Types of Litter Found You Can Find in Mission

In order to deal with the problem of litter in Mission it is important to identify the several litter areas, sources, and problems of litter in general. The following is a breakdown of some of the litter target areas & problems in Mission:

Litter: cigarette butts, fast food, sporting events, community events, fast food business, car and convenience store litter.

Illegal Dumping Litter: Large garbage items - mattresses, furniture, old car parts, etc. Dumping of several garbage bags, etc. Problem in rural areas, dead ends, empty lots, crown land, etc.

Residential Litter: Improper household trash handling and placement on the curb for collection. Newspapers/loose mail that blows onto the street

Dumpsters Litter: Garbage is dropped off, put on top or side of locked bins, with the assumption that someone else will put it in the bin when it is opened. Unlocked bins, become available to transient “pick through” behaviors, trash ends up back on parking lot/ street; animals rummage through garbage  Loose garbage is tossed to ground during garbage truck maneuver

Construction Site Debris: Loose construction materials (plastics, dry wood chips) blow off work site into nearby lots, ditches, green spaces, etc. Construction company/workers “cut corners” “get lazy” and toss construction material garbage into nearby lots, ditches, green space, etc. Construction workers toss their “fast food” lunch garbage into construction lot and surrounding areas


Litter Associated With Uncovered Loads: Dewdney Trunk Rd. is notorious for this – continuous complaints made by residents living along Dewdney Trunk about the amount of garbage that ends up along the route – due to precarious garbage loads

Drug Paraphernalia, Night Life, Transient Litter: Areas of concern have been the ravine (located north of Mission Library parking lot), the area surrounding Mission Central Elementary, 2nd Ave. stairs, areas in Heritage Park and Centennial Park, and other. Needles, Syringes, Aluminum foil, baggies, rubber hose, tin cans, etc. associated with drug use present a hazard even to those who manage clean- up of the area. Shopping carts, clothing items and other temporary home items (cardboard, newspapers, etc) found in several green spaces.

School Yard & Playground Litter:  Schools with concession stores result in more food related litter. Lunch garbage and after school snack packaging found on school yard and within close proximity of school yard (as students walk away from school yard where there is no garbage bins, etc.) Litter associated with afternoon and night time playground visitors (cigarette butts, broken beer bottles, etc.) Hazardous litter is a problem in school yards especially over the summer months when teachers and litter duty students are not present.

Signage Litter:
-Campaign – Elections Signage
-Garage Sale Signs
-Concert Adds
-For Sale Adds
-Work for Hire Adds (babysitting, etc.)
-Lost Animal Signage

Newspaper/Mail Litter: Newspapers not placed secured into mail slot – are blown by the wind down the street and into green spaces, etc. Rubber bands from mail carriers are left at neighborhood mail boxes. Unwanted mail, loose pieces of paper, or ripped open envelopes, are tossed onto the ground at neighborhood mailboxes (the placement of a neighborhood garbage bin can be considered for some of these areas)

Industrial Zone Litter: There are types of litter that are commonly associated with industrial activity and litter can be found along side or in the ditches next to industrial business in Mission. These includes such items as work gloves, ear plugs (and packaging) batteries, straps associated with load tie downs, lunch or “coffee break” garbage, wood chunks, plastic wrapping, etc.


Did you know that fast food packaging and cigarette butts constitute the greatest numbers of materials littered in Mission?

Cigarette Butt Litter: There is a lot of misinformation out there regarding cigarette butt litter. The biggest myth is that cigarette filters are biodegradable. In fact, cigarette butts are not biodegradable in the sense that most people think of the word. The acetate (plastic) filters can take many years to decompose. Smokers may not realize that their actions have such a lasting, negative impact on the environment.

What happens after that butt gets casually flicked onto the street, nature trail, or beach? Typically wind and rain carry the cigarette into the water supply, where the toxic chemicals the cigarette filter was designed to trap, leak out into aquatic ecosystems, threatening the quality of the water and many aquatic life forms. Cigarette butts may seem small, but with several trillion butts littered every year, the toxic chemicals add up! This is called cumulative environmental effect.

Fast Food & Litter:

Fast food items are the second most commonly littered item found in the environment. The amount of fast food packaging found along side roads, in our parks and water ways is on the increase and continues to rise as we accept the convenience of our busy, “on the go” culture. Fast food litter items are associated with a variety of sources that include; fast food businesses, sporting events, community events (ie. parades, children’s festivals, etc.), convenience store litter, night life litter, car traffic and other. It is necessary for the public to take responsibility for the correct disposal of their litter and the most effective way to tackle problems created by irresponsible disposal of food on the go is to stop people from dropping it in the first place.

 

Do You Know How Long it Takes Litter to Decompose?
 

Aluminum Cans: 80-100 years
Tin Cans: 50 years
Plastic Bags: 10-20 years
Cigarette Butts: Up to 2 years
Orange peels/Banana skins: Up to 2 years
Plastic Bottles: Indefinitely
Any type of litter takes a long time to disappear naturally, so whatever the item, the right thing to do is not to drop it in the first place!!

 

 

Litter… What can YOU do?
 

• Always set an example by not littering, no matter where you are.
• When you put out the trash at home, make sure that garbage can lids are on tight, and that all of the trash goes into the can.
• If you or your parents own a car, make a litterbag to put in the car.
• Keep your yard clean and free of things that can blow into the street and become litter.
• If your school playground doesn't have a litter basket, have your teacher ask the school to put one out. Your class can make and put up posters reminding other students to put litter where it belongs.
• Make a bulletin board that has pictures of areas that are clean, and those that are spoiled by litter or trash. Write a story about the difference between the two, and what can be done to make dirty areas clean again.
• Whenever you visit a park or beach, carry out what you bring in-keep unwanted items in a bag or backpack until you can put them in a litter basket.
• If your family puts recyclables in a bin at curbside, tie up loose papers that could blow out.
• Draw a map of your neighborhood or school and identify areas where there is litter. Are they near busy roads, businesses, or places where people gather?
• Learn about the harmful impact of litter in your neighborhood – perform a school litter audit to see what trash is on your school ground, take note of what types of litter are present, discuss what you can do to reduce the litter found on schoolyard grounds, have a special guest come to talk about litter, discuss amongst your class mates how you feel about the litter problem, etc.
• Bring a litter-less lunch to school – put sandwiches and drinks in Tupperware containers as opposed to disposable containers – to reduce waste.
• Make a play, song or write a story about litter and its impact on the environment and share with you class and family.
• Ask a parent or teacher to take you or your class to a recycling center or sanitary landfill. Many recycling centers or landfills will let you see how trash is managed. List the different kinds of items that the recycling center collects, and how each one is prepared for shipment. At the landfill, list the kinds of equipment you see, and what each does.
• Make a list of things that could be done to stop litter.
• Get involved in a community clean-up with your school or family. Come help clean-up the litter that is pitched in your neighborhood OR adopt a street or an area in your community with your family and help keep it litter free.
   

Learning about trash is not a lot of rubbish!