Our View: No excuse for raft of litter these days

Years ago, litter became a noticeable problem with the advent of fast food, cars, a shift to urban living, and more disposable (no pun intended) income. Roadways became clogged with bottles, cans and other trash. People took action: advertising campaigns, cooperation between businesses and government, and public education curbed the problem and soon the roads and public spaces were clean again.

In short, the problem was solved when littering became socially unacceptable.

Recently, we’ve noticed litter creeping back into our community. It seems to have started last spring around the time the quarantine hit, when garbage cans in parks and picnic areas overflowed. Municipal crews were quick to add more cans and empty them more often, which helped. But over the summer and fall, we’ve seen more trash in public spaces, enough to notice and be concerned.

Maybe it’s time to make littering socially unacceptable again.

There’s really no good reason to litter. There are garbage cans everywhere: on street corners, at gas stations and convenience stores, even in front of most retail establishments. You can easily keep your rubbish in your car or backpack until you get home. Littering is not only unsightly, it’s also unhealthy and unsanitary. Even worse, many times some civic-minded citizen will pick up litter, meaning you are making someone else clean up after you. That’s not kind.

Plus, littering is bad for the environment. Trash tends to find its way into the water stream and wildlife’s natural habitat, causing problems for wildlife, and pollutes the ecosystem. In an area like ours that prides itself on clean water and abundant natural resources, littering is just plain wrong.

So, please, clean up after yourselves. Remind your friends and family that you won’t tolerate littering. Help make littering unacceptable again.

We’ll save scolding those who don’t recycle for another editorial.