Handkerchiefs, tampons and many, many cigarette butts: there is a lot of rubbish to be found around the Soier See.
A married couple quantifies the garbage.
Bad Bayersoien - you are moving out.
Armed with gloves and bags, Dr.
Jessica Grimm and Dr.
Patrice de Rijk on Monday evening along the Soier lake.
They keep an eye out for rubbish.
You don't have to search long.
Tempos, tampons, sanitary towels and even an adult diaper are lying around in the forest.
Put it in the bag and take it away quickly.
The couple, who have lived in Bad Bayersoien since 2014, have been collecting rubbish since Lent. Usually they keep their hands off chocolate. Not this year. Because of the corona pandemic, people are already practicing enough renunciation, they say. “Instead, we wanted to do something meaningful,” says the native Dutchwoman. The duo regularly makes its rounds around the Soier See. Always with you: the cell phone. Grimm and de Rijk work with the Litterati app, which an American developed. “Simply removing the waste would not change the situation in the long run,” believes the 42-year-old. That is why the team takes photos of every piece of rubbish to document it. Using the GPS in the phone, a geotag is linked directly to the image.The two also enter key words such as the brand name or the material and upload the recordings. “You can then download and evaluate the data,” explains Grimm. The results - sobering.
Used tampons at the children's playground
“We are dealing with a huge problem with tipping,” says the trained archaeologist.
The couple collected over 5,000 cigarette butts in 20 days - they are usually two hours away.
"That is crazy, almost half of all waste," emphasizes Grimm.
Bad especially because the remains are highly toxic and not biodegradable.
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Legacies in the forest: Tempos are lying around on the ground.
© private
There is also a lot to do around the Fischerhäusl.
The couple clean the playground there on Monday mornings.
It regularly picks up used tampons.
“You don't want the children to pick it up.” But in general “there is so much stuff lying around that people carry around.” Above all, torn scraps of the mustard sachets flutter around.
Primarily that of a well-known manufacturer.
Grimm wrote to the company a few days ago to point out the problem and suggest changing the packaging.
So far there has been no answer.
Forest becomes a toilet
In return, Grimm puts forward a steep thesis on the rubbish sinners. For them, the mustard bags are related to the consumption of meat. And that is mainly consumed by men. But she does not protect women either. They trample the forest and "piss the adder on the head". In addition, they leave a lot of tempos and tampons behind. To this day, she cannot understand why the local council twice opposed Mayor Gisela Kieweg's proposal to set up toilets on the north side of the lake, where one of the largest populations of these snakes in Europe lives. That is why Grimm advocates at least signposting the toilet booth at the Fischerhäusl.
Another problem was revealed by the app.
The rubbish bins are on the wrong side of the road, so to speak at the back of the walkers.
"Changing them would be the least."
New idea: voting ashtray
The couple sometimes removes 600 pieces of waste in two hours.
Also unsavory.
“We're tough,” says Grimm, who now works as an embroiderer.
Her most curious finds: numerous artificial nails and a small device for a pacemaker.
It is important to her to sensitize the population.
“It's not always the other, the visitors, to blame,” emphasizes Grimm.
Therefore, she would be happy if more people grab their own nose, participate and maybe even children get excited about it.
“You can do something with maps and statistics,” advertises the 42-year-old.
She contacted the town hall chief and informed her about a new idea.
"Kippster", the voting ashtrays, should help to reduce the stub mess (see info box).
Kieweg, who speaks of a "great action" by the couple, would like to deal with the proposal in the local council soon.
The principle of "Kippster":
Two tubes with perforated lids, on top of them a striking question: This is what the somewhat different "Kippster" ashtray looks like. Smokers can dispose of their cigarette butts and take part in a vote. The result is visible from the outside at any time via the fill level. In Wolfratshausen, for example, these double-bellied waste bins were installed as early as 2019. These can now also be found on the Baltic Sea beaches.
