Passerby makes concerning discovery illegally dumped in park: 'I just wonder: why?'

There's nothing like taking a nice stroll in the woods and admiring the birds, the leaves, the flowers, and … Styrofoam.

For one resident of Berlin, this was the reality they encountered during a walk. They shared a photo of the garbage — a heaping pile of plastic bags overflowing with Styrofoam — on a Reddit page related to the German capital.

"It's not the first time that I find something like this (illegal trash disposal) in a nearby park area. I just wonder: why?" they wrote, frustrated. "Is it really so expensive to just bring it to the nearest recycling place and get rid of it there?"

One commenter summed up the issue: "There are at least two problems here, people who think only in terms of their own selfish needs, and the city making it time consuming and expensive to get rid of certain types of waste. Not to defend the person who did this … but this city needs to incentivize proper recycling and waste disposal by making it the default or the easiest thing, and not just by preaching about proper waste sorting."

Others expanded on the criticisms of Berlin's recycling system. "If you need to get something picked up it's expensive. However if you dump something on the sidewalk or park … they'll usually come get it in less than a week," one person wrote. "It basically incentivizes illegal dumping."

Many urged the original poster to report the incident, which they said they had already done.

Watch now: How did Hurricane Helene wreak havoc so far inland?

One person also emphasized that other than being unsightly, this garbage is dangerous. "That styrofoam is never going away," they wrote. They also pointed out that polystyrene — a key component of the foam — has been named a "likely carcinogen."

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Leaving toxic materials to sit and degrade in place for decades — like in the case of 20-year-old plastic water bottles in the woods — is extremely damaging to an ecosystem. Not only do these materials slowly break down and infiltrate soil and water over time, but they're often accidentally ingested by innocent wildlife.

But despite the hazards, people continue to dump waste illegally in so-called protected areas, from ponds to national parks. If you witness illegal dumping, be sure to look up the ways to report it in your area and inform your community about the dangers it poses to everyone so that we can cultivate respect for nature — rather than viewing it as an extended landfill.