# Dirty Truths about Littering

- Link: https://greenlivingguy.com/2020/03/dirty-truths-about-littering/
- Published: 2020-03-04T00:04:27-05:00
- Author: greenlivingguy

It’s astonishing to think that 3 out of every 4 people. Even have admitted to creating
litter in the past 5 years. All with people aged 18-34 the most likely to litter.
Research by National Geographic indicates that it would take 67 ships a full year
to clean up a mere 1% of all litter at the bottom of the North Pacific Ocean.

It’s frightening to contemplate about [rubbish](https://greenlivingguy.com/2020/02/absolute-rubbish-the-litter-crisis-in-europe/).
So that’s the harsh reality. For  we have created for ourselves through our [attitude](https://greenlivingguy.com/2020/02/absolute-rubbish-the-litter-crisis-in-europe/)
to litter. Discovering these sort of statistics has really woken me up. All to the
urgent need to take action. Especially which begins by educating others as to the
poisonous consequences of litter.

It’s because ‘The Litter Crisis in [Europe](https://greenlivingguy.com/2020/01/how-does-the-usa-compare-on-the-global-stage-with-recycling-rates-infographic/)’
is seriously understated. Finally, a couple of quick facts for you:

 1. The total cost of cleaning up rubbish or [litter in Europe](https://greenlivingguy.com/2020/03/audi-e-tron-electric-world-premieres-s-prototype/)
    is estimated at €10 to 13 billion per year.
 2. Cleaning up Europe’s [towns](https://greenlivingguy.com/2019/12/plastic-so-much-plastic-everywhere/)
    and countryside costs an average of €25 per person. Consequently that’s per year.
 3. As well,,road litter in Europe clean-up costs taxpayers €1 billion per year. I 
    mean all throughout Europe.
 4. 4 in 5 pieces of marine litter in Europe comes from land.

Most noteworthy, then [NPR](https://www.npr.org/2019/04/15/713561484/microplastic-found-even-in-the-air-in-frances-pyrenees-mountains)
reports further about microplastics. Surprisingly high amounts of microplastic are
raining down on a remote and seemingly pristine part of France’s Pyrenees mountains,
according to scientists who say such particles could potentially be floating everywhere.

Microplastics are fragments smaller than a fifth of an inch. So small that they 
have broken down from larger pieces of plastic**.**These have been found in rivers,
lakes, the oceans and in agricultural soil.

But very few studies of wind-borne microplastic have ever been done. This one found
that the air over these mountains has about as much floating plastic pollution as
the air over Paris or Dongguan. Dongguan is consequently a large industrial city
in China.

In conclusion, here’s an infographic from [https://www.cleaningservicesgroup.co.uk/](https://www.cleaningservicesgroup.co.uk/)
that shows litter in Europe. All especially what recycling does. It’s more than 
throwing in a bin.

#### 󠀁[⌊People are littering⌉⌊People are littering⌉󠀁[