What is Litter? |
Causes of Litter |
Effects of Litter
What is Litter?
Littering is the act of discarding waste, often carelessly or unintentionally at non-private places (such as public residential areas and natural habitats) which are not meant to be. They can come in the form of personal waste such as sweet wrappers, drink bottles, food containers etc, domestic waste such as sewage, used water or scrap items (e.g.: appliances, furniture) or in the form of industrial waste such as chemicals, or by-products of certain manufacturing process.
It may cause environmental, social, and economic damage and is deemed by many countries as an unlawful act as it is liable to post a threat to the safety, health, as well as other qualitative aspects (such as image, mentality and sense of pride) of a society or nation.
-adapted from Litter, Everywhere but the Bin
What is Litter?
Littering is the act of discarding waste, often carelessly or unintentionally at non-private places (such as public residential areas and natural habitats) which are not meant to be. They can come in the form of personal waste such as sweet wrappers, drink bottles, food containers etc, domestic waste such as sewage, used water or scrap items (e.g.: appliances, furniture) or in the form of industrial waste such as chemicals, or by-products of certain manufacturing process.
It may cause environmental, social, and economic damage and is deemed by many countries as an unlawful act as it is liable to post a threat to the safety, health, as well as other qualitative aspects (such as image, mentality and sense of pride) of a society or nation.
-adapted from Litter, Everywhere but the Bin
Causes of Litter
Let's take a look at the common causes of litter:
Unsatisfactory allocation/handling of bins
If a person is relatively too far away from a bin, he may be annoyed by the fact that he has to travel all the way to the nearest bin (which is quite far), then he may resort to littering. If the bins are not managed properly by the relevant companies/organizations hired by the government/government agency and the bin gets full and is uncleared for a prolonged period of time, people may litter. Although the fault is mainly on the people who manages the bins, the people who litter also has a responsibility in keeping the place clean.
Taking it for granted/Lack of integrity
People may take the cleanliless of the place for granted and leave it to the cleaners/attendants to maintain that cleanliless. This attitude will result in littering.
In large crowds, people who wish to dispose their waste find it inconvenient to get out of the crowd. Instead, they have the mindset that even if they litter, no one will be able to see. Hence, they litter.
Lack of education/Non-exemplary teachers or leaders
People who lack education of littering will litter as they are naturally be unaware of the harmful effects. Another case would be their leaders who set anti-littering policies or teachers who teach them not to litter are not being role-models, and just simply talk the walk instead of walking the talk. Therefore, the followers or people who are being taught do not treat their teachings seriously and will continue to litter.
Effects of Litter
These are only some of the effects of litter:
Spreading of diseases
Litter can attract pests and insects which carry germs and diseases on their bodies. For example, after a rainfall, water trapped in litter such as a water bottle cap can attract mosquitos to breed. This breeding can later cause the people who live in the same area to be infected with dengue fever after suffering from bites from these mosquitoes. Another example would be litter thrown into water bodies (e.g. rivers and lakes). People who consume or use this polluted water may get infected with diseases.
Waste of money and resources
Littering is a waste of money. Companies have to hire cleaners just to clean up the mess of other people. It is not just one or two cleaners, but many have to be employed to ensure that the place is spick and span. People who are caught littering by the authorities are fined heavily. Some fines can go up to at least SGD$1000. So much money just to dispose waste where you are not supposed to, is it really worth it? Also, environmental agencies have to spend resources to launch anti-littering campaigns. Such a simple act of throwing your waste into the proper locations cannot be done, and we have to spend so much time and effort on it.
Tourism and Economy
A tourist would want to tour around beautiful cities. If litter is everywhere in our city, not many tourists will want to visit our city. Tourism is an industry on its own and it is definitely vital to our economy. If our income from tourists/visitors from other countries is low, then our economy will surely be affected.
