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Half of Canadians Aged 18 to 24 Litter
By GreenCompany | August 24, 2009
Litter, you see it everywhere you go. Unless someone takes the time to clean it up, litter will begin to really pile up. And with one out of every three Canadian citizens admitting to littering, there is always ample amounts of litter needing cleaning. Worse still, young Canadians it seems are more prone to littering than those with some age under their feet.
The TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup sponsored a recent poll that found Canadians are a dirty bunch. Canadians 18 to 24 litter the most often, with 17 per cent admitting that they do it at least once a week. Those aged 25 to 34 are a little bit better but still 8 per cent admit to littering at least once a week.
Canadians over the age of 65 are the least likely to admit to littering with only 14 per cent of those polled responding that they do indeed litter – something those with the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup can appreciate. The TD GCSC was a creation of the Vancouver Aquarium back in 1994. This year from September 19th to the 27th, the environmental conservation initiative is expecting to see upwards of 75,000 registrants lend a hand in cleaning up over 1,500 shorelines sites in Canada.
There are those who do take action on litter, with 39 per cent of Canadians claiming that they either tell litterbugs to pick up their droppings or do it themselves. But oddly enough, 20 per cent of the do-gooders still litter! Women on the other hand are less likely to drop their trash. 74 per cent of women polled say they never ever litter – men can only claim 63 per cent. Of those polled, 44 per cent said they “do nothing” when they happen to see someone litter.
Of the trash cleaned up by TD GCSC, plastic bottles, plastic bags, beverage/food waste, and cigarette butts made up the majority of the haul. The Program Manager for TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, Jill Dwyer said of cigarette butts, “I think people often don’t perceive cigarette butts as litter, yet it is one of the most harmful litter items, affecting both animals, and the environment through leaching harmful chemicals into our precious water sources.” Animals often ingest discarded cigarette butts.
Want to do your part? You can volunteer as a site cleanup coordinator, or you can register your own cleanup team or even join an existing cleanup team, by visiting www.tdgcsc.ca
No if only TD Canada Trust consumer bank branches would start removing those completely unnecessary vanity lamps at each teller counter…
Category: Green Living, Green News
Tags: Canada, Canadians, cigarette butts, conservation, Green Company, litter, shoreline cleanup, trash No Comments »