"litter" news and stories

The citizens of Edinburgh, Scotland are to be greated to a high-profile billboard and bus adverting campaign in an attempt to cut down on the cities litter problem. Fast food establishements are the foucs.

The campaign will have the message "Your LItter. Your Problem" and is in conjunction with new fines for littering - people who discard pizza boxes and chip cartons in the city face a £50 fine.

Cllr Robert Cairns, Executive Member for Environment and Streetscape said "The latest Keep Edinburgh Clean advertising campaign is the most hard-hitting to date. It focuses on the problem of fast food litter and aims to reduce litter levels in the city by emphasising the legal implications of littering. Through this campaign the Council is taking a tougher than ever approach to litter. Whereas previous campaigns have used humour to get the message across this one is using more striking visuals which show litter at its worst."

There will be a second wave of advertising in August which will focus on the impact of cigarette litter in the city.

Alongside the advertising campaign, Keep Edinburgh Clean will continue to coordinate educational and promotional events throughout the year to help reduce littering in Edinburgh.

Edinburgh isn't the only city to crackdown on littering with fines and legislation.

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In January, the city of Oakland, California, just across the bay from San Francisco, instituted a tax on businesses that they believed created the most litter in the city. The city council felt that businesses needed to be more socially responsible for their customer's actions, while business owners opposed the measure, saying that packaging is necessary to sell goods - particularly food items - in a safe and sanitary manner.

Now, city businesses have to change the way they package their food, in addition to paying for it, because the city has just banned styrofoam food packaging.

Due to take effect in January, the measure says that all food packaging must be biodegradable when composted with food waste. Supporters of the law point out that 15 percent of the litter collected in storm drains is styrofoam/polystyrene packaging. They gained additional support from the fact that there are 100 other cities, including Portland and neighboring Berkeley, which have similar bans, and San Francisco is expected to join that list later this year.

The city will use fines ranging from $100-$500 to enforce the measure and businesses that still use styrofoam will have have to find another way to keep their food warm.

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The City of Oakland, located just across the bay from San Francisco, has passed legislation to place a tax on the businesses that it believes create the most trash. The tax will not be determined on waste created in the ordinary operation of a store or restaurant, but on the amount of litter that is generated by the sale of goods. The city's legislators agree that fast food restaurants and other stores that sell convenience foods need to be held socially responsible for the litter that is caused by patrons failing to properly dispose of the wrappers and other food packaging. The tax would pay for crews to remove litter, mainly from areas around schools and bus stops. A council woman said, "You can see the paths students take to lunch by the trail of litter."