Within a three block radius from my house yesterday, I noticed so much litter lying around on the ground it made me ill. I saw everything from glass and aluminum beer containers, to bags of McDonalds garbage, to a huge wad of cassette tape lying in the middle of the street...even a dirty BABY DIAPER...among other litter. It just seems that in todays' age of litter awareness this is still a huge problem. And I think it's more of a problem in some areas of the country than in others - like in my area. In fiscal year 2004-2005 my states' DOT (NM) spent $1.9 MILLION to remove 23,698 TONS OF LITTER from our state highways!! I can think of so many other ways this money could have been spent, other than having to clean up after litter bugs!!

And did you know our biggest litter problem in the U.S. involves cigarette butts?

Here are some litter statistics on cigarette butts:

-->In just one day 230,000 cigarette butts were collected from California beaches during the 2000 Coastal Cleanup Day. Cigarette butts were the number one trash item found (http://www.cigarettelitter.org).
-->According to the Ocean Conservancy, cigarette butt litter accounts for one in every five items collected during cleanups, making it the most prevalent form of litter on earth.
-->There are over 176,000,000 pounds of discarded cigarette butts in the United States each year.
-->Over 4.5 trillion cigarettes are littered worldwide each year. They are the most littered item in the world (http://www.cigarettelitter.org).

Not to mention the environmental cost of cigarettes...

-->Filters and plastic wrap from cigarette packages remain in the environment for long periods of time. Cigarette butts are composed of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic, which can take many (estimated 2 to 25) years to decompose. Cigarette butts may seem small, but with several trillion butts littered every year, the toxic chemicals add up!
-->Plastic pieces have been found in the stomachs of fish, birds, whales, and other marine creatures that mistake them as food, swallowing harmful plastic and toxic chemicals. Ingestion of plastic cigarette filters is a threat to wildlife. Sometimes even young children pick up and ingest cigarette butts.
-->Wind and rain often carry cigarette butts into waterways, where the toxic chemicals in the cigarette filters leak out, threatening the quality of the water and the creatures that live in it. (That's our drinking and gardening water, folks!)

I just thought some of this information might interest some of you...And as you may have gathered, my biggest "pet peeve" is blatent littering!! When my boys were small, I would impress upon them the importance of "putting litter in it's place", and I would FREAK if they even threw a gum wrapper (or Heaven forbid - a piece of GUM!!!) out the car window.

What are your feelings on litter, and littering?

Have you ever noticed an unusually large amount of litter where you live?

Are you involved in "Trash Pick-Up Days" in your area?




Information gathered from: Surfrider Foundation A-Z: Cigarette Butt Litter and http://www.nmshtd.state.nm.us/GTG/pd...ol_Program.pdf

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I can remember one time as a new driver the other teen in the car threw the whole bag of McD's out the window....I stopped the car and just sat there in the middle of the busy road until she went back and picked it up!!! Course my car was trashed but that's beside the point.

Yeah, litter really burns me. We live in basically a wind tunnel. And we are at the tree line. So even though people may not intend to litter, stuff flies out of trash cans, recycling bins and hands I'm sure, and it ends up in my yard. THere are little "catches" all over town. I think that my son's boy scout troop may make a service project of picking this stuff up.

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Sarah

I hate littering with a purple passion!! I keep a walmart bag around my gear shift for us to throw away our trash. My husband is bad about throwing cigarette butts in our driveway!! WTH!! But when we're on a picnic I don't feel bad if I throw a french fry on the ground or something equivalent to that since it would be eaten by birds or squirrels, etc....

I, too, have stopped my car and made people go pick up their litter before. Besides it's effects on the Earth and the beauty of our cities, the driver of the car is often the person fined for littering.

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Wendy~Self-proclaimed hippie momma to Bob and Jamie

i was on a bus once, and this guy threw a taco bell bag out the door when it opened. i was really upset, but i'm afraid of people (especially big dudes who were starting trouble with the driver). i feel bad i didn't say anything. but i do make sure that my family doesn't litter, even if i have to carry trash in my backpack till i can find a can.