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Litter is an important environmental issue. It is amazing that 94% of people identify litter as a major environmental problem and yet people still litter. Carelessly discarded garbage affects every member of society: it causes harm to people and animals, damages our waterways, cost us money and suggests that we do not care for our environment. Fortunately, we can all do something to help prevent and reduce litter.

Why Do People Litter?
Research and experience have shown that litter is the result of individual behavior-choosing to litter or being careless in the handling of waste. And once litter is on the ground, it attracts more litter. A clean community, by contrast, can discourage littering and improve community appearance and quality of life.
Ten Primary Sources of Litter:

1. Pedestrians dropping garbage in streets and roadways.

2. Motorists discarding garbage out of their vehicle windows.

3. Uncovered loads. Items that are not secure can easily be blown out of trucks and cause roadside littering.

4. Household refuse disposal and collection. Animal scavengers and the wind can dislodge unsecured items placed out on the corner for collections. Litter can also result from overloading trash containers.

5. Commercial refuse and disposal. Poorly secured commercial refuse can easily become litter.

6. Construction projects. Litter can come from uncontrolled building waste and workers' lunchtime refuse.

7. People at leisure

8. Entertainment events. Events create a large amount of litter, which can overflow onto neighboring areas when measures to cont it are not carefully planned.

9. Illegal dumping.

10. Intentional or habitual littering, for reasons such as laziness or acts of rebellions.

What Are The Effects of Litter?
Litter can cause a whole range of problems for everyone in our communities. Litter discarded in streets and parks can travel through the storm water system to our rivers and creeks, where it can cause harm to wildlife.

Litter costs money. Removing litter from the environment costs everyone money.

Litter is a threat to public health. Litter attracts vermin and is a breeding ground for bacteria. Items such as broken glass and syringes can be a health hazard in public places.

Litter can be a fire hazard. Accumulated litter and careless discarded cigarette butts are potential fire hazards.

Litter looks bad. Litter negatively affects the image of places, especially the appearance of communities.

Litter attracts litter. Litter sends out a message that people do not care about their area and that it is acceptable to litter.

Ohio Litter Laws:
Under Ohio law, litter is any trash thrown, discarded or dropped by a person onto public property, private property not owned by the individual, or into Ohio's waterways. The Ohio Revised Code prohibits littering, regardless of whether or not it was intentional. Numerous laws prohibit littering and illegal dumping. Littering is a serious offense, punishable by fines of up to $500 and 60 days in jail.

There are many kinds of littering offenses. Code violations include:

Littering and Illegal Dumping- ORC 3767.32

Littering from a Motor Vehicle- ORC 4511.82

Littering from a Watercraft Vessel-ORC 1547.49

Unsecured Load - ORC 4513.31

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Litter is an important environmental issue. It is amazing that 94% of people identify litter as a major environmental problem and yet people still litter. Carelessly discarded garbage affects every member of society: it causes harm to people and animals, damages our waterways, cost us money and suggests that we do not care for our environment.

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What You Can Do To Prevent Litter - Litter Prevention - Keep Tennessee Beautiful

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Keep Tennessee Beautiful is a state affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, Inc.

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Most people know that litter is bad for the planet, but did you know that it's also bad for animals?

Everyday items such as soda cans and plastic bottles can be deadly for unsuspecting wildlife and even dogs and cats. But it doesn't have to be this way! Here are some simple tricks that you can do to help prevent animals from suffering:

Soda Rings

What can happen: Six-packs of soda often come strung together by plastic rings. This feral cat got her head caught in one of them.

How you can help: Cut apart all sections of plastic six-pack rings, including the inner diamonds.

Fishing Line and Hooks

What can happen: Birds frequently get their beaks wrapped or wings tangled up in discarded fishing line. Hooks can be swallowed or become embedded in birds' skin or beaks.

How you can help: Never go fishing! If you spot fishing litter, pick it up and dispose of it.

Beer and Soda Cans

What can happen: Even the tiniest animals can fall victim to litter. Discarded soda cans are tempting to small animals who are looking for food or shade. Luckily, this little skink was freed during a beach clean-up. Animals can also be cut by cans' sharp edges.

How you can help: Be sure to dispose of your cans responsibly. Rinse and crush cans before tossing them into the recycling bin. You can also fold the tab back to block off the hole on the top.

Gum

What can happen: Animals often step in gum, which can become matted in their fur or feathers, making it difficult for them to move.

How you can help: Never spit gum onto the ground. Wrap it in paper and dispose of it in a proper receptacle.

Tin Cans, Cups, and Jars

What can happen: Hungry animals desperate for even just a few crumbs often get their heads stuck in discarded cans, cups, and jars.

How you can help: Always rinse out containers (and place the lids back on them!) and crush metal cans before disposing of them.

Plastic Bottles and Bags

What can happen: Whales, turtles, and seabirds often mistake trash for food, and if eaten, it can choke them or cause fatal stomach or bowel obstructions.

How you can help: When shopping, choose paper bags or take your own reusable bags whenever possible.

Remember: Never, ever litter. Animals of all kinds often mistake trash for food or shelter. Securely cover garbage cans and recycle bins so that animals can't get into them and become trapped inside. And don't forget to keep an eye out for other people's trash, too. Your actions could be the difference between life and death for an animal.

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Easy Tips That Will Help Protect Wildlife and Other Animals

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Not only is litter bad for the planet, it's also bad for animals! Do your part to make sure that no animals are harmed by your garbage with these easy tricks.

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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. Check out this site to learn more about how you can become a part of something that will impact this generation and many more.

10 easy tips for preventing and eradicating litter

1. Keep a litter bag in your car and hang on to litter until you find a garbage receptacle

2. Report litterbugs

3. Make sure your trash cans have tight-fitting lids

4. Share with others the proper way to dispose of trash

5. Put papers in a paper bag before placing them in your recycling bin

6. Request a No Handbill Decal for your mailbox

7. Encourage your neighbors, clubs, co-workers or families to Adopt-A-Road or join you in an area cleanup. "Adopting" an area can significantly reduce future litter because people litter less in maintained areas

8. 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

9. In your workplace, provide plenty of containers for garbage and recyclables

10. 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

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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.

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Etymologically, litter means rubbish carelessly dropped or left about anywhere, especially in public places. Sadly, people are found littering the road or any other public place with impunity. Quite often, we see even educated persons travelling in an expensive car roll down their car's window to dump trash on the road. They do not think twice about throwing half-eaten sandwiches or throwing empty soda can which hit the car coming from behind us with its driver trying to avoid it in a dangerous way. A truck loaded on the highway goes spreading trash due to its broken container. Who cares?

Many people have an unfortunate habit of just dumping waste products at an inappropriate location. We callously drop objects such as aluminium cans, cardboard boxes or plastic bottles at a public place and leave them there indefinitely. Household waste and even hazardous items of rubbish such as tyres, electrical appliances, electronics, batteries and large industrial containers are dumped on public land. This way, we expect others to dispose them of as opposed to ourselves disposing of them properly.

Spitting anywhere and throwing garbage anywhere is an unfortunate tendency. People often spit on the stairs of an office building, on the over bridge and platform of the railway station. Pan, gutkha and tobacco eaters generally find it hard to resist the tendency of spitting.

The Problem and Causes of Littering

India is the most sluggish in terms of cleanliness among most countries of the world. There are many reasons for the sad mentality of people towards hygiene in India.

Often poor sections are considered to be responsible for creating a pile of garbage, filth or garbage in public places. But what about the dirt spread by the pee and poo of dogs of rich classes in parks, streets and roads? There is a charge against the slum dwellers that they spread pollution, but the truth is that there is a woeful dearth of proper waste management in multi-storey buildings, chemical industries and other factories which are responsible for spreading more garbage in the residential areas. So, the filth in the cities is not limited to poor people's actions, but every section of the society is guilty of spreading the mess at its own level.

Inability to share responsibility

Many people tend to believe that they have to maintain the standards of sanitation within the four walls of their houses. The filthy water, garbage, or the dirt of the dog, is removed from the house and thrown into the street, road or park. People believe that garbage-disposal is the responsibility of the government and the administration. It is neither their responsibility to keep the environment, road, park or the street clean nor they are accountable for the garbage or filth, which is thrown out of the house.

Lack of spirit for maintaining cleanliness

In this densely populated country, most of us still spread dirt on the streets despite dustbins being kept along the roads. We just mean to clean up the place where we live and worship.

We do not do this because we like to spread dirt on the road, but we do this because we are a slave to our habit of littering.

Despite the much-talked about Swachh Bharat campaign, our country is quite dirty compared to other countries. There is no cleanliness campaign in other countries of the world. Despite this, they are cleaner than most Indian villages and towns. Unlike Indian roads, no one is seen sweeping a broom in other countries, similarly, important celebrities there do not flaunt themselves spreading campaign for hygiene with a broom in hand. Still, what is the hidden secret behind their cleanliness?

The answer lies in the spirit of maintaining cleanliness that lies in the character of citizens of those countries from a very young age. In many public places in India, the board of 'Do not litter' can be seen. Even then, that place is filled with dirt. People consider it their rights to defile public places, and cleaning is considered to be the job of sanitation workers.

In olden times, garbage was generally organic waste which would assimilate into the ground, but with modern development, the proportion of chemicals in the waste is increasing. It is extremely harmful to health. Earlier, in countries like India, materials used as bags were not harmful. Pottery was used for curd, and jute bag was used to carry other stuffs. The use of plastic has changed the situation and a problem has also arisen with it because the plastic never melts. There is no proper system to deposit or dump it. Now efforts are being made to deal with the problem by banning the use of plastic.

What Littering can do to the Environment?

Littering has a negative impact on the environment. In fact, it has become a serious environmental issue how to counter the ill-effects of littering. We all like to keep our houses clean, but after cleaning it many of us throw the garbage around due to which there is contamination of the entire environment. We never bother to understand that it's our responsibility for not polluting the atmosphere, and spreading diseases by littering.

Before throwing the garbage out of houses and shops in the drains made in the roadside, nobody thinks that if the same garbage gets stuck, then due to excessive flooding in the rainy season, dirty water will be seen flowing out of their own houses.

Is Littering a Crime? What are the Penalties for Littering?

In most public places of the country, garbage bins are not kept, and where they are kept, they are not cleared for several days. In such a situation, the whole place is filled with dirt. People too do not have any shame or regret to make it dirty by spitting or spreading garbage anywhere. The absence of strict law against those who litter has stood in the way of cleanliness in the country.

Littering in foreign countries falls under the category of crime and penalties are also levied on this. Citizens have the responsibility to maintain cleanliness in certain areas around their homes. At one time, there was a tendency to spit everywhere in China. But today it has been curtailed.

In Singapore, anybody is fined $200 for throwing garbage. No arguments are heard. There is a ban on chewing gum. Stray dogs are not found here. Similarly, police can impose fines for throwing garbage in the streets in America, Australia and the Netherlands. North America runs a program to adopt highways. Under this, companies and organizations show a commitment to keeping a portion of the road clean. Germany, New York, the Netherlands and Belgium have enforced container deposit laws under which people are encouraged to collect garbage.

In Kenya, waste is turned into works of art and sold. A fine of up to 2500 pounds can be imposed if anyone is convicted of spreading dirt in the UK.

Unfortunately, no central law has been made in this regard in India till date. In many cities, municipalities warn people of fines, but these are not implemented in practice.

Why Litter is Dangerous?

In the form of garbage, the most disfigured item in the world is the cigarette butt. 4.5 trillion tons of butts are thrown annually. The time for the degradation of these remaining pieces of cigarettes is different. Some of them decay in five years and some take up to 400 years.

Often, plenty of food is served in any public program and wedding ceremony, but left-over food articles are thrown out of the premises. Due to lack of cleanliness, the garbage gets deposited on the side of the road, due to which many serious illnesses are born, for which we are responsible ourselves.

Solutions of Littering

As the world is developing and the living standards are increasing, there is a corresponding increase in garbage generation. There is nothing wrong with it as long as we find ways and means of proper waste disposal. Everyone is aware of Mohenjodaro, the ancient civilization which is still known for the best arrangement of irrigation and drainage. So, let's get started today and from now on, start the unique civilization of proper garbage management.

The number of garbage bins should be increased and they should be cleaned by Municipal Corporation as a rule. If we can make some strict rules regarding cleanliness and not spreading dirt along the lines of foreign countries, no one can stop the Swachh Bharat campaign from being successful. The full attention of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan should be on 'no littering'. It is true that more the people will develop the habit of throwing garbage into the dustbin, the faster our country will move forward on the path of cleanliness.

Children imbibe good or bad habits only from the elders. So, if we grow accustomed to using the garbage-can, only then our children will also adopt this good habit, and instead of throwing garbage anywhere, they would use the waste-bin only.

Waste or trash-bin is not just required for sanitation but it is also the basic need of a civilized lifestyle. If all of us will adopt this lifestyle, then we will throw banana peel, peanut peel or even trash such as small pieces of paper in the dustbin.

If there is a lack of dustbin, then we will keep such tiny litter in our purse, handbag or any carry bag and when we are able to access a dustbin, then put the same into it.

All of us will have to contribute to ensure that there is a presence of trash-can everywhere from the street, road to intersection. These places should have such a system of waste-disposal which is easily within the reach of everyone. However, Panchayat, municipality or municipal authorities can make a positive contribution to this work.

We will all have to make a valuable contribution in developing the model of clean spaces; it will be possible only when everyone will adopt the habit of using the waste-bin to throw waste. For this, it is necessary to arrange a trash-bin at about 25 meters on every road and intersection so that more and more people can use it.

Even today, it is commonly seen that the litter from the big shops is thrown on the road, whereas the garbage-can is not very far away from their reach. Enough is enough, we all have to change this habit and use the waste-bin.

So, let's all of us take a pledge that we will not spread the dirt on the road and always use the waste-bin. By doing so, we will present the example of a mature, civilized lifestyle in front of the world.

Launching Awareness Mission

Everyone's participations is important to fulfil any work at the nation level, so if we all want to make our homes, villages and the country clean and beautiful then first of all people must be aware of it. Without the participation of all people, we cannot achieve this goal. So, if we want to clean our country then we all must be aware of cleanliness.

It is often seen that if we go to some public places such as railway stations, bus stations, and buy something to eat there, then we think it our freedom to throw plastic packets or other trash here and there. We do not even realize that we have done something wrong, that we have become irresponsible citizens. So, every citizen has a contribution towards making our country clean.

It is possible to reuse many things thrown in the garbage. The waste of resources can be prevented by recycling and the environment can be conserved.

Children have a crucial role to play in the image of a nation. If children of a country are aware, then they can definitely make their country clean and beautiful, as the strength of any country lies in the youth of that country. So, all children should be made aware of the need of hygiene from the beginning.

Whenever we have to clean our house, we should throw the garbage in a fixed place.

We should never throw the garbage out of the roof or veranda, because it can spread dirt in the streets.

The drains attached to our house should be covered. These drains also breed worms and many types of mosquitoes, which give birth to several diseases.

In the public places, the waste-bin should be used to throw any trash.

The household trash should either be disposed or thrown in such a place where there is no human habitation.

They should not make it a point to ensure the following:

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Littering: Causes, Problems and Solutions of Littering

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Etymologically, litter means rubbish carelessly dropped or left about anywhere, especially in public places. Sadly, people are found littering the road or any other public place with impunity. Quite often, we see even educated persons travelling in an expensive car roll down their car's window to dump trash on the road.

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I think... That people should think       about consequences before they do something like litter

I wonder... Why do people litter if they have heard that it hurts wildlife

How... Do people feel right when they know that them littering will hurt an innocent animal

Why... Do more people not try to help with trash that way it doesn't hurt animals

I feel... Bad for the animals that lose their lives for our actions