My mother taught me all about litter. You can throw food waste out of the car, but not paper, bottles, or cans. But guess what, some seventy years after this warning was seared into my psyche, Martha Stewart says she was wrong. Who knew?

LITTER ACCORDING TO DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS

Don’t Mess with Texas says that the following is considered litter:

  Cigarette butts – they’re small, but they’re a nuisance

  Gum and gum wrappers – anything less than two square inches are considered micro-litter, a growing problem on Texas roadways

  Apple cores and banana peels – even though they’ll decompose

  Trash that flies out of a car window or truck bed — accidentally or otherwise

LITTER ACCORDING TO MARTHA STEWART

1. I must admit. I had no idea that apple cores and banana peels were considered litter. Martha Stewart knows better, however. Apparently, apple cores and other food waste harm wildlife, ecosystems, and the outdoor experience.
2. Apple cores don’t compost quickly and can last for one to two months.
3. Food waste brings out the wild animals and puts them and motorists at risk.
4. It attracts bears. Enough said.
5. When you toss out cores with seeds, they can grow and disrupt local ecosystems.
6. Gross scraps all around are an eyesore and can encourage others to litter. (Really?)

LITTER AND TRUCK BEDS IN TEXAS

Truck beds are a big problem in Texas. Sometimes stuff put in the back flies out. In the Lone Star State, improperly discarding trash weighing more than 5 pounds is considered illegal dumping. Not covering your pickup truck load is illegal and can cost you up to $200 for the first offense and $500 for repeat offenders. OMG! I did not know this. I recently lost a piece of foam that came off some PVC pipe I was taking to the dump.

Hmm. Now I’m in real trouble. Frankly, I never cover my pickup truck load when I take the trash in bags to town or haul lumber, etc. Dang. I wish I hadn’t started researching for this article. Ignorance of this was bliss, and now, because I’m a follow-the-law sort of person, I’ll have to figure out what to do.

WHY WE LITTER

We litter because we’re lazy and careless. It’s habit. We don’t think about the consequences of our actions, and many believe that what they do individually cannot harm society. Besides, others will clean up after us. If we see a bunch of garbage piled up in one place, we believe it’s OK to pile on. Also, when it’s hard to find a place to dump litter, people just toss it out anywhere.

MY HISTORY OF REMOVING LITTER

As Girl Scouts at camp, kapers included patrolling the area and picking up trash. You would expect that since we rotated through the position, everyone would make a concerted effort not to clutter the area. However, I can never remember a walk-through where I did not find an illegal item. Out in the country, I occasionally take a walk down the road and pick up too much litter. The number one issue is drivers who drink and throw their cans out the window in an effort not to get caught drinking and driving.  

I’ve found some other interesting abandoned items as well, including a chainsaw and a whiskey bottle from the 1970s.

LAST THOUGHTS ON LITTER

The best thing we can do is model good behavior and teach our children well. And yes, next time I drive the pickup truck, I will be absolutely sure nothing can fly out of the bed. As for me, I find it disgusting to drive down my country road and be confronted with the eyesore.

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