Why You Shouldn't Litter Where You Lay

It may surprise you to learn that at least 50% of the waste from your home is classified as wet garbage. This includes items such as cleaners for homes, paint, hair supplies, nail polish, and any other chemicals that you may use on a regular basis around your home.

For many landfills out there, space has become an issue. There is no more area for them to continue placing new items. Some think that when those landfills are closed then they no longer pose a risk to the environment. However, they can continue to do so even if they have been capped with cement. It doesn’t prevent pollution from getting through the soil and into the water and the air we breathe.

Object	Decomposition Time
Styrofoam container	> 1 million years
Plastic jug	1 million years
Aluminum can	200-500 years
Disposable diaper	550 years
Tinned can	90 years
Leather shoe	45 years
Wool sock	1 year
Paper bag	1 month
Banana peel	3-4 weeks

11 Scary Facts

1. 40% of America’s rivers and 46% of America’s lakes are too polluted for fishing, swimming, or aquatic life.
2. The Mississippi River – which drains the lands of nearly 40% of the continental United Sates – carries an estimated 1.5 million metric tons of nitrogen pollution into the Gulf of Mexico each year. The resulting dead zone in the Gulf each summer is about the size of New Jersey.
3. 1.2 trillion gallons of untreated sewage, storm water, and industrial waste are discharged into US waters annually.
4. Polluted drinking waters are a problem for about half of the world’s population. Each year there are about 250 million cases of water-based diseases, resulting in roughly 5 to 10 million deaths.
5. Vehicle exhaust contributes roughly 60% of all carbon monoxide emissions nationwide, and up to 95% in cities.
6. Large hog farms emit hydrogen sulfide, a gas that most often causes flu-like symptoms in humans, but at high concentrations can lead to brain damage.
7. Each year, U.S. factories spew 3 million tons of toxic chemicals into the air, land, and water.
8. In the U.S. 41% of all insecticides are used on corn. Of these, 80% are used to treat a pest that could be controlled simply by rotating a different crop for just one year.
9. Every year, one American produces over 3,285 pounds of hazardous waste.
10. Over 80% of items in landfills can be recycled, but they’re not.
11. Americans generate 30 billion foam cups, 220 million tires, and 1.8 billion disposable diapers every year.