The Negative Effects of Littering in Public Space

A major community problem that I have noticed in my neighborhood has been littering in public space. Littering entails throwing away garbage recklessly in the neighborhood instead of using trash bins or designated trash disposal areas. Individuals who litter are not either aware or do not care about the environmental impact their self-centered behavior is making, and the negative impact it leaves on the people living in the neighborhood. People are more likely to litter where there is already a littered environment thus making the neighborhood all the more unlivable. Littering has been a gigantic issue in the place where I grew up. On account of littering the surrounding area appears dirty, the most dangerous would be the health hazards for people living around it, and the residents might find challenging to sell and rent their property.

Littering leads to a bad ambience and unfriendly neighborhood. I love my hometown area but the road and walkways are constantly covered with trash. The garbage truck comes down the street ones in a week. Until then some residents keep the trash bag outside the gateway others usually pedestrians, motorists or people travelling in cars carry a polythene bag filled with plastic bottles, daily garbage, tender coconut shell, soiled diapers etc and fling it away to the littered place in front of my house and and further denigrating the location. Animals like stray cat, dog, rodents rip the trash bags kept outside the entrance and spill the garbage all around the place. When the garbage truck men comes to collect the trash most of it will be on the ground and they does not even make an effort to take the garbage that fallen on the ground. So when the wind blows then the garbage spreads all over the street making the place look filthy.

Litter entices vermin and is a breeding place for harmful bacteria that can cause illness amongst humans. The stagnant water in paper cups, tender coconut shell, tires etc can become a breeding place for mosquitoes and those mosquitoes can bite humans and might cause several disorders like malaria, filaria, and dengue to name a few. The littered place emits harmful gases inhaling of which for long time could lead to respiratory illnesses. Moreover, humans need pure water to survive, however, trash such as cigarette butts which are made from substance called cellulose acetate, a material which can be broken down into smaller pieces but can never be biodegradable. It can release harmful chemicals into water and impact the quality of water. Consuming such water may cause several life threatening diseases. Children living in the area are more vulnerable to such illness because they tend to play in open places, and have not yet developed a robust immune system. Besides, according to a research study conducted by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on little youngsters who had consumed cigarette butts inferred that 33% of them showed symptoms like nausea, unconstrained vomiting, and apathy.(Cigarette Butt Waste)

Littering discourages new businesses to invest in the neighborhood, and individuals do not wish to buy or rent houses surrounding littered places. With little demand for space in such a neighborhood, the real estate value of the area takes a beating. As people move out of the neighborhood for a better locale, they leave a vacuum which attracts criminals and thugs. Such deterioration of the neighborhood leads to people and businesses moving out of the area in turn hurting the local economy. The tax collection of the city is likely to be impacted negatively, thus leaving the city authorities in a worsened financial situation to be able to attend civic amenities and causing a downward spiral effect on the quality of life in the neighborhood. According to a study conducted by 'Keep America Beautiful' states that 60% of property value negotiators say that if the house buyer notices litter near or around the home they reduce the price of the property. As per the National Association of Home Builders, 7% of property value drops if there is litter in a locale. 55% Realtors believe that litter decreases a property price by 9%. (Caston)

Residents congregated and discussed to solve the problem of littering. All of them decided to put 'no littering sign board'. Surprisingly the plan worked for 4-5 months. However, after that people started littering the area again. As this approach was failed then group of residents approached the local government to send the garbage truck every day to reduce littering in neighborhood. Contacting them several times they agreed to send the garbage truck on a daily basis but the government raised the monthly payment amount. Many people where not ready to pay the amount and the littering continued.

Residents, various organizations came together to clean up the litter and helped to unclog the drainage system and also used chemicals to destroy harmful bacteria's causing diseases but that's an expensive solution to littering problem which could have been prevented in the first place. In order to tackle the issue of littering the local government recently started educating civilians not to litter, and if they violate and litter, authorities should levy significant financial penalties. When people do not consider littering as a serious crime and aren't punished for it, they are unlikely to change their behavior. According to me the above solution would be the most successful one.

Although, littering leads too many issues, individuals might argue that small amount of garbage will not affect the environment significantly. So people toss their daily trash on the streets or sidewalks. They do not apprehend that small pieces that they fling it away will add up and will have major impact on the environment.

In conclusion, littering in public places is a problem to the environment, leads to adverse effect on health of individuals living in the area, and also impacts the real estate negatively. It does not have to be problem if the people are aware of the negative effects of littering.

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