Walk through your nearest city in the early hours of the daybreak and you’ll see an army of road sweepers on the roads cleaning up the rubbish strewn around by all the drunken activities of last night. It’s a regular early morning scene, and it frequently conceals the litter problem we face. We don’t really give litter a second thought as we feel keeping the streets clean is not our problem.
Nevertheless, there is a sometimes imperceptible yet fundamental impact litter plays on human psychology. People are more likely to believe an area is less well policed if litter is lying around, and therefore criminals see rubbish as a possible sign for an opportunity of a mugging or robbery. The very same sign creates some fearfulness in other people who are concerned they may be passing through a more dodgy neighbourhood and are concerned about possibly being assaulted.
There’s also the impact on the aesthetic appeal of a location. Litter lying around can make a place appear a bit derelict even though it’s only been “abused” by people from the previous night. This can harm the reputation of an area if people are only within the location for this specific short period of time and only find it in its littered state.
Prevention is always better than cure when it comes to litter. There’s no purpose to throw rubbish if there are unfilled rubbish bins in the area. If there are no rubbish bins, or the rubbish bins that are there are overloaded, this is a matter to address the local council with. Littering has a damaging influence on everybody.