“It’s Not My Problem” is the Problem

At half past 8 on a sunny Saturday morning, the hubby and I donned bright orange tees, grabbed a box of trash bags and headed out to pick up litter. It was all a part of Operation Cleanup, a city-wide, multi agency effort to rid the streets of our town of at least some litter. I say at least some, because in case you haven’t noticed, our country has a major litter problem. Key findings from Keep America Beautiful confirm:

• Nearly 50 billion pieces of litter along U.S. roadways and waterways
• 152 items for each U.S. resident
• More than 2,000 pieces of litter per mile (both roadway and waterway)
• 90% of people surveyed believe litter is a problem in their state
• Most littered item is cigarette butts

For years, I’ve felt that people who litter simply do not know better. I blamed a lack of education. I supposed they didn’t grow up in the 70s watching Iron Eyes Cody cry when he saw people throw garbage out of their cars while the voiceover reminded us, “Some people have a deep, abiding respect for the natural beauty that was once this country. And some people don’t.”

Perhaps they didn’t understand that the cigarettes they throw from their car windows aren’t simply made of cotton, but are full of plastic and toxic chemicals that leach into the environment. Maybe no one ever told them that the bottles and cans they toss from their boats destroy wildlife habitats. In addition to the environmental and wildlife impact, trashed roadways show a lack of town pride to visitors. And litter hits our pocketbooks, too. Researchers estimate litter costs the United States more than $11 billion to clean up annually! I guessed they simply became blind to the trash that lines every single roadway in our state.

But as we stood along the roadway holding our overflowing trash bags while passersby honked, gave thumbs up and said things like “y’all rock,” it occured to me that lack of education is not to blame here. A whopping 90% of Americans surveyed (Keep America Beautiful) agree that litter is a problem in their community.

The mindset that causes us to turn a blind eye to hatred, injustice, bigotry and racism is the same one keeping our roadways and waterways cluttered – “It’s not my problem.” Thinking someone else will take care of it so we don’t have to bother. A quick read of this topic on Reddit and Quora is enough to make my stomach turn. When asked why more people don’t pick up trash when they see it, responses ranged from “I would have to bend over” to “It’s not on my property.” What we fail to realize is that community issues are everyone’s business. If we all wait for someone else to solve the world’s problems, guess what? Nothing gets solved.

I was encouraged to see such a large turnout – 600 volunteers – for today’s cleanup event. I hope to see that number continue to grow and that more people will take the initiative to have their own neighborhood cleanups. If everyone made an effort to do simple things like pick up just 152 pieces of litter a year, we could actually end litter. Let’s not count on someone else to do it. As Iron Eyes Cody said, “People start pollution. People can stop it.”