On Keeping a Tidy City and Social Responsibility
Stroll into your nearest town in the early hours of the daybreak and you’ll encounter various road sweepers moving slowly around cleaning up the litter strewn around by all the partying of the previous night. It’s a typical early morning time setting, and it often covers the litter trouble we encounter. We don’t actually give litter a second thought as we feel keeping the streets respectable is not our job.
Nevertheless, there is a subtle yet substantial influence litter plays on human psychology. We are more liable to believe a neighbourhood is less well policed if rubbish is scattered around, and so felons see litter as a possible sign for a chance of a break-in, a mugging, or car-theft. The very same signal produces some fearfulness in other people who worry they may be wandering through a more unsafe area and are wary of being robbed.
Not only that, but also the impact on the aesthetic attraction of an area. Rubbish lying around can make a neighbourhood seem run down even though it’s only been “abused” by party revellers from the night before. This can hurt the reputation of a place if individuals are only within the area for this particular time and only see it in its disheveled state.
There’s absolutely no purpose to drop rubbish if there are empty litter bins in the neighbourhood. If there is a lack of litter bins, or the bins that are there are overflowing, this is a matter to take up with the local council. Littering has a damaging influence on everyone.
