Litter

Littering ( littering English ) refers to the careless throwing away and leaving behind waste preferably on public property, that is, in particular streets, squares and parks. It is an indictable offense and is punishable in Germany with fine, in Switzerland even imprisonment.

Be discarded usually smaller items. A Europe-wide study of 2003 came to the conclusion that cigarette butts with 58.3 % are the most discarded objects in the cities. Second follow plastics (11.6% ), followed by organic waste ( 9.8%), paper and cardboard (8.8%), glass ( 7.3%), packaging ( 5.8% ), and finally metal ( 3.9%). This study measured the extent based on the number of discarded objects. A Basler study from 2004, which affected the garbage after several parameters (number, volume, weight, material ), provides disposable packaging ( containers of drinks and fast-food packaging) with a share of around 52 % of the waste mountain as the main problem.

Littering is also available in the city as in the countryside, but this is well above all as an urban and suburban phenomenon noticeable. While in the wild overgrow the plants the waste of time and cover or it drives as Garbage Patch in the sea and goes below the surface, it will remain visible in the cities. In Switzerland see nearly two-thirds of all municipalities littering as a problem. Affected by the decrease of cleanliness are streets, squares and parks as well as public events. The main reason for the increasing littering changing consumer habits ( "flying Meals " at Concession Stand, throwaway society ) and a generally nachlässigerer dealing with public property due to social disintegration or lack of social control can be seen. The consequences of this behavior are manifested in communal cleaning costs, environmental impact and also in slums. Waste attracts drop, and thus making the small pile of garbage often in a short time wild dumps.

Counter throwing garbage on public property repeated awareness campaigns and regular cleaning instead of single elimination actions as well as a wider range of waste containers to be carried out. A global initiative against littering occurs also in the context of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP ) supported organization Clean Up the World.