Throw your cigarette butt on the ground, and come back six months later. It will still be there, exactly as you left it, littering the street or yard. Even if you returned to the exact spot two years later, chances are your cigarette butt would still be there, as would a tin can hastily tossed 80 years previously. So much litter is incorrectly disposed of, remaining in the same spot before decomposing. A cigarette butt may take anywhere from one to twelve years to break down and return to the earth, whereas a tin can takes 90 years to biodegrade, and a styrafoam container is estimated to decompose in more than one million years (“Litter Reduction Program”). Every year in the state of Washington alone, over 16 million pounds of “stuff” are tossed and blown onto interstate, state, and county roads. Another 6 million pounds are tossed in parks and recreation areas, and although over four million dollars are spent each year to combat the eyesore litter creates, staff estimates that only 25-35% gets picked up (“Litter Campaign”). Even in outer space, more than 4 million pounds of debris float above Earth, providing a dangerous game of dodge ball for billion-dollar spacecraft (Sparks). In order put a stop to littering, a person need only look at the disastrous effects on the environment that carelessness causes, and consider reforming his thought process slightly to improve the surrounding world.
True, it is difficult to stop littering, especially since proper distribution of garbage cans is regrettably not up to par. Cigarette ashtrays are missing from the ordinary litterbin, providing a tough decision for the environmental-conscious smoker. Trash receptacles are rarely available at construction sites, where workers are forced to drop their lunch waste atop the pile of building waste and hope it all is cleaned up when the job terminates. The convenience of simply dropping an empty container on the ground vastly outweighs the effort involved in finding a trash receptacle, or the annoyance of pocketing it and remembering to dispose of the trash at a later time. Especially in the rush of the city, running after an escaped napkin is hard to fathom when one is pressed for time. In the suburbs, who can avoid crows and animals opening up bags of trash lunch, later abandoned hastily on the curb? Squirrels inevitably chew through even the toughest of garbage cans, and one obliged to purchase another trash can, since new lids are not available individually in stores. As to the dumping of nuts, bolts, and other satellite pieces into the growing orbital junkyard, it is hard to imagine a better place which can hold unlimited amounts of broken machinery at such a minimal cost. To be sure, orbiting debris has damaged some spacecraft; however, the cost of cleaning out the existing junk is prohibitively expensive and very difficult.
Our world is being diminished by litter. What most litterers overlook is the harmful and dangerous effects to society the split-second carelessness causes and has caused to everyone on earth. Litter discarded in streets and recreational areas can travel through the storm water system to bays and oceans, where it causes harm to wildlife. Ducks in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay area were recently discovered dead, their stomachs full with plastic bags. Closer investigation and tracking found a collection of discarded plastic bags underwater, which the mother ducks, mistaking them for food, delivered to their chicks, causing their death. Even organic matter, such as dog droppings, leaves, and grass clippings, pollutes waterways and degrades to form a rich source for algae in the wrong places (“Littering”). According to the U.S. Water News Online, “runoff from farmland laden with chicken manure has been linked to high concentration of phosphorous in waterways” in Georgia, and the Canoochee River, which runs through southeastern Georgia, is now “algae-choked” and unattractive to citizens. Linda Burkhalter remembers playing in the Canoochee with her sisters 50 years ago, when the water was cleaner. Litter can also be a fire hazard. Accumulated litter and hastily discarded cigarette butts are potential fire hazards, and countless fires caused by lit cigarette butts have been started all across the world. Innocent birds may, from time to time, pick up a lighted cigarette and drop it in their nest, a result of smokers’ inattention and carelessness (“Cigarette Butt Litter—In The News”). According to the National Fire Protection Association, cigarette-caused fires result in more than 1,000 civilian deaths, 3,000 critical injuries (many among firefighters), and $400 million in direct property damage each year. Litter is a threat to public health, attracting rats, mosquitoes, flies, and other insects, and providing a breeding ground for bacteria (“Littering”). Once mice and rats are underfoot, feeding off trash and subway litter, diseases spread quickly, as evidenced by the deathly European Black Plague. Broken glass and other discarded sharp objects may injure people and may lead to disease such as tetanus or hepatitis (“Littering”). Additionally, littering also extends to the outer space, an open area for dumping. Modern space stations that are set into orbit are now covered by a bulletproof material called Kelvar for protection against particles smaller than one centimeter, and radar is put to use in detecting larger flying objects. But the pieces larger than one centimeter and smaller than ten centimeters in length are too small to be spotted by the radar, and too large to be stopped by the Kelvar. "If the ISS gets hit at a critical spot with one of those, it's going to be a bad day," stated Nicholas Johnson, chief scientist and program manager for orbital debris studies at NASA Johnson Space Center. "A 5-centimeter object coming toward the space station is going to put a hole in it." A centimeter-long piece of metal off an old Delta launch vehicle orbits the Earth at 6.2 miles per second, and packs the same punch as a small bus traveling 62 mph on Earth. A tethered rocket was lost in 1994 when a miniscule bit of space debris effectively sliced through the tether, and the Hubble Space Telescope had a three-quarter-inch hole shot clear through its high-gain antenna by a small object (Sparks).
Litter looks bad and negatively affects the image of places, especially tourist locations. In California, a person convicted of littering can be charged up to $1,000 because of littering, and sentenced up to 16 hours cleaning up graffiti or litter(“Littering”). It’s just not worth it. As an individual, the most powerful factor in effecting a change may be to remember that refraining from littering may be one small action, but small actions do add up, and it’s doable. Other preventative measures include checking the litter conditions near a person’s home, including securely closed trashcans, covering loose items in boats, and ensuring a litterbag is in the car. Sharing information about the harmful effects of littering with friends and family also spreads awareness, and will open the eyes of the unaware. Missouri elementary school teachers can receive individual awards signed by the governor for completing a litter-free syllabus. Washington State has created programs to promote awareness that include roadway signage, special events, and reminders on state agency materials . The law enforcers have even begun asking people if they have a litterbag, and reminding citizens it’s the law. Businesses should promote litter awareness and recycling and encourage litter-free living for employees. The UN has added guidelines recommending that all new spacecraft be fitted with propulsion valves that will propel objects toward Earth's atmosphere within 25 years after they expire, harmlessly burning up in the upper layers of the atmosphere.
As world population grows and the quest for environmental-friendly living conditions continues, each person can contribute his share by being conscious of his trash. Ascertaining that litter is placed in appropriate trash receptacles and biodegradable material is properly disposed of ensures a healthy environment for all, and keeps wildlife in its natural cycle. Littering is an area that can be reformed ‘one small deed at a time,’ leading to the healthy Earth everyone desires.
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