Dec 10, 2014 2 min read

By the middle of this week, litter from last Friday’s Christmas parade was still evident in the gutters along Main Street in Washington. Candy wrappers comprised most of the trash. That the streets remained littered so long is one problem, but our concern is how the detritus found its way to the street in the first place.

Sometime long ago, some politician or clown (pardon the redundancy) had the bright idea to hand out balloons or candy to children along the parade route. Perhaps the hand-to-hand exchange of these favors proved to be inefficient, given the number of children crowding the sidewalks, and so the tradition of hurling handfuls of individually wrapped candies to kids was born.

The number of parade participants who choose to sow sweets has grown, and the result is that so much of it is tossed that not all of it is picked up. Most of it is probably hauled home, kind of a Halloween redux. But a good bit of it is eaten on the spot, the wrappers falling like rain from sticky little fingers.

Parents of these children are apparently oblivious to the mess being made. Why can’t they tell their youngsters to put those wrappers in a trash can, or if none is available, in their pockets until one is found?

Kids need to be taught at an early age that littering is wrong. The ones who don’t learn this become the adults who toss bottles, cans and the refuse from their fast-food meals out the windows of their cars.

The amount of trash along our roadsides is appalling and reflects badly on all of us. Visitors often remark about the quantity of garbage in streets and on berms. They must wonder quietly what sort of people tolerate living in such filth.

Picking up trash is highly important but doesn’t solve the problem. Getting people to quit littering does solve the problem, and it starts with teaching our children how to behave properly.