Litter bugs.. does it bother you?
@enchantedleppard (1541)
United States
March 21, 2008 3:11pm CST
Something that continuously bothers me is the trash that lays along side of the road here in Ohio. Fast food wrappers and beverage containers are the most frequent things I see laying along the road. It infuriates me when people actually dump their trash along the road, or, in my area, its pretty rural, so people will drive on backroads and use wooded areas as a "dump site" for old appliances, furniture.. etc. How can people consciously do that??
If you could create a law that would target offenders of littering-- what would your law state?
I'm not referring to the laws that are already out there-- a $500.00 fine for littering-- well it doesn't seem to work, look at how much trash is still disposed of along the road!!
I would require some sort of chip device located on every product made. And as people make purchases, some sort of tag is placed on the item. And when we put the trash in a trash bag and the waste company picks it up, some kind of code is transmitted onto the bag and items and it signals that the trash company is responsible for the trash now.
This way when litter is found along side of the road, it can be traced to its owner, they can be prosecuted and fined. And waste companies can finally be responsible for what flies out of the back of their trucks. By doing this, we will increase fines and the amount paid into the litter program, and we can fund the chip devices/scanners etc.
So do you have any litter prevention ideas? Would mine work? I understand cost is an issue.. however think outside of that limit-- if there were no limitations, what would you create?
2 people like this
10 responses
@creative_angel312 (390)
• United States
22 Mar 08
It used to bother me, but not so much anymore. Yes, it still bothers me, and I don't realize myself, but I've come to realize that there are people out there who don't really care and will laugh in your face if you tell them to pick up their trash...that doesn't stop me from telling them though.
As for prevention, if we had some survallience(sp)cameras that were smart enough to detect the license plate, or faces of the people littering, they would be caught, fined, and forced to pick up ALL the trash in a designated area. That'll teach em'...
1 person likes this
@enchantedleppard (1541)
• United States
22 Mar 08
I hadnt thought of the survelliance cameras. Thats a really good idea and probably cheaper than any chip that could be installed.
@p1kef1sh (45681)
•
21 Mar 08
It bothers the heck out of me. We call that dumping of appliances "Fly tipping" here and it has become a major problem. Rubbish sites charge quite high fees to trade tippers, so the more sleazy of them charge the customer for the tip, and then dump the rubbish in some local beauty spot. I would make then have a week's worth of rubbish dumped in their own back yard. But there are lots of good reasons why not I suppose. Instead, I would make them pick up a minimum of a ton of trash a day and pay for it to be tipped. If they didn't I would have them do some supervised community service for twice their original sentence length. When I was at school (30 years ago) we had a punishment whereby you had to pick up litter for 1 hour a day each day until your "sentence" was spent. You had to fill a bag full, and if you ran out of litter on school grounds you were moved into the local village to pick it up there instead, Probably couldn't do that these day. People that had been on litter patrol rarely re-offended. Sorry, I have ranted, but it really makes my blood boil.
1 person likes this
@highflyingxangel (9225)
• United States
22 Mar 08
I hate people that constantly throw out trash. I think those that litter should have to pick up litter on roadsides for several weeks so they get so sick and tired of seeing trash all over the place that they decide to stop throwing ou their own. And they should recieve a fine for it too.
@theprogamer (10532)
• United States
22 Mar 08
Hate literbugs. And their "work" isn't just on the roads and highways... you can see them in local streets, sidewalks, parks, yards... Disgusting.
I like the idea you have for prevention/punishment but as you noted (and I'm seconding) it may cost a bit to implement at first.
Now for maybe a chuckle or two, here's my idea.
We'll do your chip idea, but in addition to the fine, the garbage people won't pick up their garbage for that week. Alright, I know its a bit too far but this is being facetious... (slightly ;p)
Here's another wacky idea. We'll do it the sentinel way. Just have automated robots clean up some of the trash, but if they catch anyone litering, its operation "purge" (remove trash generating threat/person by placing it in the garbage)
For a more serious idea, have some speed/vision cameras along the road to catch some litering. This idea has its own cost issue and some people will scream privacy, but in my view, this idea helps curb two problems at once (speed and litering). Punishment would be nice as meaningful. You pay a fine, AND you have community service to clean up a park or another liter prone area.
I can hear some people complaining and griping about it now. Listen. If you don't liter, you don't have to worry about it. Why liter in the first place? Too lazy to find a wastebin, or too inept? If you are in your car, there's nothing wrong with getting a small bag to put minor waste in and then disposing of it at home, a gas station, etc. Not rocket science.
@hallmarkjl (500)
• United States
21 Mar 08
I dont think I would go as far as putting chips into things in order to track where the litter came from. There can be a great deal of problems with that. Before I go to a friends i ask them if they need something or pick up some food on the way there. If they take the item to their car and end up throwin it beside the road later after it is empty then I would get in trouble for soemthing I didnt do. I'd never know who exectly did it b/c I buy mc donalds all the time for friends who eat it in their car on their lunch breaks and what not.
I do however think you shouldnt be able to throw items out of the car. Such as normal trash, but apple cores and stuff like that should be ok. Those decompose and help the soil. Granted paper will too, but we dont need a bunch of trash all over the place.
Instead of increasing the fine, I would give them the normal fine plus make them do community service. Make them stand on the side of the road with orange coat things on and pick up all the trash. I'm sorry but the risk of having to stand on the side of the road and people seeing me would be more embarassament than what it would be worth.
1 person likes this
@Qoo120774044 (4)
• China
22 Mar 08
Good article it is~!
I extremely agree with you. and it's a good method of prevention.
1 person likes this
@NeoComp (1316)
• United States
21 Mar 08
Yeah it does bother me sometimes.
I always put my trash in a paper bag.. then I throw it out when I get home.
I don't know why people litter..
Even when I have a candy or soda.. I just carry it with me. .and I throw it out when I get to a trash can.
I don't really like to litter etc. It's not kosher.
@olivebranch56 (910)
• United States
22 Mar 08
I hate to see litter also, as for appliances and such though I kind of have to blame my state and county. They charge so much now to come pick these items up that most people can't afford to pay the fee. So people would rather take the slim risk of being caught on a back road than have to pay the fee.I am in no way condoning this type of behavior but I can see why it is done.
@megumiart (3771)
• United States
22 Mar 08
I hate littering. I think your idea is great, but I don't know if officials, or whoevers in charge would. :/
@getunaddicted (210)
• United States
22 Mar 08
I think we had a conversation aboput this a while back. I think it is stupid, and actually it is illegal.
