When you see our sweeper trucks or workers cleaning properties and parking lots, we might be clearing up silt and debris left from melting snow or from wind, rain and powerful storms. Making those spaces clear and clean prevents future sewage clogs, structural damage to property as well as environmental contamination. It also looks great! Dirt, leaves and sand debris are a natural and expected part of our seasonal cycles, but what about the cleaning needed because of human choices? Yes, we’re talking about litter.
Man-made Messes That Hurt Our Community
Back in the 1970s, television campaigns used commercials to bring the emerging problem of littering to the nation’s awareness. The Crying Indian, and slogan, “Make America Beautiful” became well-known to that generation. Unfortunately, later generations appear to have again become less sensitive to litter. Ironically, in this age of recycling, we work to reduce waste going to landfills, but do we talk about our personal treatment of trash? Here some interesting facts about litter today:
- Cigarette butts take over 10 years to disintegrate and are 50 percent of all litter found on roads and in parking lots.
- The bulk of litter comes from fast food. Like cigarette butts, it is commonly tossed from car windows.
- Surveys show as many as 75 percent of US respondents admit to littering within the past 5 years.
- Teens and children make up the largest group of litterers. Those aged 21 to 35 litter 3 times more than their parents, the previous generation that grew up with the first anti-litter campaigns.
- Reasons cited in government surveys for littering include being lazy, not caring and lacking a sense of pride.
- Although littering is illegal, litterers often experience no consequences for these actions.
Litter and garbage is unsightly and hurts communities in a variety of ways. While it certainly lowers property values and endangers wildlife and the environment, it also costs communities thousands of dollars each year, not only in cleanup efforts, but in other, incalculable ways. Litter discourages new businesses, tourists and residences. All these entities would contribute dollars in commerce and would pay local taxes. Litter also increases costs repairs of public maintenance machinery and farming equipment. This also leads to higher taxes.
The first line of defense against the littering problem is to educate the community about its presence, dangers and prevention. The second line of defense is sweeping streets, roads, ramps and lots. Since these areas are the repositories of most litter dumping, keeping them clean prevents litter from being blown to other areas. It also prevents litter residue from being walked into homes and buildings. We are Twin City Sweeping. Managing litter is a big part of why we sweep. Do your part by not littering, then spread the word. If you are a commercial property owner with a building, lot, apartment complex, senior living home or other property, contact us to help put litter in its place.