America's Love Affair With Littering

Not so long ago in America, the very idea of littering -- the wanton, stupid and illegal disposal of trash -- was generally regarded as barbaric, something piteously subhuman and far-fetched, like a missile shield, faith-based government programs or Creationism.

Take a look around today. Drive down any street, highway or interstate, walk through any park, push aside the beleaguered botany in any public garden, in rich and in poor neighborhoods, in rural areas, urban landscapes and suburban blight, and it is quickly obvious litter has made a roaring comeback.

Statistics would be impossible to compile for the sheer quantity of litter, but anyone who opens their eyes to it will see that the act of littering occurs more often than, say, spitting on the sidewalk or farting and belching in public. In short, littering now seems as American as apple pie and violence.

What ever happened to the outrage over litter? And what does it say about us as a species -- or more importantly our future on this planet -- that so many of us are collectively fine with the idea that the world is our garbage can?

Keep America Beautiful, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to "empowering individuals to take greater responsibility for enhancing their local community environment," offers some insights into the problem. The group has studied litter and littering for 47 years, and has sponsored thousands of local clean-up efforts around the country. According to their surveys, litter is caused by any of the following: pedestrians, motorists, uncovered trucks, loading docks, construction sites, improper residential refuse set-out and improper commercial refuse set-out. Of all litter, 40 percent is accidental, such as something blowing out of a dump truck, while much of the 60 percent that's intentional occurs in places where litter has already accumulated.

But while Keep America Beautiful can generally identify litter's sources, the organization can only make educated guesses about why people litter. "Nobody has a definitive answer," says Walt Amaker, Keep America Beautiful's communications director. "More than anything else, it's just apathy. Illegal dumping is an entirely different issue from everyday littering, of course."

Amaker sees this dynamic at work frequently. "Last week, I was going to lunch and I saw a woman open her pack of cigarettes and just drop the plastic wrapping on the sidewalk," he said. "I politely said, 'Pardon me, ma'am, but there's a trash can just eight feet further up the street, and if everybody would utilize that we would have a cleaner community.' She looked at me like I was crazy, but then she realized I might be right and actually said she'd make an effort not to litter in the future."

Amaker admits not all such "grassroots" confrontations end so benignly or with such lack of hostility. And while his organization has had some success in organizing litter patrols, lobbying for more trash receptacles and educating people on the harm of litter, Amaker remains frustrated.

"In a way, we're at the same place we were 47 years ago, when the organization was formed. It's almost like we're fighting a losing battle," he says. "We did a nationwide survey in 1999, and one of the things we discovered was that 75 percent of those Americans we interviewed admitted to littering in the previous five years. And yet, if we'd asked them if they enjoyed having a clean environment, I'll bet 999 out of a thousand would say 'yes.'"

A recent Northwestern Mutual insurance company survey of graduating college seniors reveals a similar dichotomy. The survey stated: "People have different ideas about what's right and wrong. As I read things some people do, tell me whether you think each one is absolutely wrong under all circumstances, wrong under most but not all circumstances, wrong only sometimes, or not wrong at all. Item 1. Tossing out trash while driving."