Litter Facts

Feb 25, 2012 8:00am - Feb 25, 2012 8:00pm
Hot Springs Cleanup
Mar 1, 2012 12:00am - May 31, 2012 11:59am
Great American Cleanup in Arkansas
Mar 4, 2012 9:00am - Mar 6, 2012 12:00pm
Arkansas Governor's Conference on Tourism
Mar 10, 2012 9:00am - Mar 10, 2012 5:00pm
Sherwood Cleanup
Mar 10, 2012 9:00am - Mar 10, 2012 12:00pm
Little Rock Cleanup
Mar 17, 2012 9:00am - Mar 17, 2012 5:00pm
Fort Smith Cleanup
Mar 18, 2012 9:00am - Mar 18, 2012 5:00pm
Harrisburg Cleanup

The Facts about Litter

Cigarette Filters

Cigarette waste is the most abundant form of litter in Arkansas and on the planet.
Collected cigarette litter weighs in the millions of pounds annually.
Cigarette filters are not biodegradable; they are made of plastic, not paper and cotton.
Cigarette litter lingers in our environment up to 25 years.
Cigarette butts are lightweight and can easily move through our storm drains into our waterways and water supplies.
Water will leach the toxins from cigarette litter, making it deadly to most aquatic life. In fact, the toxins released from one cigarette butt left in a gallon of water for one day will kill about 80 percent of aquatic life added to that water.

Plastic Foam

Plastic foam from items like cups does not break down naturally.
Annually, Americans produce enough plastic foam cups to circle the earth more than 400 times.
Plastic foam can stay in the environment for up to 500 years.

Food Wrappers and Containers

Paper

For every ton of paper that is recycled, 17 trees are saved.
In this decade, Americans will throw away almost 5 million tons of office paper and nearly 10 tons of newspaper.
Each person in the United States uses about 675 pounds of paper a year.
40 percent of all waste is paper.
Arkansans use more than 18 million pounds of paper a year.

Glass

6 percent of all waste is glass.
Glass bottles can stay in our environment up to 1,000 years.
In this decade, Americans will throw away more than 11 million tons of glass bottles and jars.
There are as many as 800 glass bottles along each mile of rural road in Arkansas.

Plastic

Plastic pieces usually include plastic caps and lids, plastic straws and plastic bottles. In fact, 10 percent of all waste is plastic.
More than 80 percent of Americans reuse plastic products and packaging in their homes.
It takes 36 two-liter bottles to produce one square yard of carpet.
Plastic bottles can stay in our environment indefinitely.
Five recycled plastic bottles make enough fiberfill to stuff a ski jacket.

Aluminum Cans

Aluminum cans can stay in our environment up to 500 years.
Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to keep a 100-watt light bulb burning for almost 20 hours or power a television for three hours.
20 cans can be made from recycled material with the same amount of energy it takes to make one new can.
In this decade, Americans will throw away more than one million tons of aluminum cans and foil.
Enough aluminum is thrown away every three months to rebuild every commercial airplane in America.