• Who's responsible for roadside rubbish?

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Tue Feb 8 21:30:42 2022
    Who's responsible for roadside rubbish?
    Litter is mostly environmentally toxic plastic

    Date:
    February 8, 2022
    Source:
    University of California - Riverside
    Summary:
    New research reveals that items in litter typically originate less
    than two miles from where they're found -- and unless humans remove
    them, most of these items will never leave the environment.



    FULL STORY ==========================================================================
    New research reveals that items in litter typically originate less than
    two miles from where they're found -- and unless humans remove them,
    most of these items will never leave the environment.


    ==========================================================================
    For the study, researchers from the University of California, Riverside
    spent a month collecting trash from seven sites across the Inland
    Empire. They examined its composition, discerned the manufacturers of
    many items, and thanks to receipts, were also able to determine where
    the items were purchased.

    Most trash items end up on streets only a short distance from where
    someone bought them. In other words, the majority of litter comes from
    local sources.

    This finding could help cities prevent plastic litter that will eventually taint water and air.

    "A lot of people say, 'it's not my trash,'" said Win Cowger, a UCR environmental scientist and first author on the study. "I want to
    dispel that notion with the evidence we have, at least here in the
    Inland Empire." Some people have theorized that wind, water or other
    factors are responsible for moving litter through urban areas. This study, published in the journal Environmental Research, was the first of its
    kind to study local litter in such close detail and identified that
    humans were the primary means by which it moves from sellers to streets.

    To reach these conclusions, 18 undergraduate and graduate students trained
    in data collection surveyed up to 3,280 feet of roadside several times
    a week in Riverside, Moreno Valley, Loma Linda, San Dimas and Palm Desert.



    ========================================================================== Nearly 60 percent of the materials they found were plastic. Most were
    food related, followed by tobacco products. Correspondingly, the top
    producers of these items, when they were identifiable, were Philip Morris,
    Mars Incorporated, RJ Reynolds and Jack in the Box.

    Because people are responsible for the flow of items from stores onto
    streets, it can be tempting to blame bad behavior for litter. However,
    the researchers feel individuals, policy makers, and manufacturers must
    all work together to solve the problem.

    "There has been a lot of emphasis on individual human behavior as the way
    to decrease rates of littering," said Andrew Gray, a UCR environmental scientist and study author. "In reality, it's just as easy or even
    more accurate to say that if we didn't produce the stuff in the first
    place, it wouldn't get into the environment." On the local level, the researchers conclude that cities have a variety of tools to address the
    issue. These could include bans on items that frequently end up outside,
    or an increase in the frequency of street sweeping.

    Bans and other preventative measures are suggested because the study
    also determined that cleaning up litter does not prevent it from
    reoccurring. Every time researchers came to survey, they also cleaned
    the sites up, only to find a similar volume of trash when they returned.



    ========================================================================== "There's a broken window theory some people subscribe to, that trash
    begets trash. However, we find even if you keep a place clean the
    accumulation is really consistent so other actions to prevent litter in
    the first place are needed," Cowger said.

    To further understand how trash moves onto roadsides and how to clean
    it up, the researchers are planning additional studies in Long Beach, California and in Oregon. In addition, Cowger is working on a universal
    index of trash survey terminology to help connect this study with others
    like it.

    One of the issues with connecting similar trash data sets is the
    difference in language used to describe garbage. For example, 'sachet'
    is the term East Asian countries use for what Americans refer to as
    wrappers -- an item frequently represented in litter piles. Cowger's
    index would help unify the terms, so the worldwide causes and impacts
    of litter could be better understood.

    Action on this issue is of critical importance. Plastic can release
    harmful chemicals into the surrounding soil, which can make their way
    into ground water and surface water. While larger plastics harm animals
    and decrease the aesthetic appeal of the built and natural environment, microplastics also shed from larger items as they break down. These are emerging contaminants of concern with a wide range of potential adverse
    effects on human health.

    "There's a more systematic approach we need to take as humans to decide
    what gets produced, because eventually, it all gets into the environment,"
    Gray said.

    special promotion Get a free digital "Metabolism Myths"
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    always get wrong about diet and exercise. Claim_yours_now_>>> ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
    University_of_California_-_Riverside. Original written by Jules
    Bernstein. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Win Cowger, Andrew Gray, Hannah Hapich, Jasmine Osei-Enin, Salvador
    Olguin, Britney Huynh, Hinako Nogi, Samiksha Singh, Stanley
    Brownlee, Jonathan Fong, Trevor Lok, Gideon Singer, Hoori
    Ajami. Litter origins, accumulation rates, and hierarchical
    composition on urban roadsides of the Inland Empire,
    California. Environmental Research Letters, 2022; 17 (1): 015007
    DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ac3c6a ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220208085037.htm
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