On March 3rd, 2019 the Savannah Police Department began issuing tickets and enforcing litter laws.
Litter is “manmade or man-used solid waste material, such as paper, garbage, cardboard boxes, cans, leaves, limbs, cigarette butts or other trash,” which is not disposed of properly. The most common types of litter are cigarette butts, bottles, cans, fast food packaging and plastic shopping bags.
Most people who deliberately litter are between 18-34 years old. In fact, 75% of people admitted that they littered in the past five years. Smokers, in particular, are known for littering, as 75% of smokers report throwing their cigarette butts on the ground or out of a car window.
Litter has a negative impact on the Savannah community. It signals that a community or neighborhood population doesn’t care, which invites vandalism, theft and more series crimes. The end result? Lower property values and a poor quality of life for residents.
Destructive Litter: Litter seeping into our rivers and waterways can contaminate the water, making it unsuitable for drinking. The fish living in the water can be unsafe to eat due to risk of disease. Garbage surrounding a storm drain can prevent flood waters from receding, making streets impassable, causing flood damage to cars and homes.
Dangerous Litter: Garbage flying out of a truck bed on the highway can hit a car or cause a wreck. Trash on our neighborhood streets can be a choking hazard to wildlife whose water and land habitats form our coastal ecosystem.
$11.5 billion is spent every year in the U.S. to clean up litter.
9 billion tons of litter ends up in the ocean every year.
60% of roadside litter comes from unsecured loads in truck beds.
2 billion pieces of litter are estimated to be on U.S. roads, and most of those pieces are less than 4 inches in size.
15% decreases in property values are possible due to the presence of litter.
