Astounding Words

Stroll into your nearest town early in the daybreak and you’ll see various applied sweepers on the roads cleaning up the litter strewn around by all the shenanigans of last night. It’s a normal early morning scene, particularly the beeping noise! We don’t often give litter a second thought as we feel keeping the roads respectable is not our problem.

However, there is a sometimes imperceptible yet substantial influence litter plays on human psychology. People are more likely to think an area is lacking law and order if litter is strewn around, and hence criminals see rubbish as a latent indication for a chance of a mugging or robbery. The very same sign develops some fear in other people who are concerned they might be wandering through a more unsafe neighbourhood and are concerned about possibly being attacked.

Not only that, but also the impact on the visual appeal of a location. Rubbish strewn around can give the appearance of a place looking a bit derelict even if it’s only been trashed by people from the night before. This can damage the reputation of a location if people are visiting the area for this particular time and only view it in its disorderly state.

Prevention is always better than cure when it comes to litter. There’s absolutely no need to drop rubbish if there are unfilled rubbish bins within the area. If there is a lack of bins, or the litter bins that are there are stuffed, this is a problem to take up with the local council. Throwing rubbish has a negative impact on everybody.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 2:00 am and is filed under Psychology Hub. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.