For most people, our busy lifestyle requires a life on the run. This can lead to us carelessly dropping wrappers, scraps, leftover food, etc. in our environment. Personally, if I am not too rushed I’ll stop to run after the run-away trash, but other times I just say, “What’s the harm of that one piece?” And that’s exactly the cause of our environmental instability. We think of ourselves individually rather than as a population. And once one person stops and picks up their litter, it creates a butterfly effect to everyone surrounding them. In order to motivate that first person to pick up after themselves, I figured I would provide some impacts of littering and alternatives to just throwing everything in the trash.
While you may have just dropped your litter on the side of the road, most people don’t realize the great lengths that trash will travel. It will eventually invade the beauty of our landscape, flow through the rivers, and end up in a body of water. This is important for Ohioans because, as a flat land, debris moves quite easily and damages the aesthetic and health of Lake Erie, a lake already hurt by algae blooms.
Not only does littering ruin the beauty of Earth, it also impacts the habitats of our wildlife. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “As debris accumulates, habitat structure may be modified, light levels may be reduced in underlying waters, and oxygen levels may be depleted,” (Impacts of Mismanaged Trash). This hurts the ability of rivers and bodies of water to support aquatic life, an essential aspect of the stability of our environment.
A less looked at impact of littering is the chemical imbalances it creates. The EPA clearly states that littering can cause the accumulation of persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBTs) contaminants. “Aquatic plastic debris has been found to accumulate contaminants at concentrations that are orders of magnitude (thousands to millions of times) greater than the surrounding environment,” (Impacts of Mismanaged Trash). Trash emphasizes harm to our waters, creating many problems for Ohioans, and the world, as our aquatic life and clean water supply are dwindling.
While it may sound intimidating, the amount of harm we are creating for the environment, there is still hope. As easy as it sounds, it is so important that our society doesn’t litter anymore, as it is clear what it does to our ecosystems, and throw their trash in the trash. However, that is not the last step. There are alternatives for certain products and materials than just throwing it in the dumpster. Paper, glass, certain plastics, and a few other materials can be recycled. This creates less build-up in our dumps and reusable supplies for more products in a consumerism heavy society. Also, while food may seem okay to litter, it can actually be very harmful to animals who aren’t supposed to eat those foods. So, an alternative to littering food or even throwing it in the trash is to make your own compost. It is an easy way to create nutrient rich soil of your own. That new soil also provides food and habitat for many organisms living in the ground.
Life can be busy. It may be hard to back up and put the environment first. However, it only takes one person to start a change.
https://www.epa.gov/trash-free-waters/impacts-mismanaged-trash