Why People Should Stop Littering As Soon As Possible

No one drives in the roads or walks the sidewalk in Monroeville, Alabama without seeing pieces of trash on the side of the road or even in the road. Most of the time when a person claims to not have seen any trash, it is because road workers picked the litter up before anyone was able to notice that there was any. Maybe it is possible for a person not to see any trash. Maybe some people actually care about how their community looks and choose not to litter, but that is rare for the most part.

Litter has become a huge problem in Monroeville, but it is a problem that is not limited to only this town. It is a problem everywhere. Almost everyone is a suspect of littering. In the past, I was a part of helping to keep the Earth dirty, but now it time to help keep the Earth clean! In order to protect the environment, people should stop littering, stop being lazy, and express pride for the Earth.

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The first reason why people should stop littering is because litter is harmful, not only to people but to animals as well. Some of the litter that is thrown onto the ground contains substances that are toxic to the environment. The danger effects of litter can be avoided if people would wait to throw their trash away in a garbage can, instead of out of their window and into the environment. According to Iqbal Masih, founder of the World’s Children Prize Litter Organization, there is more plastic than fish in the ocean.

The ocean already consists of over 150 million tons of plastic. That amount is equivalent to the weight of twenty-five million elephants, a number that would wrap around the world five times if their trunks were stretched out. Plastic never goes away. Every piece of plastic that ends up on the ground or in the water breaks down into tiny pieces very, very slowly until it is eaten by small organisms that travel through a food chain ending with humans. This is why it is so important for people to stop littering. Not only is it harmful to the environment, it is harmful to the people as well.

Another reason people should stop littering is because their taxes help to pay to clean up the litter. Litter costs $11.5 billion per year in the United States. According to Andrew Chamberlain with the Federal Tax Foundation, some states require everyone who works to pay a litter tax. For example, Virginia applied a litter tax to their residents to help pay to clean up the litter. Why charge everyone for the crime, when only most but not everyone litters? In Alabama, a person who litters will be charged with a Class C misdemeanor, according to the 2006 Alabama Code Criminal Littering Section. The minimum fine for the first conviction is $250, and the fine for the second conviction and any other is $500 for each one. I feel that the fine should be increased, solely because in Monroeville, law enforcement does not focus most of their time on litterbugs unless they are driving behind the suspect. Increasing the fine will make people think more about their rapid decision to throw their trash on the ground.

The final reason why people should stop littering is because litter shows no pride for the Earth, whatsoever. Litter shows that people do not care about their environment and the Earth. That is very sad and disrespectful. There is a whole day dedicated to the Earth every year on April 22, called Earth Day, when everyday should be Earth Day. In 1970, a campaign for Earth Day grabbed the attention from everyone, including the Republicans and Democrats, and led to the birth of the Environmental Protection Agency, along with Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Act in the United States.

In conclusion, it is important for people to stop littering because litter is harmful to both people and animals, costs taxpayers money, and litter shows no pride towards the Earth. The best thing would be if there wasn’t any litter at all, but since there is, it is the people’s responsibility to keep the Earth clean by cleaning up the environment and avoiding littering. If people can stop littering, they will protect themselves and the animals, save money, and live better! However, if people continue to litter, not only will they harm themselves health wise, but they will harm themselves financially and slumber in disrespect.