Litter pickers add up butts, fast-food trash
Last Updated: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 | 1:24 PM ET
CBC News
The Nova Scotia Environment Department says littering is up from 2004. (CBC)It seems that garbage can is still too far away for many of us.
A survey released Tuesday by the Department of Environment suggests Nova Scotians are littering more than they were four years ago.
Cigarette butts make up the largest category, followed by candy wrappers, chip bags, paper cups and other fast-food products, according to the survey.
Environment Minister David Morse said he's disappointed.
"Nova Scotians need to understand that there are serious environmental, economic, and social impacts when people do not dispose of their waste properly," Morse said in a statement.
Four members of the Nova Scotia Youth Conservation Corps were hired last summer to pick up litter at the same 55 sites around the province that were canvassed in the 2004 survey.
They ended up collecting 16,000 pieces of litter the size of a bottle cap or bigger — an increase of 21 per cent since 2004, the Environment Department says.
Cigarette butts and packaging made up nearly 90 per cent of the litter. Snack (chip bags, wrappers, candies, gum) and fast foods (containers, cups, trays, condiment packets, napkins) came a distant second.
The number of drink containers littering Nova Scotia continues to drop since 1989, when they made up more than seven out of every 10 items collected. That decline is attributed to the deposit system, which was introduced in 1996.
Percentage-wise, snack food and tobacco litter have gone up over the years.
