The Littering Problem

Over the last few years, littering has become more of a problem across not only the state, but the country. In Washington alone, close to 12 million pounds of garbage, paper, etc. is littered and thrown carelessly onto our highways and roads. Of those 12 millions pounds of litter, 40 percent is from unsecured trash flying off of moving vehicles, which then causes around 400 car crashes per year. Many people don’t even notice the litter scattered on their streets because they have adapted to the fact that there’s garbage lying almost anywhere you go, and they might not see it as a problem anymore, either. Not only that, but some people may even know the effects that littering has, but decide to do it anyways because they haven’t properly been taught the consequences they may go through, such as fines.

The first problem that arises is that some people might not know what to even consider litter. They could be innocently tossing a banana peel out the window, with the intent to feed hungry animals, but also not realizing that action is only making littering a bigger problem. Litter can be considered something as small as an unlit cigarette butt, to as big as a broken down vending machine rotting away. Although, technically speaking, littering is the act of purposely throwing any sort of litter on private or public property or waters without permission. Which leads us to our next question, what is so bad about littering? Why are there so many strict rules and fines regarding trash on the streets? There are many reasons why littering is illegal, including reasons that affect not only humans, but animals and the world as well. Any trash along the side of the road that gets washed into storm drains, and eventually leads out into bigger bodies of water and can no longer be used to drink or use. Along with that, trash floating along water could be a potential risk towards animals who may get tangled up in them. Another reason is because of the germs and potential diseases that may come along with it. If an animal mistakes the trash for food, it could easily be the reason a human comes in contact with a disease. The last big reason is because when all of our trash is on the streets instead of being recycled, it wastes our natural resources, resulting in more materials needing to be created from scratch.

The biggest reason people litter is because most of them don’t feel responsible for it, especially in public spaces that are already cluttered in garbage, such as parks and places outside their own neighborhood. In a public space like a park, people typically assume that someone like a maintenance worker is in charge of cleaning up after them. Or they figure that since it’s already trashed with garbage, a little more won’t do much damage. There have been many studies since the 1960’s that show that over the years, people have in fact gotten better about littering or recycling. In just 20 years from 1960 to 1980, there was already a significant improvement, and people were beginning to understand that it was improper to throw their trash around. Although, a psychologist from California State University, Wesley Schultz, noticed that even though there was a noteworthy amount of improvement, people were still just as quick to break that for ludicrous reasons, such as there not being a garbage can within walking distance. Schultz’s conclusion throughout his research is that a majority of people actually do care about the impact littering has, but they simply don’t care. Many people are quick to fall into new trends, so when they see others just tossing their garbage with no care in the world, it only sets that negative example for those around them.

Over time we have obviously seen how, even if it may be slow coming, we’re still making progress towards being litter-free. From the studies in the 1960’s and 1980’s, we’ve already seen a huge upturn in people understanding the negative effects that litter has on everything in the world. What could be responsible for that increase in a short amount of time is a nonprofit organization called Keep America Beautiful, as well as the Crying Indian public service announcements, which aired in the early 1970’s. Keep America Beautiful is an organization, founded in 1953 in Stamford, Connecticut. Their entire goal is to help people become educated on the subject, as well as end littering, improve how people recycle, and make America more beautiful. They even have a website including 10 easy tips to help reduce littering, with suggestions such as leaving a garbage bag in your car or reporting those who litter. It has even come to legal terms, and people could be fined up to $5,000 for something like a lit cigarette butt. Though if you have an unsecured load that may injure someone, you can be fined and spend a year in jail.

Since the 1960’s, we’ve made slow but important progress towards being litter-free. The first step towards this is bringing awareness and making sure people know what not to do when it comes to littering. This could be simple things such as talking to your friends about the laws regarding littering, or as big as cleaning garbage off of beaches so they don’t harm our nature and animals. The next thing to think about is why people litter, and what they get out of it. Found from studies, people typically do care about the effects of littering, but it’s that they’re too lazy and don’t care enough to actually clean up after themselves and keep the earth clean. Thanks to Keep America Beautiful and the Crying Indian public announcements, there was a significant improvement that might have even started to movement to end littering and improve how we recycle.
-Jordan Trussell