As many of you know, I am always banging on at you about keeping your eyes skinned as you walk round the town and asking questions about what you see if it puzzles you. Many years ago I was walking in Victory Park on the path that leads down the side of Stock Beck towards Greenberfield Lane. There had been heavy rain and the banking on the far side had been washed away. I noticed pieces of white pottery and on closer inspection saw that they were shards of broken Keiller's Marmalade pots. I realised that what I was looking at was a household refuse tip and when I got home did a bit of research and realised that at one time Victory Park was one of the places used for disposing of the town refuse. This got me thinking.....
Disposal of waste is not a new problem, archaeologists get excited when they find ancient middens because of the clues they can gather about diet and life styles. I have found references in the Manorial Court Rolls of fines imposed for throwing waste into the town's ditches and later evidence of private contractors collecting rubbish and night soil and spreading it on farm land. In later years we used quarries to get rid of it, Gill Brow and of course Rainhall Rock. I'm not sure where it goes now beyond the fact that the bin wagon turns up and munches it.
Looking into the future I wonder what archaeologists will make of our modern middens. In the UK alone we dump 4 million tons of plastic into landfill every year. Did you see the news item about Henderson Island, one of the most remote places on earth. Scientists visited and estimated that there were 37 million items of plastic waste on its beaches. The big problem with plastic of course is that it is practically indestructible and will survive for centuries. How long can we go on like this? The Keiller Marmalade jars are long lived as well but will be swamped by plastic.
I find all this very depressing. Are we really sleep walking into a future where we have polluted everything? Is it possible for the human race to be so stupid? I'm afraid that all the evidence points to the fact that we aren't fit to be responsible for our own waste, let alone a planet! Little did the Lords of the Manor realise all those years ago that when they fined someone for dumping waste in a ditch that our present problem with fly-tipping would dwarf anything they had to contend with.
That's the problem with observing and questioning. Sometimes we stumble across an inconvenient truth. We aren't even safe with a stroll in the park! It may be that I am being a bit too pessimistic so don't let me discourage you from keeping your eyes peeled. On the whole I derive more pleasure than pain from it. (But I can't help wondering!)
The unmistakable Keiller's Marmalade jar.
