Stroll into your nearest town or city in the early hours of the dawn and you’ll meet a number of johnston 600 street sweepers on the roads tidying up the litter strewn around by all the revelry of last night. It’s a normal early morning time scene, particularly the beeping noise! We don’t really give litter a second thought as we feel keeping the roads unlittered is not our problem.

Even so, there is a subtle yet substantial influence litter has in terms of determining the mood of people. We are more likely to believe a location is less well policed if litter is lying around, and hence criminals see rubbish as a likely indication for a chance of a mugging or robbery. The very same sign develops some fear in other people who are concerned they might be strolling through a more dodgy location and are wary of being attacked.

Not only that, but also the impact on the aesthetic appeal of a neighbourhood. Litter strewn around can make an area look a bit derelict even if it’s only been trashed by party revellers from the previous night. This can harm the reputation of a neighbourhood if individuals are only within the location for this particular time and only view it in its disheveled state.

Prevention is always better than cure when it comes to litter. There’s absolutely no need to drop rubbish if there are unfilled rubbish bins in the neighbourhood. If there is a lack of bins, or the rubbish bins that are there are brimming, this is an issue to take up with the local council. Trashing an area has a negative impact on everyone.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 14th, 2010 at 2:47 am and is filed under Social Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.