The aftermath of Memorial Day celebrations has left a popular Austin park looking more like a landfill than a recreation area. Just one day after the holiday, Commons Ford Metropolitan Park was littered with a variety of picnic debris, ranging from empty cans to food wrappers, spoiling the serene setting along the waterfront. Locals and officials are now picking up the pieces to return the park to its pre-holiday condition.
An unnamed parkgoer took it upon themselves to begin to clean up the mess, "It's heartbreaking you know, to just know that this is how people naturally behave." Residents such as Masha Hearthen, who was at the park with her dog the following morning, lamented the situation, "It's very scary. I worry about my dog potentially, like eating something dangerous that might have been left, like a piece of a can," she said, as stated by KXAN.
The City of Austin's Parks and Recreation department, which had closed several facilities in observance of the holiday – including recreation, senior centers, and libraries – urges the public to adhere to a 'Leave No Trace' principle. Amanda Ross, the Natural Resources Division Manager for the City of Austin Parks and Recreation, emphasized the importance of this ethos, saying, "As we like to say 'Leave No Trace' so that that space can be enjoyable for future generations as well as for our local wildlife," in a statement shared by KXAN.
Despite the closed offices and paused services on Memorial Day, Austin Resource Recovery's curbside services were unaffected by the holiday, with the Recycle & Reuse Drop-off Center closed on holidays. However, the failure to dispose of their picnic and party remnants has many questioning if the city should more aggressively remind its citizens to properly throw away their trash—or better yet, to not create such a spill of refuse in the first place. Visitors and concerned citizens are encouraged to report excessive trash or illegal dumping by calling 3-1-1 or using the dedicated app, as per the City of Austin's website.
Editor's note: This article misstated policy regarding availability at the Recycle & Reuse Drop-off Center on holidays.
