Tips To Help Prevent Litter

Litter is defined as waste products that have not been discarded properly. Litter endangers our environment, our wildlife, and our economy. It pollutes our neighborhoods, decreases property values, and destroys our city's natural beauty.

The ideal way to handle the problem of littering is to prevent it in the first place. Let's all take responsibility and try our best to properly dispose of waste!

Tips To Help Prevent Litter

1. No littering! Take your food wrappings, drink containers, newspapers and other potential litter home with you and dispose of it in your own trash or recycling carts, or use one of the 96-gallon bins provided in the city’s streets and parks.
2. Do not throw trash out of your window! Keep a litterbag in your car and dispose of your trash properly once at your destination.
3. Keep your yard clean and free of things that can blow into the street and become litter. You are responsible for any litter or debris that's in stormwater pipes or a stream in your yard.
4. When you visit a park, remember to take out what you bring in. Keep trash and recyclables in a bag or backpack until you can put them in a litter basket.
5. Recycle! Recycle! Recycle! Talk to your family and friends about recycling to reduce the amount of litter you throw away.
6. At home, make sure garbage and recycling bags are tied securely so that loose papers and other items can't fall out and become litter.
7. Educate children about the importance of disposing of trash properly.
8. Participate in community cleanup events, like our stream cleanups that are held in the spring and fall.
9. Properly dispose of bulky household waste items.

What are the harmful effects of littering?

Litter cleanup cost in the United States total more than $11.5 billion each year! Litter can lead to soil, water, and air pollution. Trash along our Raleigh roads can serve as a breeding ground for insects and rodents. Litter can be composed of flammable materials that could immediately start a fire. Trash on our roads and highways can lead to accidents. And millions of animals die each year as a result of ingesting harmful objects or becoming entangled in littered substances.

Most plastics don’t decay. So, when items like plastic bottles and bags get into streams, they can harm wildlife and eventually end up in the ocean. This contributes to a major pollution problem around the world.

Did you know?

Under North Carolina’s anti-littering law, individuals may be fined and face community service for intentionally and unintentionally littering.

Intentional littering in the amount of 15 pounds or less is a Class 3 misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $250 to $1,000 and up to 24 hours of community service.

Let's all help keep Raleigh beautiful.  Think Clean!