Put back the bins that blew over
After a windy collection day the street is strewn with other people's bins and rubbish. It takes one person ten minutes.
The BeingKind editorsPublished How this is written
Why it lands
This is a textbook problem of diffuse responsibility: everyone can see it, nobody owns it, and most people are at work when it happens. The householder comes home in the dark to their own rubbish across the pavement and no idea whose it is. The reason it is worth doing is not the tidiness — it is that streets where somebody does this and streets where nobody does diverge over years.
How
Wear gloves. Right the bins, put the loose rubbish back in, and wheel them off the pavement so pushchairs and wheelchairs can get past — that last part is the bit that actually matters. Do not go through anyone's rubbish or open bags.
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