Trash on City Streets: Exploring the Dangers of Litter

Keeping your city streets clean and litter-free is important for a variety of reasons. While aesthetic appeal is certainly one good reason for keeping your streets clean, there are actually several other good reasons that range from health concerns to keeping your city’s economy strong.

Health and Safety Concerns

Maintaining clean streets is an important part of keeping your city safe for residents and tourists. When trash is allowed to sit on your city streets, it becomes the perfect habitat for rats, mice, flies, pigeons and other pests. Not only are these pests a nuisance, but they often carry diseases that can be harmful or even lead to a city-wide epidemic.

Allowing trash to accumulate on city streets is also a safety hazard. Roads filled with debris create a safety hazard for cars driving on them, while pedestrians are also at risk of getting cut by or tripping over debris. Similarly, food waste can grow mold or bacteria, thereby creating additional health risks for those who are exposed to the debris.

Trash can also create a safety hazard by clogging drains. Too much litter and clutter can cause a build-up in storm drains, blocking them so they cannot properly drain water from the city streets during inclement weather. As a result, the streets may become filled with deep puddles that further increase the potential damage caused by inclement weather when it strikes.

The Economic Impact

Trash in city streets can also have a significant negative impact on the city’s economy. The messy, unclean appearance of a cityscape that is filled with litter is definitely a deterrent for tourists. Rather than spending their dollars in your city, they will go somewhere else in search of services, restaurants, shopping, and entertainment. Even residents of your city may choose to go out of town to spend their dollars rather than navigate through your littered streets.

Along these same lines, a messy city has a negative impact on property values. If your home is surrounded by littered city streets, you are going to have a far more difficult time getting the property sold. Similarly, trash and other debris can ultimately lead to polluted natural resources. Not only is this an additional health concern, but it will also be costly to remove the pollutants and regain clean natural resources. This is particularly important when it comes to water, which will have a negative impact on residents as well as local wildlife if it becomes polluted.

Addressing the Problem

Thankfully, there are ways that you can help to keep your city streets clean. The first is to install City Street Receptacles at strategic locations where residents and visitors can easily dispose of their trash. Of course, you will also need to set up a regular pickup service to ensure the receptacles do not become overfilled. With the wide variety of designs available from Securr, you will be sure to find one that suits your city and its needs.

You can also help to keep trash from your streets by scheduling regular city streets cleanups. This can be organized through your local government or even completed by local volunteers who want to keep their city clean and safe.