It’s become easy for people to simply pass by a crumpled up piece of paper or an empty soda can without a second thought to pick it up and put it in some form of waste receptacle. With litter piling up higher every day, people just choose to go on with their lives. Who can blame them considering how hectic and fast-paced the average person’s life is nowadays?
Whether you’re running late and eating your morning bagel and coffee on the way to work or are grabbing a piece of pizza on your way home from a night out with friends but can’t find a trash can, there’s a good chance you will chuck whatever trash you have far enough away from yourself so you don’t have to see where it lands and feel accountable for what happens from there. Because of these habits, a good chunk of the average four pounds of waste that people generate everyday will end up in the streets rather than in a garbage can.
There are plenty of services available for garbage pickup but they can only do so much with what people give them. They can take any and all waste that is placed inside the specified receptacles for their corresponding organization, but everything else not in a trash bin is left on the ground. The United Nations Center for Human Settlements found that only 22 to 55% of all trash generated in large cities is collected by some sort of municipal authority.
While the obvious environmental impacts from litter can be devastating overtime, the financial toll it takes is almost as astounding. Each year about $11.5 billion is spent to clear litter that wasn’t disposed of by regular trash removal services. That money could easily be put into school systems or other positive programs rather than basically being thrown in with the rest of the garbage.
It’s a long process to reduce the overall trash generation of the country but until then, people can make a huge difference in environmental conservation, as well as avoiding unnecessary financial costs, by simply disposing of their refuse properly.
