Please throw this column away. Really. Please throw it away in a garbage can. Don’t throw it on the ground or out of a car window. Or you can recycle it in your garden, use it for a birdcage liner or save it to clean your windows.
There is a litter problem decorating our highways in a not-nice way. It’s been this way since I can remember, and that’s been quite a while.
I was very young and in elementary school when I learned about litter. It stuck with me. During a recent meeting with the executive director of Keep Alabama Beautiful Denise Taylor, Hamilton Mayor Tami Williams, Clyde Nix Public Library Director Starr Montgomery, CNPL Assistant Librarian Tanya Gilmore and library board members Sue Palmer and Shelia Shotts, I learned I was the only one among them who had been taught about not littering in elementary school. I did not go to school in Marion County, so perhaps that explains why.
But there are programs available here now, and they can help change the mindset of youth, who can influence their siblings and parents, and maybe even help decrease litter in our entire county.
Denise was speaking to us about the brand new “Check Out A Cleaner Alabama” kits delivered to the library recently for people to check out, use and return. See story on page 1.
But I am also hoping some of our principals will invite Denise and her coworkers into the schools to talk to some kindergarteners and first graders, and possibly other grades, about not littering.
Denise said she tells children they are able to spur on change and make a positive difference, but she caters each talk to her audience and how their teachers are working the program into their lesson plans following curriculum guidelines. She hopes to meet with some Marion County schools in the future.
She explained littering or not littering “is a behavior change” and not linked to any type of social status.
According to futurebehavior.co.uk in “How to tackle litter in schools,” they noted, “Litter is not a cleaning problem. It is a behavior problem.”
They said effective schools treat litter the same way they treat any other behavior expectation: they define it clearly, they communicate it to students and every adult applies it consistently.
Regarding what to do when a student litters, they encouraged using specific wording.
“‘Pick that up, please’ is a request,” they stated. “‘Pick that up’ is an instruction. Know which one you're giving and be consistent.”
They mentioned this may sound a bit harsh, but isn’t.
“Clarity is not harshness,” they said. “Students know the difference between a teacher who means it and a teacher who doesn't. They have always known.”
Being a litterbug also seems to run in families. I know my family was forced to change how they handled litter after I became informed about the right ways and the wrong ways.
Denise has students take an “Okie Dokie Pledge” to help keep their family car clean, to make sure to empty reusable garbage cans at appropriate sites (at home or in garbage cans) and to make sure no trash gets thrown onto roadways. She calls these children the “captains of the cars.” I’m sure I was a tidy little car captain. I still am.
No, I’m not perfect and never will be. But I would feel emotional pain if I threw trash out of a car window. I’ve kept a cardboard box with a trash can liner in my car for years. I even recently upgraded to a nice little decorative bin to hold my disposable garbage bag. Bins come in all sizes and patterns. Why not have some fun with it and find some joy in it?
Denise even left some cute reusable bags at the library. You can also pick these special bags up at a welcome center. Or when you’re unloading your grocery bags, combine some items so you can leave one extra empty bag in the car. There are compartments in most car doors. Stash it in there. Then you’ll be ready the next time you need a trash bag.
I think littering is a habit that can be broken, with new habits including taking the trash into the house to empty after every trip, or emptying the trash at the garbage cans in parking lots of major stores, or emptying the car trash into the garbage cans when you fill up for gas or stop at the convenience store.
Littering is also a generational concept, where children have learned the activity from their parents or family members, who also learned it themselves at an early age. Denise said most vehicle litterers do it “to keep their car clean.” How ironic? What about the beautiful roadways?
And I’ve heard at least two different sources say people have told them “litter creates jobs.” This seems a cop-out to me, but one of these sources said a child made this remark. Who did they learn that from?
This is not my first column on litter. It probably won’t be my last. Something I said before, I will repeat again. I expect the people reading this column are not the problem. But maybe you can be part of the solution? Encourage your little ones to be car captains, help empty vehicle garbage bags into the appropriate containers and not litter on the floor at home or at school or throw trash from a car window.
As Keep Alabama Beautiful states, “It only takes a small change to make a BIG difference!”
For more information, visit KeepAlabamaBeautiful.org. To schedule a visit to your school, contact Denise via email at keepalbeautiful@outlook.com.
See complete story in the Journal Record.
Subscribe now!