Everyone needs to pitch in to can the litter.

Byline: GUEST VIEWPOINT By Andy Vobora For The Register-Guard

In a recent column, Bob Welch reviewed another successful Oregon coast clean-up. Bagging thousands of pounds of garbage, the voluntary effort shows how passionate people can make a big difference.

This effort is repeated annually in Eugene, as volunteers gather to clean the Amazon Canal and sportsmen float the McKenzie River in Springfield to remove tires and other debris.

While these efforts create visible results, I question why our city streets, school campuses, bike paths and rural roads are not targeted with the same verve. Maybe it's because some folks have great passion for our waterways, or maybe it's that the task is simply overwhelming. Sure, we have an adopted road or a section of bike path that caring individuals or civic groups tend to, but for the most part, the litter problem is out of control and embarrassing.

Our Keep Oregon Green mentality has fallen by the wayside and has been replaced by a mentality that `litter is someone else's problem, not mine.'

As taxpayers we could blame the cities or the county. After all, isn't cleaning streets and roadways their responsibility?

How about blaming businesses? If convenience stores didn't sell those soft drinks in cups, candy and other throwaway items, we wouldn't have a litter problem.

And what about fast food restaurants? They surely have some responsibility for putting their items in disposable containers. The agency I work for spends thousands of dollars cleaning up after customers who litter around bus stops - dollars that could be spent providing needed service.

Should we blame schools? If they taught our kids better, we wouldn't have a litter problem. At many high school parking lots, custodians spend time everyday picking up fast food garbage that barely makes it outside the car onto the ground. I guess it's too much trouble for kids to carry their trash 50 feet to a nearby garbage can. Oh, but these habits were formed in earlier grades. Take a walk along sidewalks leading to and from our middle schools and you'll view a trail of cans, juice boxes, candy wrappers and more.

Have you taken the time to look around your own neighborhood recently? A number of years ago, I visited Mexico and was astonished at the amount of litter. More astonishing to me is that our own community doesn't look much better. I guess litter knows no borders, but we have few excuses. Other countries struggle due to a lack of infrastructure. We have the infrastructure to address the problem, so it appears that "Keep Oregon Green" has simply become another roadside sign.

It's easy to think that litter is someone else's problem. So governments will continue to spend funds picking up litter, businesses will spend funds cleaning up after customers, and schools will spend funds cleaning up after students.

As we celebrate Earth Day on Saturday, maybe it's time to focus closer to home and stop blaming the government, businesses or schools. Let's not count on a one-day-a-year event to clean the beaches, the canal and the river. Let's take charge individually and rekindle the "Keep Oregon Green" spirit within ourselves, and once again teach it to our kids.

What if each of us took a look in the mirror and asked ourselves if we are part of the problem? What if we sat down with our kids and told them straight up, `Pick up after yourself.' What if we took a plastic grocery bag with us the next time we walked the dog and picked up around our neighborhood? That's right, your neighborhood. The litter along your streets is being left by your neighbors, and it's time for a change.

Let's Keep Oregon Green by doing our part in our part of Oregon.

Andy Vobora is the director of service planning, accessibility and marketing for Lane Transit District and has been an Oregon resident for 37 years.