Land and Water Pollution by Means of Littering

Land and Water Pollution (By: Priscilla Velez)

The failure of trash to be properly disposed of results in two types of pollution: land pollution and water pollution. Land pollution is the degradation or destruction of Earth’s surfaces and soil. Water pollution is the contamination of bodies of water such as rivers and oceans. Littering is responsible for land and water pollution. Both of these types of pollution have a detrimental effect on the health of both humans and animals.

What is Litter?

The dictionary definition of litter states that litter is, “trash, such as paper, cans, and bottles, that is left lying in an open or public place.”

Litter is everywhere. Litter is basically anything that has failed to be properly disposed of. This includes, but is not limited to, plastic bottles, candy wrappers, paper, and cigarette butts.

The Basics of Littering:

Who:

Anyone who holds trash and possesses the ability to improperly dispose of trash may litter. There is not one specific group of people that littering is designated to. All groups of people may litter.  

The 2009 National Visible Litter Survey and Litter Cost Study conducted by Keeping America Beautiful, a nonprofit that focuses on preventing litter and greening communities, found that the percentages of those who litter are as follows:

Motorists (52%)
Pedestrians (22.8%)
Improperly covered truck or cargo loads, including collection vehicles (16.4%)
Improperly secured containers, dumpsters, trash cans or residential waste or recycling bins (1.5%)

Where:

Litter may occur anywhere. Litter may occur on roadways, transition points, such as entrances to businesses, loading docks, recreation areas, and construction sites.

Why:

Research regarding the psychological explanation behind littering is still being researched. However, a few reasons have been proposed.

• Lack of Responsibility:

Some believe that litterers may lack a sense of ownership and responsibility, meaning that they do not believe that it is their job to clean up after themselves. Instead, they presume that a designated worker or person, such as a park maintenance worker, will pick up their trash.

• Lack of Designated Trash Removal Sites:

A lack of trash bins or other areas in which trash can be disposed of may cause people to litter.

• Lack of Environmental Knowledge:

Litterers might not even acknowledge the effects of littering, and as a result of having no knowledge of what littering leads to, feel no concern about throwing trash on the floor.

Littering Effects:

On Human Health and Safety:

Land Pollution:

1. Vehicle Accidents: Litter in the middle of roadways or highways may either distract or block a driver, consequently leading to a vehicle accident.
2. Fire: Cigarette butts that are not properly extinguished may cause a fire if it comes into contact with a flammable material or is discarded into an area such as a forest.
3. Attracting Bacteria and Rodents: Litter, particularly food, may attract bacteria and rodents. These bacteria and rodents may be carriers of diseases and illnesses that can affect human health.
4. Floods: Litter may clog storm/water drains, thus increasing the chances of a flood occurring.
5. Soil Contamination: Harmful chemicals in litter may contaminate soil, which may also hinder vegetation.

Water Pollution:

1. Water Contamination: Chemicals in litter may seep into groundwater or into bodies of water, making the two become undrinkable and hazardous.
2. Disease Transmission: Waterborne illnesses such as hepatitis, cholera, and typhoid are more commonly transmitted in contaminated waters.

On Animal Health and Life:

1. Road Accidents: Animals may be encouraged to cross a street to reach litter, such as food. As a result of being lulled by litter, an animal may get run over by a car, leading either to an injury or death.
2. Digestion and Entanglement: Everyday materials that are improperly disposed of, such as aluminum cans or plastic bottles, may either harm or kill an animal. What follows is a breakdown of commonly littered materials and their effect on an animal that encounters it:

• Plastic: Many animals may mistake plastic materials as prey. For example, turtles mistake plastic bags as jellyfish. As a result of such misunderstanding, animals may eat plastic. On some occasions, the plastic may be too difficult to swallow, and as a result, an animal might choke and die. If an animal does swallow the plastic it might lead to intestinal blockage. When an animal eats too much plastic, its stomach becomes full, and the animal will starve to death. Animals might also get caught in plastic materials, leading either to entrapment or suffocation.
• Fishing Hooks and Fishing Lines: These two materials may either entangle an animal, hinder it of its movement, or cause lacerations.
• Aluminum Cans: Cans might have sharp edges, which will severely lacerate an animal.
• Cigarette Butts: Cigarette butts are pursued by animals because of their resemblance to fish eggs. Not only do cigarette butts contain toxins, such as nicotine, that are hazardous to an animal’s health, but they remain undigested in an animal’s stomach, which in turn, leads to starvation.
• Other: Animals may get caught in cans, plastic, nets, and jars, which may lead to suffocation.
  
  3. Oxygen Depletion: When litter decomposes in the ocean,   it takes up plentiful amounts of oxygen. As a result, the oxygen levels in a body of water may decreases, posing a huge  threat to the survival of marine organisms.   
  
  

Other Effects- Social and Economic

1. Appearances: Litter may cause communities to be seen as unpleasant, dirty, and unsanitary. Homeowners may be less willing to buy a home in a particular community if that community is overcome with littering.
2. Waste of Natural Resources: Littering eliminates the chances of discarded materials being reused. Thus, more resources must be used to create new materials. This is both an economic and environmental issue.
3. Costs: Cleaning up litter costs taxpayers large sums of money, approximately $11 billion a year.

IMPORTANT: Remember that if a material is capable of being recycled, please do so!

Decomposition Rates: (note that styrofoam DOES NOT biodegrade)

Cardboard	2 months
Plastic Bags	10-20 years
Aluminum Cans	80-200 years
Plastic Bottle	450 years
Glass	1,000,000 years