Litter
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- For other meanings of litter, see Litter (disambiguation).
Litter is any tangible personal property which has been unlawfully scattered and or abandoned. Litter is often caused by careless or accidental treatment of debris and trash as opposed to proper disposal, however; forms of unlawful littering have increasingly been used for advertising purposes. In Europe, the practice is known as flyposting and refers to the scattering of posters unlawfully on public properties where they will be noticed before being removed.
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Littering
Image:1000dollarfineforlitteringsign.jpg Litter is unsightly and expensive to clean up, so the act of littering has been made a fineable offense by statute in many places. For example, in the U.S. state of California, the punishment for first-time littering starts at a $100 (USD) fine and eight hours of picking up roadside litter. A defendant's third offense and all subsequent offenses are punished with a minimum penalty of a $750 fine and 24 hours of litter cleanup (per offense). See Cal. Veh. Code § 42001.7 [1]. Such penalties are often prominently posted on roadside signs.
Some jurisdictions offer small bounties for the cleaning of litter (for example, requiring people to pay a deposit on bottles, which is only returned when the bottles are returned).
Election littering
One type of litter specifically identified by governments in both hemispheres is called "Election Litter". In all cases it is defined as the erection of signs on public property and on private property without permission by political campaigns. In some countries, Election Litter is a form of direct propaganda wherin images of the current dictator are posted boldly on public buildings. In Western cultures, however, the littering is conducted by private persons who often operate at night so as not to get caught, as the penalties can be quite severe.
Electioneering Spells Litter in Baltimore Crackdown on Election related Litter [2] [3] [4]
Blame for litter
Litter is often blamed on certain sections of society. Some commonly-blamed groups are customers of fast food outlets, smokers, and younger people. Studies show that areas which are allowed to remain dirty are prone to becoming more dirty, i.e. litter gives "permission" to litter. There are also natural causes such as high winds disturbing litter containers. Litter can be a result of lack of education, inheritance of poor parental attitudes, laziness to take litter home or find a litter bin, or ignorance of the law. Litter laws are constantly being revised and reviewed by the courts. For example, many U.S. states have created a more serious crime of "intentional littering" to address the increasing use of unauthorised roadside advertising.
Effects on the environment
Litter can have many effects on the environment. It is extremely unsightly and uncollected litter can attract more. Animals may get trapped or poisoned with litter in their habitats. Litter can end up in rivers and canals, polluting the water supply. Vermin and disease are rife in places with high amounts of litter. It is also a road hazard and can cause accidents.
In the United States, a culture in some cities exists whereby people drop litter under the premise that it creates city public works and sanitation department jobs for others in their community, a masochistic (sic?) and socially suicidal train of thought which contributes to a vicious cycle of wasted public resources, blight, and urban decay.
Costs of litter
Image:Meizhou roamer.jpg Litter is a costly problem. Many companies employ litter pickers to keep litter off their premises. City councils also have to spend taxpayer money on litter removal. Money from fines usually goes to fund litter removal. Roadsweeper machines to clean litter are expensive, noisy and cause more pollution.
History
Since man has created garbage, man has created litter. Prior to reforms within cities in the mid to late 1800's, sanitation was not a priority on governments’ lists of things to do. People would sit in their living quarters with garbage piling up around them. It was unsanitary for both the inhabitant of the home, as well as the surrounding homes. The growing piles of garbage led to the spread of disease. Most notably, the rise of waste helped contribute to the Bubonic Plague in the mid 1300's. Rats lived within the piles. People would take their wastes and dump it out windows on to public paths. This litter would sit on the paths for a while before it decomposed. Others found use for their waste, and used it as compost for their farms. Although mankind has become more intelligent, this type of littering is still observable on farms throughout the world today. During the times of colonial exploration and expansion starting in the 1600's, littering was not uncommon on seafaring vessels. Boats were small, packed with goods, cramped with people, and dirty. After meals, people would discard of leftovers or broken plates or cups by throwing them overboard into the sea. Certain goods that were found to be tainted or broken were also thrown overboard. During George Washington's famous cross of the Delaware River to defeat the Hessians, littering had occurred. Washington's men had carried small supplies of food onboard with them, but prior to battle, the food was tossed. In present day, litter is all around us. City streets and sidewalks are covered with candy bar wrappers, soda bottles, tissues and papers. Waste flies out of windows of automobiles or out of hands of people. This is done intentionally for the simplest removal of unwanted goods. It is both unsightly and rude. People do not care that they are violating the earth, nor do they care that each day large numbers of people pass by places filled with litter.