don't litter at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario
Aside from poor packaging design (the package your product came in will far outlive the product itself), littering seems like a pretty trivial thing that we still can’t seem to wrap our heads around. My friends tell me about certain drink containers in India and piñatas in Mexico made of clay that are meant to be thrown and smashed and returned to the earth. This makes a lot of sense.
Fast-forward (or backward). Molded polyethylene, polystyrene and polypropylene... producer / industry responsibility and consumer blame, but mostly left for municipalities to clean up. Deliberately placed receptacles because we think convenience will solve the problem. Maybe.
Garbage can in Waterloo Park, Waterloo Ontario.
Street receptacles, Hamilton, Ontario.
Disposable plastic cup waste on sumac.
Junk sculpture (tires, metal and other garbage put together from objects found in the river) in Guelph, Ontario.
What could easily become litter when a streetside garbage can overflows on King Street in Waterloo, Ontario.
What began as a few litter-related photos got me thinking about anti-littering campaigns in general.
Here are a few notable ones:
The beginnings:
- “Keep Britain
- “Keep America
Of the most successful campaigns:
- Texas State Texas
The punishment campaign:
- Washington State
(This was also grouped with an anti-littering campaign targeted at truck drivers: “This is not your urinal”. Word has it that these ‘trucker bottles’ – a combination of urine, plastic bottles and the hot summer sun – were essentially exploding during roadside litter pick-ups.)
The environmental argument / cigarette litter:
- A Butt Free Australia
An eye sore:
- Nova Scotia Environment, "The Best Thing You'll Never Do." (2008)
And my personal favourite:
UnLitter Us Philly, “Street poets trash trash…” (2010)
No littering sign - Mexico
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