Thousands of internet commenters were left appalled after one man showed how his garden ended up full of plastic wrappers and other litter.
In a viral Reddit post published on r/mildlyinfuriating, Redditor u/The_Missing_Bracket (otherwise referred to as the original poster, or OP) shared a video of a seemingly-endless stream of trash aimed straight at his garden and revealed the surprising source of the airborne garbage.
Titled, "The Neighbors' children who live above us won't stop throwing trash at our garden," the viral post has received nearly 43,000 votes and 2,100 comments in the last nine hours.
Last decade, a survey conducted by Homes.com revealed that, while a majority of people living in the United States maintain some sort of relationship with those who live close by, 40 percent of people avoid their neighbors altogether.
But for those who do interact with neighbors, those interactions are not always pleasant.
While the Homes.com survey revealed that 61 percent of people have never experienced neighborly conflict, there is a substantial portion of people living in the United States who have either confronted, or been confronted, by a neighbor.
Noise complaints, which account for 18.4 percent of these conflicts, were the most common catalyst for confrontation, followed by parking disagreements at 11.7 percent.
Children and garden-related matters were also cited as causes for neighborhood tension, with arguments over children accounting for 9.5 percent of conflict and arguments over gardens and boundaries, 7.2 percent.
In the case of the original poster's viral video, issues involving a neighbor's children throwing trash into a garden are compounded by a major issue facing the country, and world, as a whole.
Last year, data collected by Keep America Beautiful revealed that 50 billion pieces of litter are strewn across American roadways and waterways. Data also revealed that 90 percent of U.S. residents agree that litter is a problem in their home state.
Combined with a 2020 report by National Geographic showing that the U.S. is the greatest producer of plastic waste in the world, any additional trash being added to both public and private gardens and other green spaces is a problem that should be addressed immediately.
Throughout the viral Reddit post's comment section, Redditors echoed this sentiment and offered a myriad of tongue-in-cheek suggestions for how the original poster should deal with their neighbor's littering children.
"A few metres of drain pipe and a leaf blower should be able to return the garbage to its sender," Redditor u/BitScout wrote in the post's top comment, which has received more than 5,000 votes.
"I know you should not have to but if you picked it up and dumped it all on their doorstep," Redditor u/Sully_Botzwana added, receiving nearly 4,000 votes.
"Collect all trash, go upstairs, dump it at their door," Redditor u/ciceniandres chimed in.
In a separate comment, Redditor u/Hamhockthegizzard exclaimed at the amount of trash in the original poster's video and speculated that the garbage storm was the result of purposeful action and not youthful innocence.
"That's like...a lot of trash," they wrote. "From the title I thought it'd be like one or two things [but] they're being deliberate a**holes."
Newsweek reached out to u/The_Missing_Bracket for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Taylor McCloud is a Newsweek staff writer based in California. His focus is reporting on trending and viral topics. Taylor ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
