2012 was the eleventh consecutive year of volunteer action to control trash on the Foxcroft Road. The author conducts this survey as a single observer. However, there are others who also pick up trash on the Foxcroft Road, such as the Middleburg Hunt and the Foxcroft students themselves. Therefore, if anything, the numbers here noted are understated. At a value of 1089, the year 2012 was a shade above the eleven year average of 1055. To aid those first time readers and as a reminder to past readers of this column, the course of trash collection is a 4.6 mile route of dirt and hard road that includes portions of the Polecat Hill Rd. (Rt. 696), the Foxcroft Rd. (Rt. 626), the Snake Hill Rd. (Rt. 744), and the Millville Rd. (Rt. 743).

In the past year, 1089 individual pieces of trash, an average of three per day, were retrieved from the Foxcroft Road, and most of the trash was recycled. The perennial nicotine champion, Marlboro, accounted for 54% of the tobacco total with Camel second at 17%, and Newport third at 15%. The relative numbers of tobacco products increased their percentage from 5% in 2010 to 9% of total trash in 2012, the best percent year in the last eleven. Obviously the efforts of the government to discourage cigarette consumption have met resistance with cigarette packs actually steadily increasing in number. The 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act mandated that 50% of the cover of each cigarette pack bear the image of medical sequels to smoking, i.e. lung tumors, gangrenous limbs and mouth ulcers. In court the tobacco industry has sought to portray the government regulation as an attempt to coerce the public into healthy behavior, whereas the tobacco industry has merely been exercising its right to commercial speech. According to the CDC, tobacco is the root cause of 30% of all cancers and 80% of lung cancer.

In the New Age-Soft Drink category, there was close competition between, the duopoly, Coca Cola and Pepsico (53 vs. 50 in absolute numbers or 28% vs. 26% of the New Age-soft drink group). Coke was able to establish a slim lead over its oldest rival, Pepsico, which has been the winner for six out of the ten last years. Coca Cola is the world's largest bottling company. Coke has aggressively entered the recycling market with a goal of recycling 40% of production.

The Fast Food group suffered another down year at 12% in 2012 vs. a total 21% of all trash in 2010. 7-Eleven accounted for 27% of fast food and McDonald's 24%. In 8 of the last 10 years McDonald's has led 7-Eleven.

In the Beer, Wine, and Booze category, Miller/Coor's, must take second place to AB INBev. After all, AB INBev currently controls 48% of the United States beer sales but 64% of Foxcroft Road beer cans and bottles, whereas SABMiller controls only 28% of market share with Grupo Modelo a distant third at 6%. In road trash Miller/Coor's and Corona/Modelo were separated by only two containers. AB INBev accounted for a full 14% of all road trash. Miller/Coor's accounted for 3% and Corona/Modelo only accounted for 2% of total road trash. AB INBev with 151 pieces of individual trash easily exceeded Coca-Cola's absolute total of 5% (53). Of the top eight individual road polluters only AB INBev was able to increase production (up 31%) in 2012. There are many beer labels in the U.S., but 82% of beer is sold by just three producers, AB INBev, SAB Miller, and Grupo Modelo. As of January 2013, AB INBev is the object of a Justice Department injunction to block the proposed acquisition of Grupo Modelo, the holding company of Corona-Modelo, in a deal worth $20 billion. No wonder that there is similarity between most beers sold in the U.S.

As Pulitzer prize winning author, Steve Pearlstein, points out in the 3 Feb. 2013 Washington Post, "since 2008 despite a recession and a modest decrease in the amount of beer it sold, America's beer duopolists have increased prices; operating profits and share prices…..to achieve the corporate executive nirvana – the appearance of competition without any real competition."

This year the "Egregious Eight" accounted for 39% of all road trash. The cumulative total number of pieces of trash per year generally averages approximately 1100. 78% of this trash clearly bears the label of a commercial entity. 22% of all trash could be said to be "accidental." Or to look at the situation in another way, corporations have exercised a right to dispose of at least 78% of the trash found on the public roads. The following corporate entities are ranked in order of gross trash production:

1. In Bev-AB (151), production is up 31% over 2011!
2. Coca Cola (53), down 48% from 2011
3. Marlboro. (52), down 4% from 2011
4. Pepsico (50), down 34% from 2011
5. 7-Eleven (34), unchanged from 2011
6. McDonald's (30), down 51% from 2011
7. SAB Miller (28) , down 26% from 2011
8. Grupo Modelo (22), down 45% from 2011

Last year's Foxcroft Road Pig Pen winner, Van Metre Homes, won out by placing signs, which were against Loudoun County ordinances, along the road every Friday evening. These signs were removed every Saturday morning. After this column appeared in The Middleburg Eccentric in late January 2011, Van Metre ceased to put up any more signs. Could it be only a coincidence? We also regret the disappearance of Hostess Twinkie and Ding Dong wrappers. Hostess is said to have been victimized by labor unrest. Uranium mining will have to wait for another year to pollute Virginia. Unfortunately a bottle deposit bill will have to wait as well. Tom Friedman relates a story concerning the late American entrepreneur, Steve Jobs. When Jobs first went to the small Reed College in Oregon, he dropped out after one semester. The second semester he stayed at Reed taking courses while sleeping on friends' floors, getting one free meal per week at the Hare Krishna temple and otherwise supporting himself by gathering 5 cent bottles for recycling. Of course, no such thing could happen in the Old Dominion, since Virginia has no bottle deposit bill.

This year's Foxcroft Road Pig Pen grand prize is awarded to AB IN-Bev, which has increased trash production by 31% over 2011 qualifying the corporation as "King of the Road." AB INBev and its predecessor AnheuserBusch have been the subject of at least two recent books, Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America's Kings of Beer, November 2012, by William Knoedelseder, and Dethroning the King: The Hostile Takeover of Anheuser-Busch, an American Icon, Nov 2011, by Julie MacIntosh. The titles speak for themselves and they make for interesting reading.