Zoöp Observations: Less desirable visitorsZoöp Observations: Less desirable visitors

During the redesign and redevelopment process of The New Garden it was decided that the concrete seating area in the middle of the garden should be removed. One of the reasons behind this decision was the frankly discouraging amount of litter in this area produced by supposed “less desirable visitors”. Or, to be more specific, people struggling with addiction. Many of these visitors ignored the available waste bins around. By removing the seating area, it was hoped these visitors would move elsewhere – the well-known waterbed effect, but so it be.

It seems that The New Garden in its current design has become less attractive to people struggling with addiction than before, but the problem has certainly not yet been completely solved. Every Monday I do a round in the garden picking up litter, and each time I find dozens of traces of soft and hard drug use: plastic mini-grip bags, joint tubes, lighters, flaps of rolling paper, wads of aluminium foil and incidentally (like today) a syringe with a needle. Every Monday I also pick up a few empty bottles of (cheap) whiskey or cognac. The concentration of this type of litter is highest along the arcade – because that is currently the only place where visitors can sit. Please note: of course not all people sitting under the arcade use drugs and alcohol. Other regular visitors include people resting from sports and fitness activities.

Another place where I find lot of litter every Monday is the strip along the Jongkindstraat. Here, the composition of litter is very different from that along the arcade. There are more empty fast food containers and drink cans, tossed from parked cars into the garden, and far less drug paraphernalia. The only exception to this are balloons used for recreational nitrous oxide consumption. Previously, you would find plenty of nitrous oxide bulbs (whippets) along the Jongkindstraat; nowadays the recreational users mainly buy the gas in single-use cylinders of approximately 0.6 kilograms (containing 1 liter of liquid gas). I have yet to find an empty tank like that in the garden…