Hold on, did davis.noah actually call it a 'secret soot pile' like it's some kind of family treasure? That's honestly wild to me. It's not a hidden toy chest, it's toxic waste just sitting there. The whole point is that this stuff gets into everything, water, soil, the air kids breathe. When we cut corners like that, we're literally leaving them a worse world to deal with. Not sure how anyone can joke about that, @davis.noah.
Remember that old gas station on Route 9 that got torn down? The cleanup crew found a buried tank that had been leaking for thirty years. The whole lot is still fenced off because the dirt is poison. That "secret compost" joke is the start of that story. It's not about one can, it's about a habit that adds up for decades. Who pays to fix that mess later?