10 Litter Solutions to Prevent Plastic Pollution

About every month or so, I get requests from kids doing a project on litter, asking me what are the biggest problems with litter and what if any solutions. I am so happy to hear that kids are addressing this issue.. but the issue needs to be addressed with adults too, as they are the primary plastic polluters.

Plastic Trash and Litter is growing. When was the last time you drove or walked anywhere for .25 mile and did not see trash? In particular Plastic Trash? Plastic bottles, plastic bags, Plastic lids, plastic straws, plastic cups, plastic bottle caps, plastic fast food wrappers, plastic packaging, plastic marijuana bottles (new)  Take a walk and do a count and you would probably be surprised if you paid attention and evaluated the litter problems. 

The 5 biggest problems to me:

• Apathy: People just do not care or are just lazy. Many times the trash can is 1 foot away.
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• Lack of Respect: For mother nature, For humans in general, including family and friends and for animals.
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• Lack of consequences: Get a ticket? What a laugh! Right, who enforces tickets.. it too much work and no ROI. (Return on investment.
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• Lack of Self Esteem: Friends will not confront friends and strangers on their littering.
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• Disposable Life: We have just too much stuff

My solutions:

1.) Add A Litter Tax to monthly sewage- waste or water bills: A few states and cities have a litter tax or a take out tax. The problem is that these taxes are paid by businesses who provide goods and services that lead to litter. All people litter and this tax should be paid by not just businesses. Each Households should pay a litter TAX. The residents are the ones who don’t pick the overflow in alleys, they are the ones who flick their butts, leave behind lids and straws. While it may not seem fair to those who don’t litter, the reality is why should companies be penalized for inconsiderate and lazy consumers?

Make the Cost in large letters: Roadside Litter-Illegal dumping Charge- Beach- Waterway Clean up. Make sure the payer knows exactly what they are paying for. That should be a big wake up call. This will probably not pass, because law makers are too afraid to do so. In addition, I would once again believe lawmakers would abuse the monies, as in the case of Rhode Island, where the money for litter abatement has been stolen.

Coca Cola UK

The other downside, and I would believe this would happen, it people would think I pay for this, so litter even more!

Nationwide Litter Taxes 

• New Jersey Litter Tax: This tax is almost a joke.
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• Rhode Island: Called a Litter Permit: ‘McVeigh said, was originally earmarked for litter control and prevention programs, such as the Youth Corps Program. The Youth Corps Program was administered by what was then known as Ocean State Cleanup and Recycling (OSCAR). The program provided summer jobs for teenagers, which involved cleaning up public streets and parks. That program was expanded at one point into the Youth Conservation Corps, which not only cleaned up R.I. streets, but also participated in beautification and ecological restoration projects. Both programs have since fallen victim to budget and staffing cuts at the state Department of Environmental Management (DEM)…..Enforcement of the state’s litter laws is extremely lax…. In the five years from 2005-10, the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal, where tickets issued for littering are adjudicated, processed a mere 714 littering violations, or about 2.75 citations a week. (Eco RI News)
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• Virginia Litter Tax: $10 per year per business.
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• Washington Litter Tax ; ‘That tax, which has been collected for more than 45 years, originally was intended to pay for litter cleanup and waste prevention programs. But since 2013, half the money, about $5 million annually, has been shifted to state parks to help patch annual holes in its budget‘. (The Times Tribune)

2.) Involve Corporate Sponsors: This was shocking! No offense to sports fans, but when you read that MetLife paid $400 Million for an NFL stadium and AT$T has 4 stadiums…Of the NFL’s 22 of the league’s 32 teams play in a corporate stadium. MetLife paid $400 Million and Bank of America paid $248 Million, Even more shocking is when you read the list of corporations globally that own or sponsor sports venues.. . that is alot of money!  Arco Stadium, (Gas Polluter)Pet-Co Park, Bank of America Stadium, CenturyLink Field, Fedex Field, Ford Field, Gillette Stadium, Farmers Field, Edward Jones Stadium, Heinz Field, Lincoln Financial Field, Lucas Oil Field, Mall of America Field, Qualcomm Stadium, Sports Authority Stadium, SunLife Stadium, Alaska Airlines, Alliant Energy (they have 2) Allstate, American Airlines, Amway, Arm and Hammer, AT&T (4 stadiums). These are just a few!

Check this out: In the past 15 years alone, over $12 billion of the your money (taxpayer- public) money has gone to privately owned stadiums—constituting essentially a massive transfer of wealth from everyday Americans to the super-rich owners and players involved in these billion-dollar sports franchises. (City Lab) 

This just tells me, our priorities are screwed up… Watching a baseball game is more important that a clean environment? Who cares about toxic waste if the Patriots win? Who cares about landfills if the SeaHawks win? Who cares about a few dead sharks is the Padres win? Who cares about toxic waste entering our waterways if the Giants lose?

3.) Involve Local -Small Businesses: I do not mean taxing them. Get them actively involved in litter abatement.

• Pick up trash in their neighborhood. Most liquor stores, 7-11’s do not have any type of receptacle outside for litter and yet they are one of the most littered areas.
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• Fast Food Restaurants should have to pick up trash within a block of their store.
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• Give them Ash Cans and Recycle Bins for outside their store.
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• Provide Tax credit if they do this.
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• Provide some sort of Tax Credit if they sponsor and do weekly clean ups.
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• Encourage some sort of Freebie or specials for those bringing a bucket or a bag of litter.

3.) Educate, Educate and Educate: There are many schools that do offer environmental programs, but the education needs to continue from pre-school all the way to college. Wouldn’t it be great if it became required watching monthly videos such as the viral video of the taking the plastic straw out of the turtles nose? The sea rescue of whales in marine debris? Plastic Pollution in our ocean? The state of corals?

Guest speakers, clean up days, trash days and more just on the cost of litter.  Personally I would start with colleges. College students at least where I am at are some of the worst offenders. Party on…. liquor, cigarettes, now medical marijuana, shoes, socks.. everything is disposable to these students.

4.) Better Anti-Litter Signage…. EVERYPLACE.. When was the last time you saw a litter billboard? When was the last time you saw a anti-litter campaign? The funds would come out of the Litter Tax.

Ozark Living

More than 35 diseases can be spread through rats and mice – these include a fever-inducing nausea and muscle aches, passed via a bite or through contact with the rodent’s urine

Put up Art in Public Places such as beaches and parks to visually demonstrate what litter does. The following hotel was built out of beach trash in Rome, Italy to demonstrate the amount of litter left by tourists.

Save the Beach Trash Hotel: Image Uniq Hotels

5.) Enact Laws: Get rid of Styrofoam, plastic bags, plastic straws, plastic utensils and plastic cups. Signage should be put in all restaurants and in public areas. At least require the staff ask if they need plastic spoons or straws for take out. Seriously, if I do take out and bring it home, I do not need plastic eating utensils or napkins for that matter.

6.) Enforce Litter Laws: Why don’t cops ticket for littering? As one lifeguard told me, it was not worth his life (too dangerous). It is also a because it is a hassle and no ROI. But if you made the fines steeper like $500 versus $75, it could pay for itself. …

Make severe consequences. If more tickets were given out and part of reparation is picking up litter and illegal dumping.. think about how clean our environment could be. What if those 23,000 littering tickets had to pick trash? Could you imagine? Make the consequences significant and enforceable.. like they couldn’t renew their drivers license?

Nationwide

Californians pay $428 million per year in costs to stop litter from becoming pollution that harms the environment, tourism and other economic activity. According to Ticketsnipers, 23,112 Tickets were given out for littering on highways in California. That is all? In over 17,000 miles of California Highways.. hat is all? You could pick up over 23000 pieces of litter in 2 miles alone on some freeways. That is not all, San Diego has also a problem with both littering and illegal dumping. An extra $800,000 taxpayer dollars is being spent to combat it.

In Rhode Island: lax enforcement of our state’s littering laws. In the past five years, only 714 citations for littering have been logged by the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal. Only 34 citations were issued by state Department of Environmental Protection officers. Those 714 tickets theoretically generated, at the minimum fine of $85, $60,000 of income for the state. Rhode Island police issue about 90,000 speeding tickets annually, which, at a minimum fine per offense of $85, would generate at least $7.7 million for the state.

7.) Shame Litterbugs in Public: Today, nothing is sacred online. Publish or Perish can take on a new meaning with litterbugs, illegal dumpers and fly tippers. Shame them publicly and why not? Why are only politicians shamed. No

The Face Of Litter campaign in Hong Kong was launched in 2015, shaming in public people that litter.

Image and Story: South China Morning Sun

• In Singapore litterers have to pick up litter in public places and wear a special vest. (Today on line)
• In Mexico a Face of an Illegal Dumper was put on a billboard. (Naherent)

8.) Put up More Trash Cans: There is one area in Mission Beach, that litterly has few trash cans, in fact there are not trashcans in the parking lot, ergo, there is lots of litter in the parking lot. This is not just at the beach.. go to any Home Depot Parking lot, Ikea parking lots, Target parking lot.. any parking lot that has food offerings will be strewn with trash.

Litter in parking lot, with no trash cans

9.) Build Community Engagement

• Work with Keep America Beautiful: Set up Neighborhood Trash Brigades, Work with Adopt a Highway.
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• Work With companies like Terracycle, who also  They take cigarette litter and contact lenses
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• Monthly Clean up Days per area: Police Departments, Fire Departments, City Workers, military and hospitals are great resources.
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• Get Exercise Gyms, Yoga Studio to institute ‘litter’ exercising’ in their neighbor. Offer a discount for every bucket of trash picked up.
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• Re-install Litter Hotlines and Reporting (monthly shaming) 
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Rhode Island: ‘Costs related to litter can add up quickly, but few are paying attention because, for the most part, the problem is addressed by volunteers, so any associated labor costs to the taxpayer are hidden, marginalized or non-existent. Last year, cleanups performed by Save The Bay, the Rhode Island Audubon Society and the minimum security prison work crews that you see picking up litter on our highways utilized nearly 15,000 people. If each of those people worked for three hours at a rate of $10 an hour, the labor alone would cost $450,000.

The Boy Scouts of America-Narragansett Council logged nearly 4,000 volunteer hours performing cleanups in Rhode Island last year. That’s another $40,000. Inmates on work crews make a paltry $3 a day, amounting to a total of about $22,000 paid out by the Department of Corrections. Supervisors of these clean-up crews…make more.  (Source: Eco Rhode Island)

10.) Personal Involvement

• Pick up litter yourself, make it point and a family fun thing to pick up 10 pieces a day.
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• Go Plastic Free: This is definitely a challenge, but it is easy to say to to straws, say not to plastic bags, say no to plastic bottles, say no to sugary drinks, say no to any take out with cups and lids (or take your own) and buy less stuff.
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• Keep a litter bag in the car to make sure all is disposed of.
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• Keep lids on trash cans and pick up after the trash collector come by.
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• Set an Example with friends and neighbors.

I hate to say all of the above. I hate more taxes, I hate more laws, but it has become very obvious that people will not take responsibility for their own actions. People will not pick up after themselves and because of that, if those of us want to live in a clean environment and be able take a walk or swim safely without fear of running into rats or trash, we much make people accountable for their actions.

Resources

• List of National Football League Stadiums 
• List of Corporate Baseball Stadiums
• List of Corporate Sports Arenas 
• NFL Stadiums with Most Expensive Naming Rights 
• 23 Littering Statistics That will Blow Your Mind 
• Littering Statistics 
• Are Litter Taxes Good Economics?