Chart showing how littering affects everyone

What is Littering?

Littering is a global issue where trash and unnecessary items are left on the ground, which can cause damage to the environment, health risks of humans, a bad economy, and many more problems. 

Why is Littering an Issue?

          The amount of litter found everywhere is ridiculous and it’s getting worse year by year. Litter is found on the streets of communities, in buildings, and even in the ocean. There is a part of the North Pacific Ocean called “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch” which is estimated to be about 6.4 million tons of litter that passes through and arrives on beaches and in the oceans! The litter found all throughout communities and business buildings are making the areas unattractive which decreases the values of these properties.
          With litter comes the risk of the health of humans in a negative way from being exposed to the harsh chemicals that are not disposed of properly. Littering also affects tourism because who would want to visit a beach or city that is known for its pollution? People want to go places where they feel clean and happy and not have to worry about all the trash on the ground or the possibility of risking their health. Lastly, there is a huge cost that areas are responsible for cleaning up the place they live in and the beaches have to get cleaned, too.
          Since litter has a negative effect on tourism, this will also affect the economy of a community or city in a negative way. A bad economy for a community means their economic status will drop for the people living there. This means more people will become closer to being in a state of poverty.

The Effects of Littering

How it affects communities:Littering affects the community in positive and negative ways. A negative way it affects my community is that it makes it doesn't make the place look nice and welcoming. You could look at it in a positive way, too. For example, people in my community are disgusted by the trash on the ground so we are trying to start an organization to help prevent that and clean up the mess to stop littering.

How it affects households and local residents:This issue affects households and local residents the same way it affects the community. If there is trash lying all over the ground when someone is trying to buy a house, no one is going to purchase it because it’s unattractive and disgusting. This also affects residents’ health and can cause many problems for them.

How this issue affects area businesses:This issue could affect businesses because if there is litter all around where they work, people aren't going to want to go there because it doesn't look clean. No one wants to go into a business where it looks like they don’t take the time to clean up trash and keep the world clean. Overall, this could cause businesses to lose money since people won’t buy from there and this could cause them to go out of business.

How it affects our government at the local, state, and national levels:        This issue affects the government at the local, state, and national level because fines are created on the state and nation level to control the littering on roadways. They have to enforce the law on no littering to help prevent this issue from getting even worse. On the local level, the local police have to make sure they’re strict on littering and enforce the law to make sure people know it’s wrong and needs to be stopped.

How it affects the rest of the world:This issue not only affects the environment, but also the rest of the world. Littering isn't just in one area, it’s everywhere. There is a lot of litter found around the ocean, which causes it to spread through any body of water to other parts of the world. This is considered a global issue that is not fixed overnight.

How it affects resources, goods and services, and finances:Littering affects resources, goods and services, and finances too. The United States has a huge agricultural industry and the pollution that’s caused by littering can ruin the earth and the crops that are being grown. If the food being grown isn't good to sell, the price of these goods will increase and there is a possibility that it could lead to inflation. Furthermore, littering leads to air pollution, as well as other problems; this can lead to health problems for workers taking them away from their job, which will slow down business.

How it affects international trade:Littering also has a massive effect on international trade. If the U.S. is known for its litter and how unhealthy and unsanitary we are, other countries are not going to want to trade with us. When trash and other chemicals get disposed of improperly, this damages our food products being grown. This will affect international trade because if we don’t have goods that are clean, no one will want to trade with us, and this will end up decreasing the money coming into the United States. People don’t want to trade with a place that can’t take care of its own economy and people.

 

Possible Solutions/Positive&Negative Externalities

Give three possible solutions to the economic issue you are investigating.
Three possible solutions to the issue of littering would be to enforce the “no littering” law more strictly, inform people about the health issues, and try to get volunteer organizations to clean up trash.

What are the externalities, both positive, and negative, that could result from each possible solution?

Solution 1: On the positive side, if the “no littering” laws are enforced in a harsher way, people would become more cautious and throw away their trash because they don’t want to be charged with a fine; however, this could cause people to rebel because they don’t think it’s fair and they could end up polluting the area even more.

Solution 2: On the positive side, if people are informed about the health issues of littering, this could cause them to really think about how it could affect them and their loved ones. No one wants to live in fear of knowing your life could be affected because people are too lazy to throw trash away; however, people might not want to sit and listen to someone talk about how littering is bad. They may feel like it inconveniences them and takes up their time. Also, they might not believe what they’re being told is true.

Solution 3: On the positive side, the environment would be much cleaner with everyone cleaning up the streets and the area where they live. It would help reduce the health risks and benefit the people, businesses, and government as well; however, it would also take the volunteers’ free time for them to go out and clean up trash. They might have to give up time and really dedicate themselves the get the job done. Some people might be too lazy to do that.

What positive or negative externalities does this issue present at each sector of the economy?

Littering does not have any positive externalities for any sector of the economy. On the household level and local residents, littering creates a negative impact on how they’re living. The people living in the trash will start to have health problems and no one will want to live there. On the business level, many businesses lose money due to litter because no one wants to go to a place that’s filthy where it looks like they don’t clean their stores. This will cause a loss of customers and could possibly make them go out of business. On the government level, they will have to help pay for cleanup of all the trash to keep the economy clean. Also, if the area is polluted with trash, tourists are not going to want to visit because they want somewhere nice that doesn’t look like a dump. Without tourists visiting, the government will lose money and the economy will end up suffering as well. This affects the rest of the world because litter travels by wind and in the ocean, which means it’s everywhere. With all the litter spreading around, peoples’ health is going to worsen. Lastly, it negatively affects resources, goods and services, and finances. The United States has a huge agricultural industry and if it is polluted by litter, these goods cannot be traded or sold, causing a loss in money and products.

All of the possible solutions meet my criteria to help abolish littering. Each of these could help in some way and make a huge difference in the way we live. All of the solutions would be low budget and it’s all based on volunteers helping out. No matter which solution goes into play, it would help the health of people, our economy, and our world as a whole. 

About the possible solutions

What are the necessary conditions for any possible solution to work? For any possibly solution to work, I would have to make sure I present and know enough information about the issue to where people will listen to me and notice that littering is a problem. Also, I would have to make sure I had all the possible solutions planned out as to how I would make it work.

Are there budget or labor concerns? There are not really any budget concerns with any of my solutions, but if the problem doesn’t get fixed it will be very costly and increase labor; Furthermore, these solutions would take the help of many people. Police officers would have to do their part and enforce the “no littering” law in a harsher way, I would need volunteers to take time out of their day to help clean up trash, and someone to go around to different schools and organizations to present information about the negative effects littering has and why it would help make the world a better place if we stop it from happening.

 Does the public need to be aware of and support the solution? Yes! If the public is not aware of the solution, how would they be able to help fix the problem of littering? They also need to support the solutions so they will be motivated to help prevent this issue from getting even worse. Problems would arise if people didn’t support these because no one would want to help out with something they don’t approve of.

What challenges are there to implementing each solution? A challenge with the first solution about enforcing the “no littering” law in a harsher way, is to actually get the officers to abide by that rule and not let any kind of littering slide. They would have to be on the ball about making sure they fine people and letting them know how they’re damaging our environment, economy, and health. A challenge with the second solution about having someone inform people about the health effects of littering is to actually get people to listen to what the speaker is saying. Sure, you can make people attend these informative speaker sessions, but the challenge is actually getting them to listen and understand why we need to fix this problem. A challenge with the third solution of trying to get volunteers and organizations to help clean up trash, is actually finding volunteers and organizations to do that. You would have to make sure that they’re actually doing the job and cleaning and not just messing around. There are some challenges that go along with these solutions, but they’re challenges that can easily be face. 

What incentives do individuals, businesses, and government have to act on each possible solution? Each of these solutions would help out individuals, businesses, and the government. The main thing that should motivate everyone to want to abolish littering is that the world will be a much cleaner and healthier place. Individuals would be able to live happier and healthier lives, businesses won’t lose customers or money because their place will look more approachable, and the government will have more profits, more tourism, and happier people.

How to address the issue

What can we do to address this issue? To help address the issue of littering, we could put up signs to start a volunteer organization a few times every x amount of weeks to try and reduce the amount of trash in the area. Also, we could email to a local representative to help spread the word about what we are planning on doing.

Are there multiple perspectives on the best way to address the problem? There are definitely multiple perspectives on the best way to address the problem. You need to make sure you come off in a nice way where you really convince the people that you need their help and that it will make a big difference in our world.

What can YOU do?

Taking action to abolish littering is not a hard task and it can make a significant difference in the world. The easiest thing you can do is to pick up after yourself. If everyone throws away trash and recycles like they’re supposed to, the world would be a much cleaner place. You can also help by joining or even starting your own organization to prevent littering. Contacting local newspapers and political leaders about the issue is a small thing that could make a huge difference. Another thing you can do is to simply pick up trash if it’s just lying on the ground, don’t just leave it there. These small actions can make the biggest impact on making our world a cleaner place. Just think of all the people you’re keeping healthy, people you’re keeping out of poverty, how many animals you’re saving, and how much better our economy will be.

The best solution

The best solution to turn into action is having someone inform people about littering and all of the affects it has on people, the economy, the environment, and the world as a whole. This is the best choice over the other possible solutions because if people are educated enough about how big of a problem this really is, it could help motivate them to start picking up after themselves, picking up trash they see on the ground as they walk by, or to even start their own kind of organization. Most people don’t know all of the negative impacts of littering, so the more knowledge people have about this issue, the faster we can prevent it from happening even more. It’s kind of like a chain reaction- when people are informed about this problem, they will go and tell others about it and so on, which will help spread the word on the effects of littering.

Sources

Website Sources:

"Littering Is Wrong Too!" Littering Is Wrong Too. Web. 10 Dec. 2014. <http://www.litteringiswrongtoo.org/faq#problem>.

"| OR&R's Marine Debris Program." | OR&R's Marine Debris Program. Web. 10 Dec. 2014. <http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/patch.html>.

"Everything You Need to Know about Litter." About. Web. 10 Dec. 2014. <http://environment.about.com/od/pollution/a/litter.htm>.

"Science Leadership Academy Learn · Create · Lead." Littering and Its Effect on the Environment — Science Leadership Academy. Web. 10 Dec. 2014. <https://www.scienceleadership.org/blog/Littering_and_its_Effect_on_the_Environment>.

"Litter." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Apr. 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litter>.

"Perceived Health Effects of Litter and Trash by Inner City Residents." Perceived Health Effects of Litter and Trash by Inner City Residents. Web. 10 Dec. 2014. <http://kb.osu.edu/dspace/handle/1811/51932>.

"Litter: Is It a Health Hazard?" Examiner.com. Web. 10 Dec. 2014. <http://www.examiner.com/article/litter-is-it-a-health-hazard>.

Picture Sources:

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