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Tuesday 24 November 04:41PM
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Environment

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Litter Facts

Litter is a particular problem in the more populated areas of Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong.

Litter is an environmental priority because it...

  • reduces the aesthetic appeal of public places including streets, parks and waterways;
  • can kill aquatic life directly (eg. through choking) and indirectly through its impacts on water quality;
  • can cause blockages of the drainage system and flooding;
  • can be dangerous to people particularly when it involves items such as broken glass, needles and syringes;
  • may be a fire hazard (lit cigarettes being thrown from vehicles); and
  • costs local councils and other bodies huge sums of money to clean up every year.

Litter is a personal and community priority because it...

  • symbolises disorder;
  • undermines civic and community feelings of pride; and
  • indicates wastefulness.

New sources of litter are becoming evident. Changing consumer patterns in relation to take-away food, increasing use of unsolicited advertising materials and the introduction of automatic teller machines are examples of activities that now impact on litter.

The single biggest litter item in Australia is the cigarette butt, accounting for close to half of all litter. Other common items include small pieces of paper, chip &s confectionary wrappers, fast food packaging, bottle caps and glass pieces.

Concern about littering and calls for renewed State Government action to tackle littering are frequent themes of correspondence to the NSW Environment Minister, the EPA and local councils.

In addition, local government, environment groups and community organisations devote considerable effort to both promoting anti-littering activities and cleaning-up littered environments.

However, while many people are concerned about litter, many more are still littering.

There is no known gender, age or class differentiation in littering behaviour (although males are more likely to admit to littering).

Littering behaviour is complex and is affected by...

  • not thinking the item was litter (cigarettes, food scraps)
  • lack of social pressure to do the right thing
  • absence of realistic penalties or consistent enforcement
  • social rebellion
  • community lack of knowledge of the environmental effects of littering
  • poor packaging design
  • amount of litter already present at a particular site
  • presence and wording of signs referring to litter; and
  • number/placement and appearance of bins at/near the site

There is some evidence that the immediate environment has an impact on people's littering behaviour. For example, cinema complexes, football grounds and theatres may be seen as acceptable sites at which to litter as someone is paid to clean it up.

Did you know...
Cigarette butts make up close to half of all litter items in Australia. Other common litter items include small pieces of paper, chip & confectionary wrappers, fast food packaging, bottle caps and glass pieces. New litter includes ATM receipts.

For more information contact Council's Environment & Health Unit on 9806 5000 or the NSW Environment Protection Authority at http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au

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