THE DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS OF LITTERING When surfing for related article for the topic, a caption Throwing Away

RM250 caught my eyes. As I read through, it was evidenced that littering is a serious issue as the man in the article was fined RM250 for throwing a cigarette butt into the sea at Gurney Dive, Penang. The man was caught red-handed by some Penang Municipal council officers during an operation to enforce the states No Littering Law. It was stated that the anti-littering law has been around for quite some time, but has been recently beefed up with the increase fine from RM50 to RM250 beginning 1st February 2011 (http://www.malaysia.com/news/ ). So, do we not question ourselves whether littering has detrimental effects on us? But before we find the answer to the question, we need to be clear of what littering is. The Oxford-Online Dictionary defines litter as rubbish such as paper, tins, and bottles left lying in an open or public place whilst Free Online Dictionary defines the word as carelessly discarded refuse such as wastepaper. The word detrimental is defined as causing harm by Power Vocabulary Builder Online, whereas, The Free Dictionary Online defines effect as something brought about by a cause or agent or result or influence. Therefore, the topic can be defined as the harmful results that can happen when people throw away rubbish carelessly in open places. The negative consequences can fall upon the environment, human and animals alike.

The environment is so vulnerable that whatever littered or dumped by us goes straight into the environment itself, resulting in many negative effects. The evidence is clear as we often see plastic bags and bottles, cans, glass bottles, polystyrene containers and cups, papers and a whole lot of other rubbish littering our streets, parks, alongside highways, neighbourhoods, shopping areas, rivers, beaches and many other places in our environment. In other words, what we litter will pollute our environment, causing many types of pollutions. Littering is one of the main causes for water pollution. When litter gets into our waterways such as rivers and dams, it will affect water quality. It is because, as litter decays in the water, it decreases oxygen level and therefore will not be suitable for aquatic life and human water supply. In 2005, it was estimated that 7 billion tones of litter and waste debris enters the worlds oceans annually, and not surprisingly, most of this comes from the lands in which 99% of this debris is particularly plastic packaging. So it is not a nations issue, but rather a global issue as rivers, streams and stormwater

drains transport litter hundreds of kilometers to the ocean where currents and winds carry them all over the world (http://www.healthywaterways.org/). Littering can also cause air pollution in which when a pile of litter such as food leftover or containers being dumped at one place for some time, it will create unpleasant smell. This is what has happened at a wet market at Section 17, Petaling Jaya where night hawkers and food outlets outside the market indiscriminately dumped waste on a designated no littering area. Despite clearance done by the Alam Flora worker, the stench of rotting rubbish permeated from the area as leach ate is spread around the dump site. Littering not only causes pollution, but it is also unsightly and causes economic burden to the government. Litter which is thrown into the waterways causes blockages of the drainage system as well as flooding. This in turn will cost the government huge sums of money and time to repair and clean up the environment every year. Apart from that, littering also reduces the aesthetic appeal of public places. As litter is one of the most visible kinds of environmental degradation, it destroys the natural beauty of beaches, riverside parks and recreational ways. Riverside or recreational parks with all sort of litter here and there will surely disgust tourists, local and foreign alike.

Irresponsible littering can be hazardous to animals, be it wildlife, marine life, farm animals and pets. The main impacts that littering can have on wildlife are through ingestion and entanglement. Ingestion of litter such as bottle caps, cigarette butts and lighters, fishing line, small plastic wrappers and a host of other objects by seabirds for example, can cause them to feel full, but unfortunately will then lead to starvation. Not only that, hard plastics and fishing hooks can also rupture internal organs. Entanglement of plastic debris can also cause drowning, suffocation, strangulation, starvation and injuries. According to a report by the United Nations Environment Program, nearly a million seabirds are thought to die from entanglement or ingestion of floatable material each year. In Moreton Bay, the eastern coast of Australia, discarded fishing equipment and litter is reported to have an impact on the turtle in which plastic rubbish has caused injuries or death from infection, imputation, choking and drowning (http://www.healthywaterways.org/). Marine Parks, a website focusing on creating

environmental awareness in people, lists a few more instances of how litter can affect marine life, stating that many marine animals confuse plastic bags, balloons, bait packets, lolly wrappers

and rubber with prey and eat them. Plastic bags and balloons floating in the water look like jellyfish. Turtles often eat them and choke or starve to death because they have too much plastic in their stomach. Seabirds, on the other hand, eat polystyrene balls and plastic buoys, after confusing them with fish eggs and crustaceans which make them very sick. Whereas baleen whales such as blue whales, humpbacks and southern right whales take big gulps of water to feed on krill that is filtered through their baleen, and may accidentally swallow plastic rubbish when feeding. The plastic stays in their guts and affects the digestion system, leading to slow death (http://www.marineparks.wa.gov.au/).

Apart from affecting the environment and animals, littering can also give negative impact on human. Whatever we throw into the environment will come back to us as we are the sole user of natural resources found in the environment. Some people view littering as harmless act. Falkirk Council (http://www.falkirk.gov.uk) listed a few reasons why people litter. Based on the article, people normally do not bother or are too lazy to find a bin. They also have no pride in their community as well as having lack of environmental education. Some think that if the area is already dirty, why bother to look for a bin? Some people do not even aware that items such as food, cigarette butts or chewing gums are considered as litter. Furthermore, we are living in a throwaway society with snack and fast-food culture and too much packaging. Even the fastfood outlets do not care about the litter associated with them. To make matters worse, some people do not even bother about the consequences of littering as they lack of environmental awareness. The effects of littering on human can be associated with water and air pollution. Water is a necessity of life as people need clean drinking water to live, to irrigate crops as well as for recreational purposes. Unfortunately, the mindless act of littering materials such as plastic wrappers, polystyrene containers and discarded metal that will not dissolve in water easily can contaminate our precious fresh water supply with bacteria and chemicals, causing water-borne diseases. Water-borne diseases are infectious diseases spread primarily through contaminated water. Though these diseases are spread either directly or through flies or filth, water is the chief medium for spread of diseases such as typhoid, cholera, paratyphoid fever and bacillary dysentery (http://edugreen.teri.res.in ). A family-focused website, Baby Center

(http://www.babycenter.com) highlights a water related infection called toxoplasmosis. It is an

infection that one can get from a microscopic parasite called Toxoplasmagondii spread through contaminated drinking water. Although the infection generally causes a mild, symptomless illness in people with healthy immune systems, it's risky during pregnancy because the parasite may infect the placenta and the unborn baby. It was estimated that of the over 4 million births in the United States each year, between 400 and 4,000 babies are born with toxoplasmosis (known as congenital toxoplasmosis). This infection can be mild or severe, causing stillbirth, long-term structural and neurological damage, and other devastating effects. It is a myth if one is to say that litter hurts no one because litter is a safety hazard. Litter area is the breeding ground for rats and disease-causing bacteria. Furthermore, people, particularly young children, can be seriously injured or get cuts and need medical attention if they fall or step on broken bottle or a rusty piece of discarded metal. Every year in Pennsylvania, there are numerous vehicle accidents caused by litter. People in these accidents are injured and sometimes even killed in their attempts to avoid litter in the roadways (http://www.dot.state.pa.us).

Being presented with all the facts and discussion, there is no doubt that littering can have detrimental effects on us all. As littering reflects the attitude of people who are ignorance, it is important that more effective environmental awareness programs being carried out to educate people since young before it become their habit to litter. People should also be responsible and work hand in hand to control the problems by contacting local government authorities, elected representatives, property or business owners and local television news station if littering occurs in their community. The authority on the other hand, should provide suitable places or ample trash bins for people to put their rubbish. Local leaders can also organize community cleanup events as an effort to keep litter away as any effort to reduce or eliminate the problem is worth the effort. If measures are not taken to control littering, it definitely will affect current residents and future generations. We do not want our children to remember us for polluting the world and leaving them a world unsuitable for living. Furthermore, this planet does not have endless amounts of space for garbage.

Reference http://www.babycenter.com/0_toxoplasmosis-during-pregnancy_1461.bc http://www.dot.state.pa.us/Internet/pdkids.nsf/FactSheet?OpenForm http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/pollution-affect-living-things-including-humans2193.html http://edugreen.teri.res.in/explore/water/health.htm http://www.healthywaterways.org/HealthyWaterways/Improvingourwaterways/Litterinourwater ways.aspx http://www.marineparks.wa.gov.au/marine-park-protectors/14-how-litter-affects-marineanimals.html http://www.malaysia.com/news/2011/04/throwing-away-rm250/