When I was first given to massive trash bag at the Dutch Gap cleanup, I was skeptical about the amount of trash we would be able to pick up with such a large number of people participating. My estimate was that each of us would be lucky to find more than three or four bottles apiece. After walking down the trail to the river, and not seeing a single piece of trash on the way, I was certain that my prediction was correct. However, after reaching the bank of the river and starting to poke around the logs and shrubs a little bit, I was shocked. The entire riverbank was covered in plastic bottles, glass bottles, bottle caps, glass shards, shreds of plastic bags, plastic drink rings, fishing line, fishing lures, scrap metal, diapers, chairs, fishing poles, umbrellas, cans, rubber pieces, and cardboard. My bag quickly became very heavy, and I watched the same thing happening to people all around me who were struggling to carry their bags back to the trash collection site. It was extremely rewarding to see this previously trash-filled landscape to slowly turn back to what it looked like in its natural form.
Thinking back on the experience I realized that in addition to all of the large trash items, I also spent a lot of time on my hands and knees picking up glass shards. It was easy to assume that with all the glass shards I was picking up, I was making a significant impact in this portion of the cleanup. However, thinking back on it, I realized that a single glass bottle, when shattered, creates what appears to be a massive amount of glass.
The amount of time and effort needed to clean up the effects of one smashed bottle is so incredibly disproportionate to the amount of time and effort it takes to shatter one. I believe that this holds true for the environment as a whole. It can be messed up in the blink of an eye, with a chemical spill for example, that would then take many years to repair.