Ruth Garay
The Signal Staff
Mother earth is dying a slow and agonizing death as she is poisoned daily by people who litter. It could be as small as a cigarette butt or as large as a mattress. No matter the size, its end effect is toxic.
Why do people litter?
The number one litter bugs in America are smokers. They flick cigarette butts out of their car window, on the street sidewalks, at the beaches and other public places. But, why do they do it?
Some smokers think the cigarette butts are not litter because the filters are biodegradable. However, nothing could be farther from the truth. Cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate tow fibers, not cotton. It takes decades to decompose, so when it rains, toxic chemicals can end up in the soil and water supply.
Many fires that are started each year by cigarette butts also impact the environment. The cost of smokers’ dirty deed is contaminated soil, polluted water and deadly fires.
Equally guilty of littering are lazy people. Lazy people are inconsiderate, ignore the consequences of their actions and have no respect for the environment, nor do they care to protect it. They don’t have time to find a trash can and, if they did, the sloths wouldn’t walk 10 feet to throw it away. Instead they rely on others to pick up their slack.
Some litter does get picked up by volunteers who take time out of their day to participate in programs like Adopt-a-Highway; however, most of the time, a third party company hires people to pick up the litter at the expense of the taxpayers.
Litter that doesn’t get picked up has a big impact on our environment. Paper takes two to five months to break down, plastic-coated paper cartons take up to five years, tin cans take 50 to 100 years, and styrofoam containers can take up to one million years. So laziness plays a huge role on the health of our world.
Some littering is accidental. “Keep America Beautiful” conducted research and found that 40 percent of litter comes from debris that blows out the back of pickup trucks or other types of unsecured loads. Drivers who toss litter like paper, cans, glass bottles and other items into the bed of their trucks often find that it’s mysteriously gone by the time they reach their destination.
The driver might not see his litter, but other people do because it ends up blown all over the freeway. In fact, litter is sometimes the cause of accidents. Pick-up drivers are not the only offenders. Sometimes ladders, mattresses, furniture, landscaping and construction materials fall off of trailers because commercial drivers don’t secure them properly. All drivers are responsible for taking the necessary precautions to prevent accidental litter.
Some people go to great lengths to dispose of heavy trash items, but can’t be bothered to take the time to find out how to dispose of the items properly. These people seem to think it’s OK to litter if no one sees them.
The scoundrels illegally dump their litter in dark places. Alleys, vacant lots, wooded areas and dead-end streets end up being hot spots for illegal dumping. Out of sight and out of mind. However, continued dumping in these areas has an adverse consequence. Not only is it an eye sore, it also has the potential to become the breeding ground for mosquitoes, rodents and other unwanted inhabitants.
Can you imagine what it would be like if everyone threw their litter wherever they pleased? According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American produces about 4.4 pounds of garbage a day, or a total of 29 pounds per week and 1,600 pounds a year. One of the direct repercussions of living in filth would be vermin, not to mention the stench and disease.
There are many excuses people can give for littering. However, all the excuses in the world are not strong enough to hide the fact that we are killing the environment that sustains us. It is our responsibility as custodians of mother earth to insure that litter ends up where it belongs – in the trash.
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