By Kate Leo
This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to go to New York City to visit my grandparents. We were only in the city for a couple of days, and we mainly walked around to sightsee. While walking, I was amazed about how much trash build up there was on the streets. Not only was there immense littering, but I saw at least twenty trash bags piled up on the side of the street in front of a restaurant that looked like they had been there for days. I also witnessed many people just throwing their cigarette butts on the ground, not bothering to find a trash can. Most areas have a problem with trash, but in a place like New York with millions of people in not that much space, the problem was apparent.
The United States has a major trash issue. According to a study by Columbia University, we accumulate seven pounds of trash per person each day (Bradford). Many don’t take care of this trash in the correct way with composting or recycling, they just throw it in the trash, or even worse, out on the streets. This problem occurs because of the lack of responsibility each individual feels about their role in causing the problem. However, if millions of people don’t feel this responsibility, the problem just continuously builds up.
One of the main problems is the pollution that trash causes. If trash is left on the street, it can leak into waterways, possibly releasing harmful toxins or hurting animals in the water. Pollution on the streets also cause people to view the area as bad. New York is a major tourist area for example, but if there is too much trash, eventually tourism will decrease and cause the city’s income to decrease. Another main problem of trash build up is the cost it inflicts on the government to clean it up. Millions of dollars are spent to help the littering problem that could have been spent elsewhere.
This growing problem of trash needs to be recognized by a wider group of people. In order to increase awareness, there needs to be more anti-litter campaigns in the form of advertisements on television and on posters in the street. There could also be greater punishment for those caught littering. By raising the fine for littering or giving community service as punishment for littering, people may have a greater incentive to take care of their trash in a proper way. People are definitely more aware of the problem than they were in past years, but we still need to have more people committed to solving the issue in order to make a true difference.
Sources:
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-problems-solutions-littering.php
https://frontiergroup.org/reports/fg/trash-america
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