I must admit, I have done it before. You have done it before. At one point in our lives, we have all littered. If someone says he or she never had, that’s far from the truth. In fact, 75 percent of Americans have admitted to doing so in the last five years, according to www.greenecoservices.com.
Yes, indeed. Littering. We have all done it, and some of us still do.
It is a problem that some take lightly and show little concern for. In California, one can be fined up to $1,000 for committing this illegal, I repeat, illegal act. It is a misdemeanor. Yet, the law does not stop many from doing so.
The litterbugs who commit this crime are a cost to society and a cost to taxpayer dollars. Ironically the same people who litter are taxpayers and part of society.
DontTrashCalifornia.info reports that the California Department of Transportation spends more than $41 million per year on litter removal. To put this in perspective, $41 million can be used to buy 1,782 new 2010 Toyota fuel-efficient Prius cars. It was also reported that it would cost $50,000 to clean up just five miles of a highway.
I am not a smoker, nor am I against smoking. Everyone is responsible for his or her own actions and preferences. What I am against is the fact that most smokers do not take responsibility for their actions when it comes to disposing their ugly “butts.”
The statistics speak for themselves; according to the Keep America Beautiful organization, cigarette butts account for about a third of all litter in the U.S. In urban areas, the group says, cigarette butts represesent half of the litter. The second most common litter is fast food waste at 33 percent, reports nomoretrash.org. Seriously? Have you seen how many garbage bins are inside a McDonald’s restaurant and even outside of it? Apparently many ignore that.
Ignorance, is the fourth reason people litter, according to nomoretrash.gov. The first reason is that people are too lazy to get up or simply walk and dispose of the trash properly. The second reason is that people are most likely to litter in an already littered place than in neat surroundings. Thirdly, they don’t care, and they believe others will pick it up.
Ignorance is bliss? Nope, not in this case. It is costly.
Litterbugs who tend to do commit this unlawful act tend to be pedestrians, then ages 16-24, ahem, college students. They also tend to eat fast food at least two nights a week and drive approximately 50 miles per day, according to nomoretrash.gov.
No, seriously again. Have you heard the saying “clean up after yourself, your momma doesn’t work here”? Well, that’s what mother nature is telling us right now. Yes, she is our mother, but we are grown, old and mature enough to clean up after ourselves. So, if you will continue to do it, reach back at your conscience before you let that Wrigley’s gum wrapper hit the ground.
Please don’t litter my world.