When I was a kid, we never threw anything on the street or from a car. We had one thing

Carolyn Bennett

that worked for us: guilt.

Remember the commercial featuring an American Indian who shed a tear as drivers tossed trash from car windows? A voice of doom narrator proclaimed "People start polution."

The public service helped shape our attitude towards littering. We youngsters became the voice of the anti-littering movement. There’s no way I’d make Iron Eyes Cody cry.

At Marketplace, we were inundated with e-mail from you on the subject. You want snitch lines, hidden cameras, and public floggings for litterbugs.

Times have changed. A recent survey found that 15 to 24-year olds are most likely to litter. If I see one more dopey teen toss away a greasy fast food wrapper on the street, I’ll beat them to a pulp.

O.K., I won’t, but it’s nice to dream.

In my adopted city of Toronto, almost $16 million each year is spent cleaning up street trash. It’s in alleyways, on sidewalks, on waterways.

Being a slob should get you where it hurts. Littering fines in Canada can be pretty puny: in Toronto, it’s $130.

One viewer thought we should tax the companies that make the stuff that ends up all over the place – fast food restaurants, beverage companies, tobacco producers. I like that idea. Or how about having clean up days in your neighbourhood. Turn it into a party!

And if you see a piece of trash on the ground, why not pick it up. Sure, you’ll look like a nerd, but nerds are sexy!