What is Litter?
No matter where litter starts, it moves. -- From streets and highways to parks and waterways. Wind and weather move litter around a community, into the gutters, planted gardens, fields, and parking areas. In one study, reasearchers found that 18% of all littered items end up in our streams and waterways as pollution.
Solutions to litter problems are not always about cleaning up after the fact. In most cases, solutions come from thoughtful prevention. Litter is the result of some individuals paying too little attention to their actions and carelessly handling waste. It takes one person at a time to make a difference.
Littering is an individual behavioral problem. Each person must accept responsibility for their actions and influence the actions of others around them in their business, home, school, and community. By modeling proper trash and waste disposal, you will cause others to consider their actions, too.
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What the Town Does...
Litter is one of the most obvious and aggravating of all our waste management problems. It seems that, although we are continually learning new ways to handle and recycle the garbage that people generate, and although we provide curbside collection to each home three times a week, some people still consider the whole world their wastebasket. The litter problem can only be stopped at its source…and that means re-educating those who have developed careless habits.
Brookhaven Department of Waste Management roadside clean-up crews working full time, five days a week, and handle roadside litter along the 2,000 miles of Town roads. Their schedule is divided between responding to resident alert calls and repeated returns to chronically littered areas. (Note: State Roads are owned and maintained exclusively by the New York State Department of Transportation, 952-6702; County roads are owned and maintained by the Suffolk County Department of Public Works, 852-4010.)
Private property owners are responsible for keeping their property litter-free to the curb. The Town cannot arbitrarily enter private property to clean-up litter violations. Consequently, litter on private property (including excess garbage placed at the curb by residents) must be addressed by following a proscribed process:
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Once a violation is verified, a Notice of Violation or Letter Before Summons is sent to the property owner, who is given a specific number of days to clean up the location or reply to the Department.
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If the problem is not rectified in the time allotted, the Town issues an Appearance Ticket to the property owner. The Town can also post a Notice of Order and send in Town crews to clean the property. The cost of cleaning up the violation is back-charged to the property owner's tax bill.
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----Anti-littering laws need to be strengthened. In order to effectively prosecute under the law as now written, it is usually best for an inspector or other law enforcement officer to catch litterers in the act. Unfortunately, that is difficult to do. This difficulty in enforcement is compounded in the courts where judges historically do not assess large fines for littering. These are issues that must be addressed at the legislative level.
----On the public education front, both our in-school education program and our community outreach programs continually address littering issues. Residents can affect change in their community through grassroots efforts as well.
----Student energy can be very effective. If the local school district does not sponsor environmental clubs, suggest they start one. School children care a great deal about their environment and usually respond positively to opportunities to educate their peers and elders.
----New "Please Do Not Litter" signs are being decorated and signed by youth groups such as scout troops and school classes, and then placed in the community. Signs and markers are available from the Town ’s Waste Management Department.
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To this end, we have drawn on interested members of the community to form an Anti-Litter Task Force and are currently in the pre-certification stage of enrolling the Town of Brookhaven in the Keep America Beautiful program. Once certified, we will have access to national support and programs to substantially increase our capacity to address this important issue. As we move forward with this important campaign to educate the community about litter reduction and removal we will be focusing a number of our efforts on school-age children and the need for active community participation in remedies.
The Department of Waste Management currently attacks litter on both roadsides and private property as follows:
What is Litter?
No matter where litter starts, it moves. -- From streets and highways to parks and waterways. Wind and weather move litter around a community, into the gutters, planted gardens, fields, and parking areas. In one study, reasearchers found that 18% of all littered items end up in our streams and waterways as pollution.
Solutions to litter problems are not always about cleaning up after the fact. In most cases, solutions come from thoughtful prevention. Litter is the result of some individuals paying too little attention to their actions and carelessly handling waste. It takes one person at a time to make a difference.
Littering is an individual behavioral problem. Each person must accept responsibility for their actions and influence the actions of others around them in their business, home, school, and community. By modeling proper trash and waste disposal, you will cause others to consider their actions, too.
|
|
What the Town Does...
Litter is one of the most obvious and aggravating of all our waste management problems. It seems that, although we are continually learning new ways to handle and recycle the garbage that people generate, and although we provide curbside collection to each home three times a week, some people still consider the whole world their wastebasket. The litter problem can only be stopped at its source…and that means re-educating those who have developed careless habits.
Brookhaven Department of Waste Management roadside clean-up crews working full time, five days a week, and handle roadside litter along the 2,000 miles of Town roads. Their schedule is divided between responding to resident alert calls and repeated returns to chronically littered areas. (Note: State Roads are owned and maintained exclusively by the New York State Department of Transportation, 952-6702; County roads are owned and maintained by the Suffolk County Department of Public Works, 852-4010.)
Private property owners are responsible for keeping their property litter-free to the curb. The Town cannot arbitrarily enter private property to clean-up litter violations. Consequently, litter on private property (including excess garbage placed at the curb by residents) must be addressed by following a proscribed process:
-
Once a violation is verified, a Notice of Violation or Letter Before Summons is sent to the property owner, who is given a specific number of days to clean up the location or reply to the Department.
-
If the problem is not rectified in the time allotted, the Town issues an Appearance Ticket to the property owner. The Town can also post a Notice of Order and send in Town crews to clean the property. The cost of cleaning up the violation is back-charged to the property owner's tax bill.
|
|
----Anti-littering laws need to be strengthened. In order to effectively prosecute under the law as now written, it is usually best for an inspector or other law enforcement officer to catch litterers in the act. Unfortunately, that is difficult to do. This difficulty in enforcement is compounded in the courts where judges historically do not assess large fines for littering. These are issues that must be addressed at the legislative level.
----On the public education front, both our in-school education program and our community outreach programs continually address littering issues. Residents can affect change in their community through grassroots efforts as well.
----Student energy can be very effective. If the local school district does not sponsor environmental clubs, suggest they start one. School children care a great deal about their environment and usually respond positively to opportunities to educate their peers and elders.
----New "Please Do Not Litter" signs are being decorated and signed by youth groups such as scout troops and school classes, and then placed in the community. Signs and markers are available from the Town ’s Waste Management Department.
|
To this end, we have drawn on interested members of the community to form an Anti-Litter Task Force and are currently in the pre-certification stage of enrolling the Town of Brookhaven in the Keep America Beautiful program. Once certified, we will have access to national support and programs to substantially increase our capacity to address this important issue. As we move forward with this important campaign to educate the community about litter reduction and removal we will be focusing a number of our efforts on school-age children and the need for active community participation in remedies.
The Department of Waste Management currently attacks litter on both roadsides and private property as follows:
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