Saturday

introduction

I live in a huge upscale apartment complex in Los Angeles. Tenants and guests often toss their trash in the parking lots or near the buildings. This is called littering.

With my camera I turn that litter into art.

The local littering occurred over several months and I photographed it when taking my daily walk.

No, I do not live in a slum but often, due to littering, it looked like one. See for yourself ...






photos and captions



Here's the leash. Where's the pet?



Peter Rabbit organic fruit drink. Cute litter.
Unfortunately, cute litter is an oxymoron.


Lose one of your gloves? Stop. Look on the ground.


Smash the glass bottle in the middle of
the parking lot. Make lots of flat tires.


Wet floor sign. Why is it in a dry parking lot?


Emergency Vitamin C turns into emergency litter.


Nice dirty mess on my neighbor's balcony. It's
been there for weeks. Maybe it'll pick itself up.


Nice silver spoon. Why is it tossed in the dirt?


Nowhere near a supermarket. Shopping
for a big tasty organic gluten-free bush?


This place is pet friendly but dog poop in the hallway?


Litter or a homeless encampment?


Disposable panties? Now they are.


Krispy Treats. Tossed on the krispy ground.


Pretty pink spoon, tossed on the brown ground.


Have a nice picnic then leave some nice trash.


Bags of litter. Wrapped nicely, tossed in the bushes.


Makeup remover stuff. Yeah, remove your
makeup and leave the stuff in the parking lot.


Cokes on the curb. Do curbs get thirsty?


Recycle your toxic waste batteries. On the ground.


Toss your flattened Diet Pepsi can. Then walk away.


Real Philly Cheesesteak litter. In L.A.


Discarded charger cord. Good luck using your phone.


Done with your taco? Toss it on the hillside.


Girlie garbage? Hey, it's pink.


Next day, more trash, same place. Same person?


Pringles in the parking lot.


Meal leftovers on the parking lot curb.


Nicely arranged liquid litter on same curb.


Litter like you mean it.


Laundry litter. Somebody is walking around
shirtless and wearing only one sock.


Drink a Starbucks, toss it, run it over.


Food trash on the stairwell in my building. Yummy.


They paid for a Whole Foods drink, created whole trash.


Tossing it on the ground is NOT what it means!


Starbucks rewards littering?


Stained couch dumped in building stairwell. Have a seat.


Arizona litter in California.


Can't finish your pineapple? Toss it on the ground.


Get out of your cute car, drop some ugly litter.


is parking a shopping cart in a red zone illegal?


It takes less than a minute to toss a Minute Maid.


Respect the Earth. Throw the label in the bushes.


Fresh ripe strawberries. Tossed on the ground.


Done shopping? Park your cart anywhere.


Drink healthy vitamin water, then toss the empty.


Eat that very healthy yummy salad and salmon.
Then toss the unhealthy containers on the ground.


Hey, tires get thirsty too.


Thirsty stairs?


Red Bull. Do stairs need energy too?


Leftovers on the landing. Yummy.


Momentos. Mo Mentos. On the stairs.


3-day old parking receipt, from another city.


No Parking in the Red Zone. Unless you're litter.


What, no milk?


Eat it, drink it, read it, dump it.


Doggie poop bag. Pick up your dog's poop. Or not.




It's for dog waste not human waste.



Done with your McCafe? Toss the sucker.


Done with your drink? Just toss it.


A tire and a drawer? Really?


Drink a lot of water, toss the empty gallon on the grass.


Eat a Chewy bar, toss the wrapper in the hallway.


After they cleaned the apartment, they left the
dirty sheets and towels in the hallway for days.


Big empty bag of dog food. On the ground. Woof.


Fiji Water. Los Angeles is a long way from Fiji.


See a movie, then toss your trash.


Mrs Vickers chips are delish. The bag is not.


What do you do with a used-up laundry card?


Yummy Reese's Minis - on the ground.


Cigs among the twigs.


This is "good" litter. It's ice, it'll melt.


Coke litter, neatly arranged by the person who tossed it.


Pretty green antifreeze, known as hazardous waste.


A fork in the road. Literally.


The Holy Grail of disgusting litter.
A used condom. In the parking lot.



Littering is against the law in California. Don't litter.

California Penal Code 374 (a). "Littering means the willful or negligent throwing, dropping, placing, depositing, or sweeping, or causing any such acts, of any waste matter on land or water in other than appropriate storage containers or areas designated for such purposes. It shall be punishable by a mandatory fine of not less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) upon a first conviction".

To be fair, for whatever reason (this blog?), my property management company has now thankfully put some staff on "litter pickup duty". What is needed is educating people to not litter in the first place.