Please, don't litter. Thanks in advance.

[634-5789]

Backstory: I've been a volunteer for IDOT for 20 years this year. The litter never stops. There's no reason, and this is just this morning's clean up in a half mile area. In the last 20 years I have picked up over 100,000 pounds of ...you name it. I never will understand why people think that outside their vehicle is the place for their litter and garbage. Please don't litter. That is all.

[rurallib]

1. Many years ago on my first trip to Canada the very first thing I noticed

was how clean it was. Most noticeably, no litter.

I live in the midwest which is somewhat clean. On trips south, it seemed like the further down we went the more litter. Lust my observations. Texas was particularly bad.

[Aristus]

4. So "Don't Mess With Texas" morphed into a pugnacious challenge

When it was supposed to be an anti-littering slogan.

Texans claim to love Texas, but they throw their trash everywhere...

[IronLionZion]

48. Many patriots don't love the land or the people

they just spew hostility towards "other people" they don't like and stupidly believe that's patriotism.

[Retired Engineer Bob]

6. It is everywhere though

My dad and I were our annual fishing trip in Canada. Pulled up to shore for lunch and found a mess. We always kept a plastic bag to hold our rain gear. Nearly filled it up, mostly beer cans.

I miss him dearly

[KentuckyWoman]

12. +1 on your post

For your Dad. For all good Dads.

[Casady1]

2. what state?

[634-5789]

3. Illinois. Mid-Central, District 4.

[Bleacher Creature]

5. This may be a bit off topic, but people who just toss their cigarette butts drive me insane.

I don't actually know what most of them are thinking, but I suspect that many of them somehow don't see cigarette butts as litter, which is ridiculous. Tossing a cigarette butt (which contains a filter) is no different whatsoever from any other form of littering. It's also disgusting.

And I'm not even talking about tossing away lit cigarette butts, which is even worse.

[Ziggysmom]

8. Add gum to the list !

Getting disgusting chewing gum stuck to the soles of your tennis shoes drives me crazy. Sometimes I scan parking lots looking at the thousands of old gum globs everywhere. YUK!

[Maraya1969]

14. I don't think cars should have taken out ashtrays. If a person is smoking in

their car now they can't put the cigarette out so they probably throw it out the window more. They should figure out a way to make something an ashtray or something else for people who do not smoke. They just have to make a catchall but out of steal.

I do not smoke now but I did. I actually cannot remember if I threw cigarette butts out the car window. I do remember putting cigarettes out on the sidewalk and sticking the butts into my pants pockets.

[piddyprints]

20. That doesn't really make a difference.

When we lived in FL, I remember several times waiting at a red light and seeing the driver in front of me empty the ashtray right onto the road. The first time shocked me. So they just do it one at a time now.

[Maraya1969]

22. Yes I think that is horrible too. I'm just wondering if there could be an ashtray

design that obviously could be helpful for people who don't smoke and want to use it as a catchall. I realize ignorant people are going to throw the contents onto the ground but most people would empty them in a garbage receptacle. Just saying it might help for the people smoking in their car that would be responsible and crush the cig out in the ashtray.

Then again I remembered that you can buy ashtrays in the car store.

[KS Toronado]

46. Some company does make an ashtray that fits in a vehicle's cup holder

Buddy of mine had one in his SUV, said he got it at the smoke shop.

[RussellCattle]

53. I saw a women empty an ashtray in a mall parking lot and then leave her car to go in. She left....

....her drivers side window down about an inch. I had a small whisk broom but no dust pan with me, but a magazine that I had worked just fine.

[Ka-Dinh Oy]

26. I like my ashtray. Perfect place to put my money for gas.

[genxlib]

28. This is one of my pet peeves too

I literally think that there is something about nicotine that turns off certain parts of the brain. No thinking human can think that is OK.

The only time I ever nearly got in a fist fight was over a cigarette butt. I was exiting a store and a smoker was coming in. Rather that put the butt out in the canister that is at the front of every store, he through it at might feet.

I was in a foul mood and it lit me up. I called him out and said that I live in this neighborhood and he good get the fuck out of it if he didn't give a shit about it. I wouldn't let up and he eventually picked up the butt and disposed of it properly before wandering away muttering to himself.

I have a secret rage fantasy that one day I am going to be sitting in traffic when I see someone flick one out the window. I want so badly to walk up to their car and say politely that they seemed to have forgotten something while I flick back in their window.

[Treefrog]

7. I agree. One thing that really astounds me is to park in a parking lot, open the door, and see where

someone emptied their ashtray! And now I see discarded masks everywhere.

[ChazII]

42. You are correct. The masks can be found

everywhere. Neighborhoods, parks and parking lots and around schools.

[former9thward]

9. The Chicago area is very filthy.

When I go to Arizona it seems very free of litter.

[Elessar Zappa]

13. Eh, parts of Arizona can be pretty filthy.

New Mexico not as much but it still has its litter problems. Cities everywhere are worse because of the sheer number of people.

[LakeArenal]

10. Bless First Lady Bird Johnson

Her littering campaign did work for some time. But those road signs, “$500 fine for littering” are meaning less now.

[gratuitous]

11. Way back in the before times

We used to have these things called "public service announcements" on the mass media. It was part of a station's licensing requirements to air ads for the public good. There were PSAs for all kinds of things, including littering. As a kid growing up many years ago, it was drilled into our little heads that you held onto your trash until you got to a garbage can.

We don't do that no more, because it was considered too oppressive for folks to practice a little civic pride and keep parks, roadsides, sidewalks, and other public places clean. It's depressing to see people just throw their cups or wrappers on the ground, especially when there's a garbage can just steps away.

Yeah, yeah, I hear you: Okay, Boomer.

[ShazzieB]

52. Remember this little ditty?

🎶Please, please, don't be a litterbug
'Cause every litter bit hurts 🎶

On TV all the time in the 60s.

[tblue37]

15. Several apartment buildings for students have been built right by my (rented) duplex recently.

Every day I find used masks, beer and soda cans, fast food bags, and other crap in the front and side yards of the duplex. The idiots just throw stuff as they walk by or walk to and from their cars.

[Throck]

16. Couple of retired people I pass every morning on my may to work

Exercise walkers.

They always have a bag in hand and one of those picker thingys in the other. Same route every day, we wave. My guess is 5 miles of roads and ditches. I sort of look forward to it when I retire.

Me question is, who are the assholes who throw out new stuff every day? I am going to have a pocket full of rocks and return fire at any litter bug I see.

[cilla4progress]

17. It's nauseating.

Just drove home from a vacation a few hundred miles from home yesterday. I actually find myself ON MY PHONE to avoid the nauseating and heart-breaking view of garbage, litter strewn EVERYWHERE.

Humans finally have turned our divine home into a garbage dump.

I am creating the habit of ALWAYS bringing with me trash bags on my outdoor adventures!

[SWBTATTReg]

18. I found trash even in a supposedly pristine and beautiful area of the Ozarks (TV, tires)...

when I would go fly fishing on the Niangua River /naɪˈæŋɡwə/ ... We would haul the TV, tires and other trash to the landing area (where boats etc. would dock) out of the river. How disappointing.

I would go fishing during the week, and not during the weekends unfortunately, Canoeists was the rage on weekends and vacationers would flood the entire area w/ their canoes. Too many times while I am trying to concentrate while fly fishing I would have canoes racing by, the occupants yelling and screaming, destroying the peace and quiet of the beautiful scenery.

Please remember that others enjoy the scenery too, when you're canoeing/fishing/etc. When I counted one time over 600 canoes being put in at Moon Valley (a low water bridge on the Niangua), in a 30 minute time frame, I got disgusted and pretty well quit fishing on the river, especially on weekends.

When is too much, too much? One hears the same kind of arguments offered on canoes that they have / had on the use of ATVs (all terrain vehicles). Fortunately, most places that allow ATVs strictly forbid ATV traffic in river beds, or other sensitive environmental areas, and have established trails etc. for these vehicles.

And, as a former land owner, we would walk the length of our property that followed a black top road (Highway 00, behind Bennett Springs MO state park), and pick up trash almost on a weekly basis. In the middle of no where literally.

[Kali]

54. try living along an interstate

and it isn't just aesthetics. wildlife and livestock die slow painful deaths from ingesting some of that shit.

[Chautauquas]

19. I've done a lot of back-country hikes and still found litter

Hikers, a group you would think have a lot of respect for the environment, will throw their wrappers, cans, cigarette butts, and whatever else on the ground and walk away.

[Ferryboat]

34. You forgot the little bags of dog poo.

[crickets]

21. I miss the "Keep America Beautiful" slogan

that was so visible growing up in the 60s and 70s. The organization is still around and doing wonderful things, but more in the background since the ever present ad campaigns and logos on public trash cans are now gone.

https://kab.org/

[Maraya1969]

23. Aren't people littering a lot less now? I remember being young and seeing

garbage strewn all around the place. Now most places look much cleaner. I thought it was because of ad campaigns getting people to change their behavior.

[NoMoreRepugs]

25. Late 50's and into the 60's trash was EVERYWHERE on the highways in and around Chicago.

Thinking back it was disgusting.

[634-5789]

29. I can assure you that littering is on the rise.

There's a lot more in the last 5-10 years than used to be.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

30. I agree and part of it is

people as a whole show less civility these days. Now don't get me wrong, there are plenty of conscientious folks who dislike litter and littering and will do their best not to. But overall, I don't think society as a whole cares as much anymore and it makes me both angry and disheartened.

[Delphinus]

39. I'm afraid I have to agree.

Folks are a whole lot less civil - there is no social compact anymore. From drivers to litterers to the way they treat wait staff - enough to make one cry.

[Elessar Zappa]

40. I still think

littering is less common than pre 1970s. My dad was in the forest service and he says there's much less trash nowadays.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

49. I wonder if it will cycle like other things have when people who remember how bad it was die off.

Like Wall Street deregulation. I remember reading how some things cycle in 80 years when people who remember are no longer around.

[PoliWrangler]

24. Return deposit on everything would help

Make manufacturers and producers pay for return of their products. The 5 cent bottle deposit created incentive for people to make $$ gathering up used bottles and returning them. Today's dollars make it 25-50 cents.

Ovens, TVs, tires, etc could have $50 deposit built in. So people get cash to return them.

[Harker]

50. Five cents isn't enough, I think.

Pocket change means nothing to a lot of people.

Make it 50 cents refundable deposit per can or bottle and the litter rate might drop significantly.

When my wife and I walk our rural road we often find the same odd containers in the same places, leading me to think it's some of my neighbors routinely chucking recyclable containers.

We pick them up and redeem them with ours, but we'd sooner not have to.

[DanieRains]

27. I Grew Up In The Most Beautiful Place On Earth The Methow Valley

I have never once littered. I hate the pigs that do litter, filling my home with their trash. Have always thought that way. I must be strange.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

32. Nothing at all wrong with your attitude and

from one citizen to another, thank you for caring and setting a good example!

[Fla Dem]

31. Thank you for doing this. People that litter are disgusting.

[KT2000]

33. Our county was litter free

until about a year ago. We have an influx of new people and apparently they think the "lovely" are they moved into is a garbage can.

[Skittles]

35. agreed

I have taken it upon myself to clean up a creek near me - it's crazy how much trash I can get in one trip. I have also noticed that on my regular walks, I pick up the same kind of stuff over and over - for example, someone throws a beer can almost daily in the same area. I really want to find out who it is and ask them WHY, WHY, WHY DO YOU DO THIS.

[634-5789]

36. I can answer that.

In 2006, I had a spot at the end of a interstate highway ramp. Every month or so I touched that area up, and there was always the same type / brand of snuff cans, and lids in that area. These were not old, these were new litter. I had another experience where ..in a 20 foot area there were longneck beer bottles and again...several, pick them up, come back in a month and do it all over again. These assholes are serial litterers. Yeah. They exist, they have a pattern and yes, they can be stopped. I solved the snuff can fiasco by placing a sign that said DO NOT THROW YOUR SNUFF CANS HERE, YOU ARE ON CAMERA. This clown never did it again.

The serial beer bottle litterer (2019) was ticketed for littering and DUI after I told the local sheriff about the incidences and so he sat out there and caught this 22 year old kid who was afraid to drink at home, so he would polish off a 6 pack on the way home. Case solved, and that area is no longer a dumping ground for Bud tallboys.

Hope this solves that situation.

[Skittles]

37. interesting

you have inspired me

I think I will start with a sign at a bus stop:

TO WHOMEVER KEEPS TEARING UP THEIR TICKET
AND LITTERING IN THE GRASS: STOP IT, ASSHOLE

or is that too confrontational

[canetoad]

38. I have one of those multi-pocket vests

For walking dogs on the beach. Plenty of storage for leads, bags, sunscreen, tissues - and one pocket devoted to plastic collection. I've read that most of the ocean garbage is the product of commercial fishing and it seems true; fragments of synthetic net, polystyrene floats etc.

My own observations are that a large chunk of beach rubbish comes from recreational fisher-people. By no means all of them - some are excellent and responsible beach citizens. Unfortunately others leave behind their food and alcohol containers; tangled line, often with hooks. The more reprehensible cretins may catch a ray or gummy shark and leave the mutilated carcass on the beach. Really unpleasant if the next high tide is six hours away and its a hot day.

My 'area of interest' are the micro-plastics. The tiny bits of old, weathered, broken plastic that are less than 1/4". A dead *minke whale was found here with 15kg of plastic chips inside.

OT I know, but I appreciate your OP. K&R

On edit: *Orca

[Luciferous]

41. When we moved from Cedar Rapids to

Memphis we were shocked by how much trash there was everywhere. Some people just don't care I guess.

[TNNurse]

43. My husband and I pick up litter along our road.

We have a good bit of road front and used to just do that, but have expanded our distance recently. It is pretty consistently fast food wrappers, beer cans and that asshole who chews tobacco and spits into a Dasani water bottle. We did find an entire quart bottle of unopened cooking oil last week and were pretty sure that one was unintentional.

[NurseJackie]

44. I've also seen litter and other debris flying out of truck beds...

... and from the backs of dump trucks and even neighborhood garbage trucks.

[Ferrets are Cool]

45. The street I live on is the last turn before a High School.

Evidently, it's the perfect place for people to throw out their trash right before school begins. It's a daily thing to go out and pick up trash. I feel for ya.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

47. Great OP, great thread.

Littering is a Republican family value. Littering is another one of their gaaawd given 'murican rights.

[bullwinkle428]

51. THANK YOU FOR THIS. A couple of years ago, I literally watched a younger

woman just drop her bag of trash from a fast-food restaurant on the pavement, while sitting at a red light as my car was alongside hers. Wanted to jump out of the car, and scream "YOU JUST DROPPED SOMETHING!!", but you never know who you may be dealing with these days.