Woodridge Spotlight on Litter...Get Involved

Can Town Hall Do Anything About This?

First, thank you to all of our new readers, and to the citizens who have started emailing in their pictures of litter/trash problems in our community.  The two pictures shared in this article were sent in by a concerned citizen who wants to see Woodridge putting its best foot forward.  If everyone does their part, we can greatly reduce or even eliminate litter in the area.  What can you do?

1.  If you know of a litter problem, take a picture or two and send it in to be featured as one of our litter pics of the day.  Send the pictures with a brief description of the location and problem to Tommy Trash Tracker.  

2.  We love stories with HAPPY ENDINGS...are you or a local group cleaning up an area that is in need of a sprucing up.  Send us your group's story and we will be more than happy to publish here in our blog!  Same email address as above.    

Is This What We Want People Seeing In Woodridge?

3.  Demand local enforcement of our litter control laws.  If you see a litter or garbage problem, call up your government officials, code enforcement officers, health department...any of these that has the ability to issue a citation should be notified of problem properties and areas.  Once citations are issued, make sure the local court is actually handing out fines...dismissing a litter citation is not the right direction to take...When citizens see that Woodridge is serious about littering, they will work harder to deal with their own trash streams, be it a business, a summer camp, or citizens using our parks as trash dumps.

4.  If you see someone littering, call them on it...a lot of our summer visitors unfortunately seem to feel they are above picking up after themselves and their children....especially at Krieger Park where almost nightly the playground area gets littered with trash.

5.  Clean up after yourselves...and if you are a camp or business and you are gathering up so much garbage around your containers that you cannot close the lids, then get a second container, or have it empty on a more frequent schedule...plastic bags of trash creates a health issue, and a rodent issue.

July 3rd Litter Factoid...Space, The Final Fronteer

At my age, still remember when man walked on the moon...fast forward some 40 plus years for today's factoid.  

Did you know that we humans have managed so far to litter outer space with over 18,000 pieces of space garbage (they only count and track pieces larger than four inches)?  That is a LOT OF SPACE JUNK, and maybe the various nations launching stuff into space need to come up with a Litter Control program for outer space.

If you count space litter of less than four inches, NASA estimates there are over 135 million pieces of man-made metal debris orbiting the Earth.  Seems anywhere man goes, litter follows...do your part, and pick up some litter every where you go.

Don’t Mess with Texas... Inside the Greatest Litter Campaign of All Time

Don’t Mess with Texas. To those of us who do not reside in the Lonestar State, this Texas motto is a cultural icon that attracts tourists and indicates state pride. But to those living in the great state of Texas, this motto is also representative of something much greater than a slogan on T-shirts and bumper stickers. Rather, “Don’t Mess with Texas” represents the most successful litter campaign of all time that continues to significantly reduce litter and keep the state of Texas beautiful.

In 1985, officials within the Texas Highway Commission and Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) faced a big problem. They were spending upwards of 20 million dollars annually to clean up litter from Texas highways, and the litter was increasing every year.  State officials realized that males between the ages of 18 and 35 were the most likely to litter, and sought to create a campaign to reduce litter that targeted their demographic. This is when the slogan “Don’t Mess with Texas” was born. Officials introduced the slogan to the TXDOT board in 1985, and luckily, the motto was approved, because it soon grew to be much more than a slogan to reduce litter on highways; it soon exploded into a cultural trademark.

First, bumper stickers with the motto were introduced in 1985. Then, the statewide advertising campaign was launched in 1986, which featured the motto “Don’t Mess with Texas” on large road signs adjacent to major highways and in television/radio/print advertisements and commercials. These commercials and Public Service Announcements featured numerous celebrities who were all Texas natives and the campaign soon became more popular and influential than anyone could have believed.

Within four years, the campaign reduced litter along Texas roadways by 72%. The advertising campaign, “Don’t Mess with Texas,” became a cultural phenomenon that would have lasting impacts for decades.  See, the campaign acts as a source of pride for residents of the Lonestar state and as a way for residents to join together to achieve something worthwhile. Even better, the campaign acts as an exemplar for other environmental campaigns of this caliber.  The state of Texas took one big problem, found one great solution, and made their state even greater as a result. The “Don’t Mess with Texas” campaign easily achieved it’s original objective of reducing litter among roadways in Texas and has kept litter off of Texas roads for 25 years with more to come. Other states facing similar problems should aspire to solve their environmental problems as smoothly, successfully, and as permanently as Texas did.

Author-Wendy Waste Reducer

Reducing Roadway Rubbish...Do Your Part

Each year, more than 51 billion pieces of litter land on U.S. roadways. The result is almost 11.5 billion dollars in annual cleanup costs, some of which comes directly from schools and other community organizations. 

The presence of litter in a community lowers quality of life and property values. From the road, it can be swept by weather, traffic and/or animals into gutters, lawns and local waterways.

Most people are less likely to litter when in their own community because they care about the quality of their own environment. It’s much more tempting, miles away from anyone or any place we know, to chuck that cigarette butt or empty bottle out the car window. But if you don’t litter in your own backyard, why litter in someone else’s?

Let’s face it, when we’re stuck on the highway for miles, we don’t want to keep looking at the garbage accumulating in the passenger seat. In fact, studies have shown that about 23% of Americans are likely to litter from their car.

So how can we manage our car trash and take control of our environmental impact?

1. Use a car litterbag. This can be as simple as attaching a plastic bag to your gear shift or a hook on the passenger side. However, many companies also produce litter containers for cars that hook onto the back of seats or virtually anywhere you’d like to place one.

You can find some of these litter bags here.

2. Use a car ashtray. In addition to car litter bags, many companies also make car ashtrays that fit inside a cupholder. By designating one of your cup holders as an ashtray, you can create a convenient place to chuck your cigarette butts besides out the window.

3. Make rest stops, trash-toss stops as well. When stopping for gas, food or a trip to the bathroom, take an extra few seconds to dump your litter bag contents into the garbage. Through making a trash run a part of rest stop routine, you can prevent the accumulation of car garbage and roadway litter.

85% of littering results from individual attitudes and 52% of roadway litter is caused by motorists.  By changing the way we think about litter and better managing our car garbage, we can make a huge impact on the cleanliness of our environment, the quality of our communities and the money we have to spend cleaning up other people’s messes.

Some Trash Facts From Tommy Trash Tracker

Everyone just loves trivia, so thought it would be fun to share some Trash Trivia with our readers, a few facts about the garbage each of us generates.

1.  According to the EPA, the average American discards 4.34 pounds of garbage every day. Over the course of one year, that means the average American discards 1,583 pounds of garbage...multiply that times 300 million of us.

2.  Did you know that the total volume of solid waste produced in the U.S. each year is equal to the weight of more than 5,600 Nimitz Class air craft carriers, 247,000 space shuttles, or 2.3 million Boeing 747 jumbo jets...that is a lot of trash.

3.  (This fact does not include litter, just COLLECTED TRASH.)  Put all of the solid waste collected in the U.S. in a line of garbage trucks and that line of trucks would cross the country, extending from New York City to Los Angeles, more than 100 times...imagine 100 lines of trash trucks from here to Los Angeles.  That would be a line of trash trucks some 1400 feet wide and 2400 miles long.

4.  The 62.6 billion cans recycled last year alone would make 171 circles around the earth at its equator (Aluminum Association).

5.  If we recycled all of the newspapers printed in the U.S. on a typical Sunday, we would save 550,000 trees—or about 26 million trees per year (California Department of Conservation).

Bottle Bricks...Explore The Possibility!

Plastic soda bottles...sometimes, it seems as if they are everywhere, litter tossed upon our roadsides, in our parks, and almost anywhere else that is a public space. Today, sharing with our readers the possibilities these throw away bottles have when turned into Bottle Bricks...We encourage you to research the possibilities, and perhaps your club or group would like to create a Bottle Brick Project of your own.  

The above video is a school built using discarded plastics as bottle brick.
A house made of recycled bottles that sings when the wind blows.
Trash can be so BEAUTIFUL...another example of Bottle Brick building.

Imagine if...Cleaning Up Litter

Can you imagine every American voluntarily picking up just one piece of litter (discarded trash) each and every day of the year?  Such a pledge kept by the citizens of the United States of America would see almost 110 BILLION pieces of litter removed from our environment in just one year...can you imagine such a pledge, and more importantly would you take such a pledge, become a member of an American Litter Patrol (ALP) whose sole purpose was to eradicate America's litter problem?  Each of us as individuals working as a team can "Keep America Beautiful".

Some facts...just who is it that litters?  The answers might just surprise you.  Read the list, and find out if you are actually a litter bug, and if you are, take the pledge and become a soldier in the war against litter in America, take the pledge and become a member of the American Litter Patrol.

  

Just Who Litters?...maybe you?

• Home Owners/Renters-Household trash at the curbside left uncovered creates litter.  Lid your trash.
• Business Owners-Dumpsters used by businesses create litter.  Pick up around dumpsters, and lid   your  dumpster at all times.
• Employees around Loading docks...have a daily litter pluck in loading dock areas. 
• Construction Workers-Construction and demolition sites create litter.  Put out more garbage cans closer to daily work areas, encourage workers to toss work site debris in the cans.
• Truck Drivers-Uncovered trucks create a lot of roadside litter...cover your trucks to stop litter blow off.
• Motorists-put a litter bag in the car, don't toss fast food packaging out the window! 
• Pedestrians-as we say on the hiking trails, carry in and carry out.  The roadsides are not a garbage can.

Statistics on Who Litters Show:

75% of Americans Admit to Littering within the last 5 years.

Most common litter offenders- Men between 18-34 years

Smokers

People who eat at Fast Food places at least 2x per week

Person who drives more than 50 miles/day

People who go out for entertainment at least 1x per week

Did You Know? 10 Items You Can Recycle

Most of us know we can recycle cans, bottles, paper and other common household items, but here are ten items you might not think about recycling.

1.  Hair...yes, hair.  In fact, did you know hair can be used in environmental cleanups after man caused disasters...think Exxon.

2.  Blue Jeans.  Sure, your good used jeans can go to Goodwill, but did you know there are companies out there that are making green insulation with old tattered blue jeans?  Check out  Green Jeans Insulation

3.  Wine...the bottles can be recycled, so can the corks, and if you happen to have some left over wine dump it on your compost pile!  The wine helps encourages the composting process.

4.  Cotton swabs (with cardboard stems), cotton balls, and even dryer lint can all go right on your compost pile.

5.  CRAYONS...yes, all those old broken crayons can be recycled and turned into new crayons.  Check out National Crayon Recycle Program 

6.  Surfboards!  Who would have thought, but it is true that even surfboards can be recycled.  Check out ReSurf Recycling 

7.   Your keys...and you can donate those keys to a good cause at Keys For Kindness

8.  Rechargeable Batteries-New York state has even passed a take back law requiring manufacturer take-back programs.

9.  Golf Balls...so golfer, next time you see that lost ball out in the woods, or along the water's edge pick it up and recycle it....OnlyGolfBalls.com will even buy used golf balls in bulk.

10. Trophies...yes you can mail in your old trophies and have them recycled and reused.

Reduce Litter, Go Bagless

Just as important as recycling our waste streams, is reducing them, and a very easy way to reduce is too go bag free when heading out to the grocery store, or shopping.  BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag) is a great way to keep plastic bags out of our landfills, out of our environment, and out of our waterways and oceans...stop the site of plastic bags blowing in the wind by bringing your own plastic bags, own the battle cry of "Reduce, Recycle and Reuse. 

Each of us doing our small part can make a difference when all those small parts are added together, and bringing your own bags shopping can contribute to a cleaner environment.  US Retailers each and every year hand out over 380 BILLION plastic shopping bags, and another 10 Billion paper bags.  Those bags too often end up blowing in the wind, ending up in trees, on the sides of our roads, and clogging our water ways.  Saying, "No thank you, I brought my own bags" is a great way to contribute to cleaner world.  Bringing canvas will reduce your own carbon footprint, and save the energy it would take to produce and transport paper and plastic bags to your local vendors.

Canvas Bag Suppliers

• Eco Bags...Get Hip Get Green brings reusable shopping bags to a forefront of both “E”s: environmentalism and education. Each sale will also mean a donation to the children’s environmental group, The Green Ambassadors. The Green Ambassadors provide high school students with experiences that foster personal growth, community service, and leadership skills to tackle the most critical environmental issues facing our planet.
• Green Bags Unlimited...Welcome to Green Bags Unlimited!  Your source for customize, reusable, Eco-friendly bags and totes.  As a supplier and designer, we service distributors around the world.  Our fabrics range from natural to recycled materials.