Near the Devonport rubbish transfer station is a small enclave home to feral chickens. Riding my bike towards it, someone straddled across their bike was intermittently bending up and down My first thought was ‘eggs,’ and there must have been many, so I believed until drawing nearer brought a smile to my face. No eggs, only pieces of wind-blown litter more likely from the transfer station.
Mike can be found in his routine daily cycle ride along many of the urban pathways picking up litter and carrying it away on his bike. He fumes at just how much litter is discarded from vehicles, buildings, and where I met him, outside the transfer station.
In Sheffield, I had a long chat with Leoni Read group leader of fourteen caring volunteers dedicated to keeping Kentish litter-free. We trundle along a bridle track which looked very clean however in no time stated Leoni, we will be back to clean up other people’s mess.
Litter is simply pieces of rubbish that have been left lying on the ground often in public places. Although there has been a vast improvement with fewer cigarette butts and chewing gum it has been largely replaced by different forms of plastic. Anything from cutlery, fast food containers, bottles, syringes, and garden bags.
In Australia,7 billion tonnes of rubbish litter our roadsides, while waste in general 100,00 tonnes become litter. And not forgetting that land-based litter also affects our marine environments.
So why do we still litter? To help answer this question, I Googled up some answers, too many to mention all. Here are a few to name.
Some litter is a form of protest by some or expression of frustration and feeling disconnected from their environment. In other words, having no sense of ownership of parks, walkways, or other public spaces.
Other litter bugs have a penchant for not being inconvenienced and an unreasonable selfish belief in personal freedom. (how many times have you seen a driver throw litter out of their window?).
Some are simply too lazy to take home their rubbish or there may be a lack of bins, or the presence of litter exists, so why not join in?
Plastic litter is mainly found in schools and according to ‘Clean Up Australia National Rubbish Report’ data, volunteers picked up 79% of litter on school grounds. And surprisingly one of the least known is slack law enforcement by agencies.
Litter of course comes in all shapes and materials. It can cause health and safety issues as we know. These include being a fire hazard, attracting pests and disease, it can clog up creeks, drains, and sewers, and contributing to pollution in general.
Who is more likely to litter may surprise you. Men for example are more likely to do it, and the cohort age groups from 12 -14, and over 50 are the most likely offenders. However, research shows the most intentional (wilful) by far are between 18 to 34.
How do we therefore eliminate littering? This was not something expected from several research sites visited. Littering is impossible to eradicate because as a behaviour it is easy to do and quickly out of sight.
However, strategies can be put into place and that will depend on cost factors, a willingness to make changes, and better use of education, awareness, and engagement. This includes local businesses, councils, social media hot spots (e.g. use of videos), improved regulation and enforcement, specific targeting programmes (e.g. primary schools), improved recycling, and use of volunteers, especially for Sunday 2nd March, ‘Australia Clean-up Day’, 2025.
Finally, a big thank you to the people who walk the trails, walk the streets, walk the alleyways, and wander the countryside in their own time, picking up the litter thrown out of vehicles or blown from buildings.