Ramblings…errr…Confessions Of An Anti-Litter Advocate/5 Reasons It Is Never Okay To Litter.

“Hey, mind if we stop for a minute so I can buy some smokes,” he says to me as he is about to park. 
“Sure.”
“Want anything?”
“Nah, I’m good.”

I take the roughly 3 minutes he is gone to reapply my lip gloss and glance in the mirror. I’m excited for what the evening may entail but those giddy feelings come to a halt when I see him exit the convenience store, unwrap his cigarettes and carelessly throw the plastic wrapping four steps away from the garbage bin by the door. For me, the date is over. Right there, right then. Now, before you call me a self-righteous, nitpicker, hear me out. There is something about someone who litters that I really cannot stand. Simply, I think it speaks volumes about the person’s character. I always think to myself, if someone mistreats Mother Earth than how do they treat their fellow man and woman; how would they treat me? If someone is nonchalant about the state of the city streets they walk and drive by, then how are they in relationships? If someone is unconscious and does not see that what they do affects others, than how can they possibly contribute to my growth and make me a better version of myself? Is it those reasons, I never saw the guy again.

With that said, I consider myself a pretty laid back person but there is one thing that makes this cool cucumber turn spicy, red jalapeno and that is (you guessed it), littering. But not just littering, littering on Toronto’s historic streets. Littering on TTC buses that everyday take roughly 2.5 million people to and where they need to go. Above all though, littering when there are garbage and recycling bins almost everywhere you look. Why do people do it anyways? Is it laziness? Is it lack of consideration towards others and the planet we call home? Should I take a chill pill and stop being so judgmental and stop viewing littering as a deal breaker? Perhaps but there is something about a grown adult throwing out waste on a street he or she shares with the rest of us that really rubs me the wrong way. If you are still unsure why littering is such a big deal and how it affects others, without further ado, my reasons for why it is never okay to litter:

1. It makes our great, big city look unkept. I’ve heard visiting New Yorkers say, “I feel like I’m home, except the streets are a lot cleaner.” Statistics Canada reports that roughly 21 million people visit Toronto every year, lets keep it that way. Ever heard the quote, “Tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are”. Well, if that is true than the same can be said about our streets. Tell me how a city’s street looks like and I’ll tell you who are the people who inhabit this city. Let’s represent Toronto and ourselves accurately. With littered streets, we don’t do that. 

2. As children we are told to clean up after ourselves and so why stop as adults? Let this little rule our moms told us be remembered when we are out wandering the streets, enjoying picnics at Trinity Bellwoods and yes unwrapping plastic wrappers after buying our cigarettes. It’s your mess and therefore your responsibility to clean it up. Its pretty simple.  

3. Think of our city as one of those artistic murals behind the back alleys of Queen West. Don’t you hate it when it is painted over with foreign symbols and sayings that actually ruin the original image. When I see that I often think to myself, “It was so beautiful before the weird little signs got plastered on it”. Much like that mural, our city is beautiful and its becoming less so because people are drawing on this mural and muddying up the essence of the original picture. Don’t be one of those people who paints over a mural. Cherish and add to our great city, not litter and destroy it.   

4. For all those who say, “There is nowhere to throw out my trash”, you are simply not looking hard enough. There are designated garbage bins on almost every corner. However, if you are the person who says, “Well, I’m somewhere where I just cant find one” then my question is, is it so hard to hold on to something or put it neatly in your bag or purse till you find one? Will it kill you to hold to that finished apple for a few minutes till you see a garbage bin? There is never an excuse to litter and deep inside you know it.   

5. The older you get the more you realize that there is no escaping the domino effect that exists in our society. In other words, what you do affects other people. Simply put, littering creates a chain reaction of sorts that disadvantages others. Actions which seem mundane and trivial to you will and does affect other Torontonians. Think about it, you casually leave an unfinished coffee on the seat, that coffee spills and come 4 pm rush hour there is now one less seat on a very crowded bus filled with very tired people coming back from work, school, etc. Not only have you created a mess but you disadvantaged someone (yes, a stranger but nonetheless someone) who now has to stand on a trip from Bathurst and Bloor to Bathurst and Steeles. Being careless, disregarding public space and lack of neatness affects us all, please stop acting like it doesn’t.

Before you assume I’m a tree hugger, know that I don’t define myself as such (not that there's anything wrong with that). I’m just a girl who loves her city and is tired of seeing grown adults forgetting simple lessons of courtesy and respect. A litter free city can truly be, it just takes that little bit of extra energy from us all. Energy that will always be well spent, if you ask me.