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.

Source: Clean Virginia Waterways

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.

Source: Valley Vista Services

Food Wrappers and Containers

• One of every five items of litter is food-related.
• 10 percent of all litter is food wrappers.
• Most fast-food litter is found in close proximity to a fast-food restaurant.
• People who eat fast food in their vehicles are twice as likely to litter.

Source: Don't Mess With Texas

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.

Sources: Coshocton County (Ohio) Litter Prevention and Recycling Office, www.recycleit.com and Georgia-Pacific Corp.

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.

Sources: Georgia-Pacific Corp. , The Rosemary Garden and www.recycleit.com

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.

Sources: Georgia-Pacific Corp. , www.plasticsresource.com, Erie County (Ohio) Recycles, The Rosemary Garden and www.recycleit.com

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.

Sources: The Rosemary Garden, www.recycleit.com, www.recycleitnow.net

The Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission is a division of
the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.

The Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism is in compliance with
the Freedom of Information, Ar Code Ann., § 25-19-101 et seq.

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