ideas:

  • Post “Keep Our Island Beautiful” and littering-fine signs at town lines, beaches, boating docks, and nature trails.
  • Organize a community-wide cleanup four times a year involving students, clubs, open-bed truck owners, businesses, recycling/rubbish companies, and new and longtime residents, allowing for early education and community connection, effort, and action.
  • Greater enforcement of the laws pertaining to litter and fully and adequately covered material in truck beds.
  • Greater community support of our police and harbormasters in their efforts to bring polluters to justice.
  • Require the use of biodegradable, ecofriendly food and beverage to-go containers, and paper straws only.
  • Enforce a single-use plastic bag and balloon ban.
  • Better recycling programs.
  • More frequent trash-bin collections in public areas, boat docks, and at beaches.
  • Deposit-back recycle bins labeled with the Island nonprofit the deposits support placed in strategic spots.

What will we do? We want to help bring about a cleaner Martha’s Vineyard. We need to move beyond the constant cleanup efforts that so many people do. I have been asking around and brainstorming about the types and sources of pollution and options for solutions. If you would like to join us, even in the smallest of ways, I’m in the book. And if you’re thinking, “Great, they’ve got this,” you are wrong. We will not go this alone. Nor should we have to. We all need to step in and help the Vineyard return to its natural beauty.

Constance Messmer

Chilmark