Littering In Our Society

You are driving on 1-70 into the mountains in Denver, Colorado. The mountains are surrounding you and the view is simply breathtaking. The top is down on your new corvette. There is nothing in the world that could bother you at this moment, or is there? You look to your left and you look to your right. There is litter on both sides of the road and you can smell the stench of the garbage. The view that you have is drowned out of your memory because of the litter on the sides of the road. The rate that our society is producing litter is implausible and this will be the scene in the next 10 to 15 years to come. Not only is this a problem in Denver, but all over the world. The amount of litter being produced is ridiculous and something needs to be done.

Colorado has a serious problem of littering which is having a serious effect on our landscape. 75% of Americans admit to littering within the last 5 years. The most common ages of people that litter are 18 and 34 years old. Littering can come from various places such as dumpsters used by businesses, construction and demolition sites, pedestrians, and people in cars. There are many reasons for people littering. People littering could be because that they are lazy, don’t care, or are ignorant. If you look around outside, you are almost guaranteed to see litter on the ground. Litter can affect habitats for all wildlife on land and in water. It can cause death to animals, such as a fishing line or pop can holders can get in the water. The fish can get stuck in these items and die. Litter can decompose into the ground and cause chemicals to spread, which has a major effect on the environment. When this happens, animals are dying at a rapid rate. At this stage in the circle of life we need all of the resources we can get and when we are killing off things that could be prevented, it is really harming society. As well, littering harms our storm water systems, oceans, rivers and streams. The chemicals get into our water systems and effect human and animals. We are using water at such a rapid rate that we cannot afford to harm it even more. Eventually the world is going to be out of water and then what are we going to do? It would be easier if you just picked up your garbage and helped protect society. As well its also effects wildlife such as elk and deer. Animals die in the attempt to eat plastic bags that are left to blow away in the wind. When the garbage sits in a certain period outside over a certain amount of time, it will start to decompose. Once it decomposes there are chemicals that get into the ground and they affects the ecosystems. If people would just clean up after themselves it would be much easier. We spend so much money on cleaning up littering. We could use that money towards other things such as repairing roads or health care.

There are programs in Colorado that help with littering such as roadside litter control. People in our society can adopt a highway. This is where a group of people agrees to pick up litter on the side of the road for a two-mile radius. Certain sections have its own special needs such as it could be longer or shorter then a 2 mile radius or may only need to be cleaned 2 times per year. Adopting groups are asked to sort the litter when they are picking it up and also to take the recyclables to their proper centers. This program will help the state of Colorado immensely with the litter on the ground. These facts have come from the Colorado adopt a highway website. If we did not have this program there would be garbage on the side of the roads everywhere. Litter is often on the ground where humans have been. People are constantly using the highways, which mean that there is an abundance of litter on the side of the road. People drive in their cars and if they do not want the garbage in their cars, they will just throw it out the window. Nationally we can solve the problem of litter in many different ways. One way could be that companies use biodegradable materials when they are packaging items. If people do decide to litter, then there if it gets left in a certain place for a long time, it can decompose. Also, one of the major sources of littering is big companies. If we make the fines more harsh for people and companies that are littering, this will make them think twice before they do something they should not be doing.

Often you see signs on the side of a road saying do not litter or if caught littering, you will be fined. Some people look at these signs and still throw garbage on the ground but some people look at them and they think twice before they litter. Is it really worth throwing a piece of garbage on the ground and getting fined 1,000 dollars when you could just walk to a garbage can and throw it out. If the police enforced littering more often people would think twice before littering. A lot of people can litter and no one will say anything about them littering. If society becomes stricter on the penalties of littering then there will be less people littering.

If only you could drive down a highway, with your top down in your car. You have no worries at all and both sides of the road are clean. You take in the refreshing fresh air through your nose to the point of where it simply makes you feel good. Littering is a problem in our society and it needs to be fixed.