According to litter.vic.gov.au, people that litter can be fine from $144.36 on the spot or up to around $8,000 if prosecuted in court. Liter can cause blockages in storm water systems and floods, which can cost up to thousands of dollars to repair. Not only does littering affect the environment but the people as well, especially when littering involves broken glass, needles and syringes (litter.vic.gov.au). Lets not forget that humans are not the only ones that are armed with litter but also animas. As stated in litter.vic.gov.au cigarette butts plastic bags and other forms of plastics harm animals and marine life through water pollution, waste being mistaken for food, or simply when creatures get caught up in plastics and get injured or strangled. 95% of litter on the beaches comes from our streets. “Litter makes areas look dirty and uncared for and attracts more litter. Littered areas are unpleasant to be and and are less likely to be used by people,” (litter.vic.gov.au). Litter reduces property values and tourism declines when vistas are spoiled by litter, as mentioned in ncdps.gov. Not only are our streets affected by the waste us humans physically dispose but also by “unsecured loads in the back of trucks that travel at high speeds and cause large items to fly out and hurt or startle other drivers,” (ncdps.gov). According to ncdps.gov, neighborhoods that are heavily littered experience more vandalism and other crimes, litter sends signals to criminals that residents don’t care about what happens in their neighborhood and makes the area more vulnerable. The cost of litter in the U.S show that around $11.5 billion are spent on clean-up activities each year, businesses pay $9.1 billion of clean up costs, states, cities and counties together expend $1.3 billion (kab.org).
Littering is an environmental issue that has been ignored significantly through the public eye. Yes, there are groups of people who care for the environment and try to maintain it clean by going out to our public beaches and picking up all the trash they possibly can. Even though we have those groups that help to keep our communities clean we have to think about how they cannot do such thing for free so most of these groups ask for donations or make products to sell to the public so that the funds can go to their projects. It has always bothered me to see people throw trash out in the streets, especially when they do it consciously. It’s utterly revolting to see that our own people have the heart and stomach to throw garbage in the same streets we walk and drive on. Littering not only affects me but also my community and the entire world. For starters all the waste that is thrown out into our streets has no place to go but the sewer drainages under the sidewalk and if the garbage is to big the drainages will end up clogged and when it rains the water will go nowhere and stay on our pavements and eventually cause a flood around that area. The flood will then make it difficult for pedestrians to walk and for cars to drive. As mentioned early littering not only affects our environment but our homes. Littering attracts criminals, vandalism, decreasing our home value and pushes away tourists. Littering has to be taken more seriously so that people can do something about the garbage that is being disposed in our streets. Communities need more people to volunteer to help keep our streets clean but the government needs to do their part too and enforce a littering law even more than the signs that hang on the streets saying you will be fine. Littering has always been a major issue but has been overseen as something minor.
I am against littering because it can be hazardous to one's health. Trash in the area tends to attract bacteria and can also be harmful to wildlife. Not only is it harmful but it also costs a lot of money.
Sources:
No comments:
Post a Comment