Wander through your nearest town or city during the early hours of the dawn and you’ll discover a number of applied sweepers moving slowly around cleaning up the mess left from all the drunken activities of last night. It’s a common early morning time scene, and it frequently hides the litter problem we face. We don’t really give litter a second thought as we take for granted it will all be cleaned up for us.

Nevertheless, there is a sometimes imperceptible yet fundamental impact litter plays on human psychology. Individuals are more likely to believe a location is lacking law and order if litter is lying around, and so criminals see rubbish as a likely signal for an opportunity of a mugging or robbery. The very same sign produces some fearfulness in other people who worry they might be walking through a more dangerous area and are wary of being attacked.

There’s also the influence on the aesthetic appeal of a neighbourhood. Litter lying about can give the visual aspect of an area looking a bit derelict even though it’s only been “abused” by people from the night before. This can harm the reputation of an area if people are visiting the location for this particular short period of time and only view it in its unkempt state.

Prevention is always better than cure when it comes to litter. There’s absolutely no purpose to drop litter if there are unfilled rubbish bins within the location. If there is a lack of rubbish bins, or the rubbish bins that are there are stuffed, this is a problem to address the local council with. Throwing rubbish has a negative influence on everyone.