As Snow Melts, Trash Revealed
BOSTON (CBS) -- We've arrived at what is arguably the least attractive phase of winter.
The once-beautiful, snow-covered landscapes have transformed into a moonlike surface full of pock-marks and grime. Snow-white has been replaced by snow-grey.
It is the price we have to pay for a few days of charm: weeks and weeks of dirt.
Walking his dog along the Commonwealth Avenue Mall Tuesday afternoon, Bostonian Josh Collins noted the speed of the snow's about-face.
WBZ-TV's Jim Armstrong reports.
"It turns from something that's very beautiful to something that's quite unattractive pretty quickly," he said. "It's going to be a big clean up this year after the snow is gone. Lots of trash and dog poop around."
A tour around the city shows a similar scene. Snow banks in South Boston act as magnets for neighborhood trash; coffee cups, candy wrappers and cigarette butts join assorted garbage, all partially frozen in crusty black mounds. The streets of Allston and Brighton, now slightly less narrow thanks to melting snow, reveal a canvas of ever-thickening layers of sand and dirt.
The situation gets only a little better as temperatures rise. The melting muck fouls up cars, and salt is your automobile's enemy.
"It's good to get it off as soon as you can," according to Jeff Panich, General Manager at the Allston Car Wash, which is doing a brisk business as people try to keep the dirty snow banks from making their cars equally messy.
"Last month we were closed most of the month; nobody was coming in," says Panich. "Finally we got some nice weather and everybody is coming back."
And with continued melting, returns trips are all but guaranteed.
