Another joyous occasion left nothing but trash behind following an engagement party in Palos Verdes, California.
TikToker Willow (@willow.eve.leitner) filmed the aftermath of the event in a post that garnered over 421,000 likes and 3,000 comments on the platform.
@willow.eve.leitner Literally I don't understand how people can just carelessly do stuff like this and not think of all the animals and stuff they are potentially negatively impacting 🥲 #stoplittering #carelesspeople #savetheplanet #savethearth #nowaste #overconsumption #helptheplanet #california #nofaithinhumanity #environmentalprotection ♬ original sound - willow
While walking through a beautiful natural area, she panned the camera to show fake rose petals dotting the landscape.
"There's, like, hundreds of these all over this place, and you could've just used real flowers," she says in the video while holding a fistful of the litter.
"Literally I don't understand how people can just carelessly do stuff like this and not think of all the animals and stuff they are potentially negatively impacting," she wrote in the caption.
Willow and her sister cleaned up the open, green space that overlooks the Pacific Ocean, stuffing their pockets and a reusable bag with what she estimated to be 500 red petals.
Several commenters wondered why the fiancé didn't use real flowers or other safer alternatives, like biodegradable paper and dried leaf confetti.
"And then we wonder why there is plastic everywhere — it's 'cause people are just sprinkling plastic on the Earth just for fun," she says. "This place deserves better — much better."
Celebrations for Easter, New Year's Eve, and gender reveal parties also leave tons of garbage in their wake, threatening the well-being of humans and wildlife.
Confetti and other plastic party goods can leach microplastics into soil and bodies of water, some of which are toxic and can cause adverse health effects. Some animals may even ingest the trash, which can lead to their eventual demise.
Though it's important to record events that leave litter behind to spread awareness, it's more important that the area gets cleaned up — as Willow and her sister showed.
To prevent such events from negatively impacting our environment, we can throw parties with nonplastic, reusable party favors and tableware and talk to our friends and family about eco-friendly celebration methods.
"Both of you are amazing! Thank you for caring!! I hope this comes across whoever did this and they learn to do and be better," a user wrote in the comment section of Willow's post.
"That marriage is starting off with the worst karma," a second person said.
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