How To Help Minimize Littering

Author: Zee @GreenBlossoms

What:   Motorists and pedestrians are responsible for creating between 30 and 55 percent of all litter. Although they are often blamed for littering along roadsides, there are actually other primary sources of litter:

• Household trash handling and its placement at the curb for collection
• Dumpsters used by businesses
• Loading docks
• Construction and demolition loads
• Trucks with uncovered loads

Litter is blown away by wind and traffic or carried by water and moves until trapped by a curb, building or fence. Unfortunately, once litter has accumulated, it invites other people to add more. Did you know that transportation departments spend millions of tax dollars and many hours each year picking up litter? All that time and money could be spent to improve roadways or rest areas if people would take the time to throw their trash in a designated bin.

Why:   Littering has always been a recurrent problem of our society. Did you know that a cigarette butt alone takes approximately 5 years to degrade? The toxic effect of millions of cigarette butts, littered all over the world, are accountable for devastating fires and the demise of innumerable birds, mammals and reptiles consuming them. The garbage of plastic objects on the other hand has lead to the death of quite a number of marine animals and seabirds that mistake them as food. Needless to say, the effects of litter are disastrous. Litter in bodies of water can decrease the oxygen level of water while decaying. On land, drain-blockages due to litter can directly cause flood. Land pollution is in fact made up of the litter that we produce and these pollutions combined – air, water and land can have disastrous results if we do not change our ways!

How:

• Spend a day picking up litter at a park, beach or playground that your family spends a lot of time visiting. This way you're not just doing a good thing, you're giving back to a spot that has given you (and your family) happiness.
• Make the effort to always find a trash can. Hold on to your candy wrapper, paper cup or cigarette butt and dump it into the next trash can you see, even if it's in your office.
• Walking around and see litter? Take a moment to pick it up and drop it in the closest receptacle. Make sure you wash your hands when you get home.

• Call your local town hall and find out what environmental cleanup groups exist in your area. Or better yet, start one yourself! Organize a clean-up with family and/or friends and ask neighbors to join you too. Set a day of the week for a clean-up.

• Contact your local lawmakers and propose for more litter receptacles, laws prohibiting the placement of garbage in these receptacles and specifying proper receptacle use. You can also push for free distribution of litter bags, and regulations requiring load cover and spill prevention measures. Ask for better signage, lighting and barriers – these can reduce or eliminate continued dumping and littering in a given area.

TIP: Set the example for family and friends to follow. If there's no litter bin around, put your trash in your bag in the meantime and throw them when you get home or when you find a trash can.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/parenting-articles/how-to-help-minimize-littering-2188391.html

About the Author

Green Blossoms is a sustainable clothing company based in Los Angeles, California. Our clothes are made from bamboo, organic cotton and corn! We also love helping women live green and healthy lives, and have FUN doing it through our blog. Visit us at http://www.greenblossoms.net