• Definition
• Problems Caused By Litter
• What You Can Do To Help Stop Litter

Last Updated: 10/13/04

Definition:

Litter - trash, wastepaper or garbage lying scattered about; an untidy accumulation of objects.

Many times we talk about littering without really understanding what it means, without knowing what it is doing to our environment and that there are things that we can do to prevent littering.

Litter is the cigarette butts, soda cans, coffee cups, beer bottles, plastic bags, gum wrappers and various other items you may see along side a road, blown up against a fence or swirling around an empty lot. You may see litter in a park where people have been recently picnicking or at the beach after a busy day.

When people throw things from their car, drop things on the ground or even if someone aims for a garbage can, misses and leaves it, that is littering.

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Enduring Litter
Litter at the roadside is ugly. How long it will stay before decaying may be an ugly surprise.

Problems Caused By Litter

When litter is on sidewalks or along curbs, it may get washed down in to storm drains during a heavy rain. Eventually this water leads to the nearest river or ocean. We all need this water either for drinking or recreation. If the water becomes polluted from litter it is no longer useful. Animals may mistake the items of litter floating in the water as food and could choke on them. Even if the animals don’t try to eat the litter, they may get entangled in it.

Litter can be very dirty. Not only does it not look nice but, it may carry germs. There are some animals that are scavengers who are attracted to areas with lots of litter. They find their food among the trash and can pick up the germs and become carriers for diseases that may make people sick.

Litter is bad for the environment. It wastes our natural resources. When cans and bottles that are discarded on the roadside instead of being recycled, it means that even more resources must be used to create can and bottles from new materials.

Because litter is exposed to the elements, it may start to decompose. This can result in a foul smell where ever the litter is. This means less places to play. You certainly can not play a ball game in a field where you can’t find the bases because of litter blowing around!

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What You Can Do To Help Stop Litter

• The first solution to littering is to always make sure you properly dispose of your garbage.
• Recycle all that can be recycled and put all other garbage in the proper containers.
• If you see a friend throwing something on the ground, ask them nicely to put in the trash receptacle instead of on the ground.
• If you see a piece of litter, pick it up and throw it away. But remember, never to touch anything that your not sure of-it may be sharp or be a hazardous material.
• Join one of the many groups who run clean-ups of their local areas. In New Jersey, a program called Clean Communities will give the groups money for completing a clean up. These groups may include school clubs, girl scouts, boy scouts and church organizations. Groups can also Adopt-A-Spot. This means they choose a spot and work to make sure it is cleaned regularly.

Litter Abatement Programs include:

• NJ Clean Waterways
• Mini-grants for Cleanups
• Adopt-A-Spot
• Adopt-A-Road
• Keep America Beautiful

Keeping It Litter Free. . .For You and Me is not an easy task.

It means helping people understand why littering is so bad.

Contact your town coordinator or the Passaic County Office of Recycling and Solid Waste Programs for more information or to sign up for one of the Clean Communities Programs

pcnature@passaiccountynj.org

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