National Litter Study

Keep America Beautiful, our parent Affiliate, recently released the results of their 2020 National Litter Study, conducted by Burns & McDonnell, a leading environmental engineering firm.  The 2020 Keep America Beautiful Litter Study is the most comprehensive study of litter in America.  It is a follow up to the landmark 2009 study, which builds on a history of science-based litter research started by Keep America Beautiful in 1969.

How do they know how much litter there is, you ask?  They counted it — during a pandemic!  240 roadway sites, 189 waterway, 181 non-roadway, 126 behavioral sites.  The study used world class methodology and was led by academics, professional social scientists, and leading researchers with the support of corporate America, foundations, and individuals.  You can read the entire report here.

In a nutshell, the litter problem is significant — 50 billion (with a “b”) pieces!  And Americans know it.  90% responded that they believe litter is a problem in their state.  On the brighter side, the problem of litter is improving.   Since the 2009 Litter Study, there’s been a 54% reduction of litter on roadways.

The great majority of litter was smaller in size but, at 6 billion pieces, larger items were both prevalent and highly visible. Most litter (43.6 billion pieces or 87.9 percent) across the United States was four inches or smaller in size. However, larger and often more visible litter still represented a significant quantity (6.0 billion pieces or 12.1 percent) of litter.

The Keep America Beautiful 2020 National Litter Study provides the first national estimate of the scale and scope of the PPE (gloves and masks) litter problem. The Study estimates 207.1 million PPE items were littered along United States roadways and waterways. The Study estimates that much of that PPE litter (127.4 million pieces) lies along U.S. waterways. PPE gloves represented 72.1 percent of the PPE littered.

Cigarette butts continue to be the single most littered item in the United States, even though cigarette butt litter has declined dramatically since 2009. Plastic films, both general use films and food-packaging films, such as candy wrappers or snack bags, represent the second and third most littered items in America.

There is twice as much litter from alcoholic beverage containers as from non-alcoholic beverage containers. Beer container litter is up 27 percent from 2009. In terms of the most frequently littered items, beer containers and single-serve wine and liquor containers (e.g., 50 ml minis and nips) are both ranked ahead of any non-alcoholic beverage product (e.g., soda, water, juice, tea & coffee).

Americans understand that litter has a strong negative impact on their communities. Large majorities of U.S. residents (75 to 97 percent) recognize that litter negatively affects the environment, waterways, property taxes, home values, tourism and businesses, quality of life, and health and safety in their communities.

The study determined that there were 152 items of litter for each U.S. resident. Roadway and waterway litter items per capita were comparable.  While still a large number, 152 pieces of litter per person in the United States is a number that residents can grasp and provides a tangible goal that every individual can strive to help eliminate.

Everyone, whether they litter or not, can be part of the solution to ending litter.  Let us know when you’ve picked up your 152 pieces! #152andYou