Is litter an issue in your area?

[Wcross]

I am always having to pick up the roadside litter. I am getting fed up with the lack of charactor of my neighbors. There is at least one new beer can or bottle a day thrown out on the area I try to keep clean. Fast food debris are a close second and the final straw was having to pick up a "loaded" diaper last week.
Other property owners have given up trying to keep ahead of the stuff, the roadside looks like some third world country.
I believe a large percentage of the litter is coming from newly arrived people from south of the border. If anyone has been to Mexico(outside of the tourist areas), you know why I suspect that they may be part of the problem. We have a large central American population that are drawn here to work on the farms and a large tyson chicken plant that employes many immigrants. I have no problem with people coming here to improve their lives. I do have a problem with people that reduce the quality of MY life.
I see three problems with the way our county/State handles litter. There are of course the usual signs saying "500 dollar fine for littering"- in english only. Now how are people that don't read english supposed to know? I asked our sherrif about the inmates in the county workhouse and why they aren't out working on the litter. He just shrugged and said they can't afford to get them out there.
The third thing is we don't have a bottle deposit law. It has been brought up in the State legislature but the lobbyists always get it shot down.
Does anyone have any good ideas on how an individual could make an impact to curb this? I have thought about cameras along the road and gathering evidence so I can insist the Sherrif enforce the litter laws. If that fails I could at least deposit the trash in the front yard of those throwing it in my front yard.
I have also e-mailed all the state representitives asking for help (in the form of a deposit law) and included some graphic pictures.

Is there anything else I can do?

[jody]

1. What is the difference between a redneck and a good old boy?

A redneck pitches his beer cans on the side of the road and a good old boy throws them in the back of his truck.
:hi:

[Wcross]

2. What about a "loaded" diaper?

What does a redneck do with that?

[jody]

3. Return it for a refill? I couldn't resist that!. n/t

[tabasco]

4. Litter is an eyesore everywhere I' ve lived in the States.

As opposed to Europe where you have to look for it. It is a symptom of larger problems we have here in the US - - a lack of:

community spirit
concern for the environment.

You are doing good things to help. The only suggestions I have are:
1. Letters to the editor to highlight the problem.
2. Seek to have environmental awareness discussed in schools.
3. Organize student/church groups to clean up the mess. That builds awareness too.

Thank you for your efforts. I hate litter too!

[Township75]

5. What parts of Europe are you referring to?

I have never been there. The reason I am asking is that I have worked with many Europeans, and they told me the US was much cleaner than Europe.

A French woman I worked with told me most of Europe has trash everywhere, and a Polish coworker told me that in many places in Europe, the tourist sites are spotless, but a few blocks away there is "trash, vomit, and dog shit everywhere."

My uncle once ran an outdoor adventure vacation guide company for people that wanted to visit Nepal. The local guides told him that people there had a very poor opinion of Europeans, because they constantly threw trash everywhere along the trails through the mountains.

It would be interesting to compare the amount of trash in the US rural areas against the amount of trash in European areas.

[RiDuvessa]

7. Which part of Europe?

I am currently living in Sicily, and this place is an open dump. People have no problem with throwing garbage anywhere. Graffiti on 2 thousand year-old ruins!!

[Heddi]

10. Can't find litter in Europe? Go to Amsterdam

I was *SO* disappointed when we went to The Netherlands a few years ago..there was garbage EVERYWHERE. The whole city smelled like a portapotty.

I had been to London a few years earlier and just figured that there would be alot of litter there (like NYC) just because of the sheer size of the city. When we ventured outside the city (Cambridge, Brighton, etc), there was little litter to be seen.

However, when we arrived in A'dam, there was trash everywhere. Men pissing everywhere. Shit floating in every single canal.

I was very sad, since Amsterdam is such a beautiful city and the Dutch are such wonderful people. I guess, though, that A'dam is a big city too, very dense population, and alot of tourist/locals there. But to say there's no litter in Europe, imo, is really just plain wrong. My husband said that Paris was disgusting and there was dog shit EVERYWHERE on the streets--the sidewalks---sidewalk cafe's....disgusting.

[kestrel91316]

24. Funny. I was in France (including Paris) in 2001 one and thought it was

IMMACULATE compared to the US. Saw no dog poop anyplace.

[Township75]

6. Maybe a sign in spanish?

I admire the amount of work you have done, and I really wish it wasn't happening to you.

Maybe a sign in spanish would help...I can't think of much else.

[jody]

8. I've climbed remote peaks and pinnacles only to find litter.

I don't know the answer but I do know the problem and it's not limited to the poor. I've been on treks with multi-millionaires that litter just as much as their redneck brothers.

It's not just litter, it's pollution of our precious environment by ever thing from pesticides, lawn herbicides, agri-businesses, ad infinitum.

Humans are the cancer on this earth and I don't see the solution until we cease to exist. God must have hated her creation so she created humans!
:puke:

[Logansquare]

9. Where do you live? Texas has a pretty good anti-littering program

called "Don't Mess with Texas." I live in a city (Chicago), but grew up in the rural Midwest; I have to say that littering has become worse in rural areas in my memory. The Don't Mess with Texas website has research that shows that most litterers are young, male, eat a lot of fast food, and party a lot (thus the beer). They also found that Hispanics littered 10 percent more than the total Texas population (Hispanics and non-Hispanics together).

[jandrok]

11. Texas does have a fairly effective anti-littering program

But it still piles up in some of the more rural areas of the state. We also have a program where people who have ben convicted of misdemeanors are allowed to probate jail time with community service picking up trash on the roadways.I often see the work crews on my way into work in Austin.

It's not too bad in my rural neck of the woods. There is scattered trash, but the neighbors keep it pretty clean, and everyone seems to keep their yards clear and such. We make it a habit to take a trash bag with us on walks every so often and we'll pick up as we go.

[jwirr]

12. Went for a walk today and the

litter was terrible. I suggested to the people I was walking with that we should bring a garbage bag next time. I was promptly told that it was a jobs issue, not a littering issue. Around here they hire kids to clean the roads up in the spring.

[kestrel91316]

25. Am I the only person who thinks it's wrongheaded to litter or ignore

littering so somebody can have a paid job to pick it up?

[RiDuvessa]

13. The worst problem in my area

Was the individuals who would throw trash into the creeks and ponds. The creeks, ponds and rivers in my area always seemed to have trash. My mother tells my that the problem has gotten better through river clean up groups.

Maybe you could form some sort of volunteer clean up committee. Or if you state has the program where you adopt-a-road, maybe you could petition a group or club to adopt your road for litter clean-up.

[Karthun]

14. well

about the only littering I see is cig butts.

And to the dude who said there is no litter in Europe, I suggest you actually go there.

[Wcross]

15. You NEVER see cans/bottles?

You must have a bottle deposit law in your state. My state doesn't and it shows.

[kestrel91316]

26. CA has a bottle deposit law, and has had for years. Now that the deposit

has gone up to 5c for regular containers and 10c for larger ones, the problem seems to be even worse. People think nothing of throwing money - oops, I mean plastic beverage bottles - away on the street by the THOUSANDS.

I, of course, pick them up and cash them in. But I'd prefer not to have to.

[TheFarseer]

16. Litter is everywhere in rural NE

cans, fast food wrappers, bottles but the worst is people throwing out furniture and mattresses in the road ditches. I don't go and throw a mattress on your curb! I wonder if the problem with the furniture is that the dump charges too much, but still it's not cool. I often times scour the road ditches around my parents house when I'm back there looking for aluminum cans to recycle. Not much money but it's an excuse to go out walking.

[Quakerfriend]

17. Litter has become unbareable just outside of Philly, too.

I believe it is mostly related to ever increasing #s of people and, perhaps more recently, lack of gov't funding for clean-up crews to come out and pick it up.

Remember how you used to see groups with yellow bags cleaning up litter twice a yr??

They are a forgotten memory, Thx to * co. and his group of filthy polluters!!

[Robb]

20. Until last year, we had a group of SENIORS who did that

Volunteers. Then last year, one broke open a trash sack with meth ingredients in it and went to the hospital for six months. :(

[TransitJohn]

18. I've been 150 miles

from the nearest paved highway in very remote areas of Wyoming (a very remote and the least populated state) where I live, and found beer cans....granted, usually very old ones (think "oil can" beer cans you need a church key to open). It's everywhere.

[Quakerfriend]

19. You reminded me that it was not all that long ago (40 years)

that it was not uncommon to see abandonded cars on properties that had long ago been vacated.

[murray hill farm]

21. When I lived in Mexico,

we refered to the white plastic bag as the "Mexican National Flower" and that was probably being kind. Last year when I spent some time in Ireland, I never saw any litter at all..anywhere. I asked if they had people working constantly to clean up the road side litter and was told "No, we do not litter here". Now I live in georgia..my daily attempts to clean my street of constant litter is a losing battle.

[galledgoblin]

22. it's everywhere

the only communities I have seen which do not have litter are the ones where people are proud of where they live and not only do not litter themselves but chide friends who do.

and even there, people driving through toss everything out their windows.

[kestrel91316]

23. This is obviously not a priority for your state (TN). Why lose

sleep over it? Just ignore it and let it pile up (yes, I'm serious). Eventually folks will get tired enough of it that they will demand a bottle deposit law and that more funds be spent on cleanup.

[gristd2]

27. this pisses me off!

I hate how people believe the earth should cater to them. I've been reading Taoism which talks about how we ARE part of the world, if we didn't originate from part of the earth then where did we come from? and on top of that, we're not taking measures to preserve it

humans are the most insensitive, self indulgent, animals. that's right, we're still only animals yet our egos make us demigods. I've been working with this PETA campaign about ending animal homelessness (http://www.peta.org/feat-abc_campaign.asp), which suggests that humans are completely at fault with the inability for animals to habitate this earth. They're calling for people to realize this fault, and DO something about fixing it, take responsibility.

[Upton]

28. It's most always beer cans

out where I live in Wa. state. Seems like drinking and littering go hand in hand. Occasionally I have to go out by the road and clean up myself, it's a disgrace.