He calls himself the local ‘wanderinator’. Armed with a garbage bag and grab stick, Peter Marseille from Ees regularly roams the roadsides and woods in his village to pick up litter.
Litter is a thorn in the side of nature lovers. Likewise for Marseilles. “Apparently people find it too much trouble to take their rubbish home or throw it in a bin,” he says incensed.
The area around the Bodenpad in Ees is usually tight due to the efforts of Marseille. A noble job, but why is he doing it? “I think it’s important that my living environment looks clean, tidy and natural. It bothers me that there is quite a lot of litter in this beautiful forest. Because it bothers me, I want it gone.”
During his search for waste, he regularly encounters special finds. On this afternoon, it’s a clammy piece of cloth. That turns out to be soaked boxer shorts that have been left in the bushes. But that’s not the dirtiest thing he encounters.
“Mostly the dry stuff I find, such as cans and empty cigarette boxes. But there are also filled condoms,” says Marseille with a contorted face. “That’s not very fresh.” In addition, there is one repeat offender in the area that the local Zwerfinator is very busy with.
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