Foto Del Mes: A Trashcan

My only competition in BCN Week's photo contest may just be me, myself and I, but even so, they published another one of my photos! There's nothing like seeing your name in lights (or, print).

At Least They Tried // Issabella Shields Grantham

You're probably wondering why I took a photo of a trashcan. It's true I'm in love with this city, but I'm not so enamored that I photograph every damn thing I see (well, not everything). There's a backstory to this waste receptacle.

It's the ubiquitous Barcelona trashcan that nobody uses -  I've actually heard people say, if you put trash in them, the street-cleaners will be out of a jobs. (Yes, every single job in Spain is precious!) And you just don't see the anti-littering campaigns you find in the States (example: Don't Mess with Texas!). 

But, when Spain decided to ban smoking in all indoor public places (including on stage in a production of Hair, for heaven's sake) at the beginning of 2011, the litter on the street - mainly cigarette butts - increased ten fold.  Gross, huh?

Some of us non-smokers appreciate the cleaner, smoke-free bars, but smokers obviously would rather not go outside in the cold to get their fix, and now everyone complains about the abundance of cigerette butts littering the sidewalks.

Since smokers outnumber non-smokers in Spain, restaurants and bars are now seeing a lot fewer customers. More people seem to be staying at home to eat, drink, and have their smokes. And the economic crisis (pron: "creee-sis") continues.

Who thought it was a good idea to ban smoking in the middle of a creeesis anyway? This neat pile of butts at the foot of the trashcan seemed like a collective "f-you" for placing this ban in the middle of the worst economic crisis of our time.