Littering

Littering is the illegal disposal of waste materials in both public and private spaces. It is a form of pollution that can have highly negative consequences for the environment. Litter can consist of all sorts of rubbish that have been thrown away and left for others to pick up. It can originate from any number of sources and may result in the contamination of land, waterways, groundwater, and other shared natural resources.

Littering is illegal. Laws vary on state and municipal levels, but they may carry harsh penalties, including potential jail time. States have also instituted laws intended to protect specific public areas, such as beaches, roads, and parks, and littering in such areas may be subject to more severe penalties. The goal of such regulations is to reduce illegal waste disposal and ensure the protection of spaces used by the public. Such laws are also meant to reduce costs associated with picking up litter.

Background

There are many psychological reasons why people litter. For instance, they may not have a sense of ownership or respect for public spaces, and therefore do not believe there is any harm in leaving trash behind. Additionally, they may see existing litter and have less concern about adding to the debris, particularly if the item is small, such as a food wrapper or cigarette butt. If there are no places to dispose of trash or if garbage receptacles are deemed to be located in inconvenient places, people are also less likely to make an effort to properly dispose of their waste. Similarly, litterers believe that any trash they leave behind will be picked up for them. Studies have shown that younger people are more likely to litter, particularly when they are in a group. Men are also more likely to litter than women are, and people in rural areas tend to litter more than city dwellers.

However, the improper disposal of trash is not limited to pedestrians and motorists, although they are two of the most common types of litterers. Other major sources of litter come from construction zones, loading docks, uncovered trucks, business dumpsters, and household trash placed outside for garbage trucks. In such cases, these sources of waste may only be accidental contributors to the littering problem. Wind, rain, or other bad weather may cause trash that has been properly disposed of to enter the environment. Such litter often accumulates around storm drains, which may become plugged with trash, leading to localized flooding problems.

Cigarette butts are typically the most common form of litter in the United States. According to one 2011 survey by the Ocean Conservancy International Coastal Cleanup, cigarettes accounted for 32 percent of all trash gathered by volunteers. Other studies have shown that butts may account for as much as 40 percent of all litter. Studies have also shown that as many as 75 percent of cigarette smokers did not properly extinguish their butts before throwing them away. Lit cigarettes thrown from cars or left in public spaces are known to cause fires. Similarly, trash bins that are not equipped with places to specifically extinguish butts are at greater risk for fires starting inside the receptacles. A single cigarette butt can take up to twelve years to break down fully, and it may leak such chemicals as cadmium and arsenic in the process. Such chemicals are poisonous to animals and are easily spread to other parts of the environment. These chemicals can lead to groundwater contamination, poisoned wells, and polluted bodies of water.

Overview

Litter has negative consequences for the environment. Litter can be flushed into the ocean, where it leads to fish kills and a negative overall impact on all forms of marine life. Waste buildup can damage or kill plants in parks and other natural areas. Litter may also kill wild animals. In particular, plastic can be especially harmful to wildlife. Fishing lines and other filaments left on beaches are known to kill large numbers of birds who are unable to see the nearly invisible threads. They often become entangled, leading to prolonged, painful deaths. Trash that has not been properly thrown away can also end up in water, leading to dangerous algal blooms.

Litter can also have negative impacts on home values, and when allowed to collect into dangerous levels—such as with hoarders—litter can increase the risk of fire, or prevent victims from escaping burning homes. Neighborhoods with more litter also tend to have increased crime, lower property values, and be more likely to have fires. This is in part due to heightened perceptions that residents in neighborhoods with more trash care less about their homes and are therefore less likely to take an interest in preventing crime or arson. People also report feeling less safe in areas where trash is present.

Financially, littering cost the US government almost $11 billion in 2014 to clean up. However, littering may have other consequences as well. For instance, non-recycled trash takes up space at landfills; these materials also contribute to hidden expenses from their lost recycled value. One stretch of highway may have as much as sixteen thousand individual pieces of litter and has been identified as being the source of traffic accidents.

There are laws against littering in every US state, with fines often levied against people who break these laws. As of May of 2014, these fines reached as high as $30,000 in Maryland for extreme offenders of littering laws. In other states, a littering violation can also lead to jail time or the suspension of a driver's license. Offenders may also be required to participate in the cleanup of litter from roadways or other public spaces.

There are many ways to reduce littering. For instance, on a municipal level, greater numbers of attractive, clean, and well-placed receptacles have been shown to reduce the amount of litter. In addition, specialized receptacles where cigarettes may be extinguished can reduce the amount of butts that are improperly disposed of. Studies have also shown that leaving images of watching eyes in public spaces has been shown to reduce littering. Community service programs such as Adopt-a-Highway campaigns, which recruit volunteers to pick up litter on public roads, have had a demonstrable impact in helping to clean up litter. In exchange for their service, organizations are allowed to post their groups' names on signs indicating the stretches of highways they regularly clean. Public service campaigns have helped to drop littering rates by an average of 2 percent per year since the 1990s.

Bibliography

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Hurley, Kevin. "Cigarettes: When Did It Become 'OK' to Litter?" EPA's Greening the Apple, 6 June 2012, blog.epa.gov/blog/2012/06/10181/. Accessed 13 Jan. 2017.

"Litter Facts." North Carolina Department of Public Safety, www.ncdps.gov/es/DPS-Services/Crime-Prevention/Litter-Free-NC/Litter-Facts. Accessed 13 Jan. 2017.

Patel, Vimal, et al. "Cigarette Butt Littering in City Streets: A New Methodology for Studying and Results." Tobacco Control, vol. 22, no. 1, 2013, pp. 59–62.

Revermann, Susan. "How Does Littering Affect the Environment?" Seattle Post-Intelligencer, education.seattlepi.com/littering-affect-environment-6802.html. Accessed 13 Jan. 2017.

Schultz, P. Wesley, et al. "Littering Behavior in America: Results of a National Survey." Keep America Beautiful, www.kab.org/sites/default/files/EndLittering‗ForAffiliates-Teachers-Businesses‗LitteringBehaviorinAmerica‗2009Report‗Final.pdf. Accessed 13 Jan. 2017.

"States with Littering Penalties." National Conference of State Legislatures, Mar. 2014, www.ncsl.org/research/environment-and-natural-resources/states-with-littering-penalties.aspx. Accessed 13 Jan. 2017.

"Who Litters and Why People Litter?" Official Website of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, www.wycokck.org/uploadedFiles/Departments/NRC/Who%20Litters%20and%20Why%20People%20Litter.pdf. Accessed 13 Jan. 2017.