Litter is waste out of place. Research and experience have shown that litter can reduce property values and is the result of individual behavior-choosing to litter or being careless in the handling of waste. You have a role to play in preventing litter.
10 easy tips for preventing and eradicating litter
- Keep a litter bag in your car and hang on to litter until you find a garbage receptacle
- Report litterbugs
- Make sure your trash cans have tight-fitting lids
- Secure all bags and use twine to secure loose trash for curbside trash collection. Loose trash can fly out of garbage trucks if not bound or bagged
- Tie paper into bundles before placing into curbside recycling bins
- Share with others the proper way to dispose of trash
- Put papers in a paper bag before placing them in your recycling bin
- Encourage your neighbors, clubs, co-workers or families to join you in an area cleanup. “Adopting” an area can significantly reduce future litter because people litter less in maintained areas
- Look for ways to beautify your neighborhood and community, including landscaping and repairing fences. Attractive, maintained neighborhoods are littered less and research shows that they are usually safer, too
- In your workplace, provide plenty of containers for garbage and recyclables
- Ask business owners to keep loading docks clean and check dumpsters every day to make sure they are securely closed
Every day, we can all do something to prevent litter and make our community safer, cleaner and more livable.