​Pennsylvania's Litter Action Plan

​Litter is improperly managed waste. It can include waste that is intentionally improperly disposed, such as cigarette butts, food packaging, and other trash discarded by pedestrians and motorists. Litter also includes waste that is unintentionally improperly disposed, such as trash from overflowing trash cans, improperly secured loads that accidentally release trash from garbage trucks or pick-up truck beds, vehicle debris from vehicle accidents, or when there are not proper mechanisms in place to dispose of various items. Whether intentional or unintentional, litter negatively impacts the natural environment, as well as the quality of life and economic development in communities across Pennsylvania.

Litter and mismanaged trash can have serious consequences for our environment and health as it degrades the natural environment Pennsylvanians depend on. Most trash takes years, and even centuries, to break down. Wherever it lands, it’s likely going to be there for a long time, leaching chemicals, rusting, breaking into microplastics, and creating hazards for unsuspecting wildlife. Heavy rains can also transport litter through storm drains into nearby streams or rivers releasing chemical pollutants, threatening aquatic life, and interfering with human uses of our bountiful marine resources. Litter also threatens public health by harboring bacteria and attracting disease-carrying mosquitoes and rodents.

No one enjoys seeing littered or illegally dumped goods in their communities. It negatively impacts community pride as well as others’ perceptions of the health of a community. This has implications for business development, tourism and property values. According to a 2009 Keep America Beautiful survey, 36 percent of business development officials say that litter impacts a decision of whether or not they locate to a community. Additionally, 55 percent of realtors think that litter reduces property values by about 9 percent, and 60 percent of property appraisers would reduce a home’s value if it was littered.

The amount of litter and illegal dumping in Pennsylvania is also a significant drain on resources for state and local governments, especially for communities dealing with issues of poverty and communities of color. DEP and PennDOT spend millions of dollars each year to aid in cleaning up litter and illegally dumped sites. DEP has spent over $10 million to support volunteer litter cleanup events. There are also more than 6,200 illegal dumps identified across the Commonwealth that cost on average $3,000 per site to clean up. During the current fiscal year, DEP spent $1,105,000 on illegal dumping cleanups and anticipates spending at least $4,045,000 to address cleaning up illegal dumps over the next 3 years. PennDOT spends roughly $14 million annually on statewide litter efforts. Every dollar that is spent supporting litter and illegal dump cleanups and other efforts is money that could be used for other beneficial services, like improving our state’s roads.

Pennsylvania has been relying on volunteer efforts to keep litter in check. In 2019 alone, the Pick Up Pennsylvania campaign had 92,342 invaluable volunteers pick up over 6 million pounds of trash along 7,345 miles of roads, shorelines, and trails. However, despite these collective efforts, litter and illegal dumping keeps piling up in our communities.

Since cleaning up litter is a significant use of valuable resources, the state is shifting its focus to litter and illegal dumping prevention, in addition to supporting continued litter and illegal dumping cleanups. To have the best chance of success in preventing and reducing littering in Pennsylvania, current state litter data are key to developing strategies, actions and tools that will be effective.

​Pennsylvania Litter Research Study

DEP and PennDOT partnered with Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful (KPB), the state affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, in 2018-2019 to perform a research study documenting the quantity, composition, and sources of litter as well as attitudes towards littering in Pennsylvania. DEP, PennDOT, and KPB retained Burns & McDonnell, Cascadia Consulting Group, and the Docking Institute of Public Affairs, collectively referred to as the Burns & McDonnell Project Team, to conduct the Pennsylvania Litter Research Study. The Burns & McDonnell Project Team in collaboration with DEP, PennDOT, and KPB conducted a visible litter survey of 180 locations around the state, a public attitude phone survey of 500 residents statewide, and a Litter Summit conference that provided the foundation for the Litter Research Study.

The visible litter study conducted as part of this effort provides a comprehensive understanding of the quantity, composition, and sources of litter on Pennsylvania’s roadways. The key findings from the visible litter study include:

• Pennsylvania roadways are littered with approximately 502.5 million pieces of litter.
  
• Of the total estimated litter on Pennsylvania roadways, 186.2 million (37.1 percent) pieces were cigarette butts followed by 152.9 million (30.4 percent) pieces of plastic. Plastic film is the most prevalent type of plastic littered on Pennsylvania roadways followed by plastic beverage containers.
• The majority of litter on Pennsylvania roadways (429.8 million pieces or 85.5 percent) is 4 inches or smaller in size; however, the Study estimates there is still a significant quantity (72.7 million pieces or 15.5 percent) of larger, and often more visible, litter on Pennsylvania roadways.
  
• Beverage containers and plastic film were the most predominant types of larger litter. Cigarette butts are the most common of the smaller items littered. Some material categories, such as tire tread, food packaging film, other plastic, and other organics, are within the top ten materials for both large and small littered items.
  
• An estimated 29.3 million beverage containers and 12.3 million fast food items are currently littered on Pennsylvania roadways.
  
• Motorists and pedestrians are leading sources of litter for both small and large items. For litter items greater than four inches, improperly secured loads also become a leading source.
  
• In aggregate, local roads had the highest percentage (34.9 percent) of total litter items by roadway type statewide.
  
• The primary distinction identified by roadway types was the litter source. Motorists contributed the most litter to interstate roadways (69.7 percent) and decreasing amounts to arterial (65.6 percent), collector (58.0 percent), and local (50.0 percent) roadways. In contrast, pedestrians contributed the most to local roadways (32.9 percent) and decreasing amounts to collector (32.0 percent), arterial (23.3 percent), and interstate (0.1 percent) roadways. Improperly secured loads contributed more to interstates (11.3 percent) than to any other roadway type.
  
• Urban roads had approximately 2,585 litter items per mile. In comparison, rural roads had approximately 1,635 litter items per mile.
  

The public attitude survey provides an understanding of Pennsylvania residents’ opinion of the effects of litter, prevalence of litter, instance of littering, tobacco littering, consequences of littering, and litter prevention and abatement in the Commonwealth. Some takeaways from the public input received include:

• Over 90 percent of survey respondents reported that litter is a problem in the Commonwealth.
  
• Respondents believe the presence of litter has an impact on the environment, waterways, property taxes, home values, tourism and businesses, and safety of communities.
• Respondents reported that the primary types of litter are fast food packaging, plastic film, beverage containers and tobacco products. Their perceptions are generally in line with the survey findings, as these four categories were among the most commonly identified litter items along roadways.
  
• Respondents believe that the two primary causes of litter are:
• • People don’t care about the effects of litter and
  • Littering happens when a convenient receptacle is not available.
• Approximately 80 percent of respondents said, “Not likely at all.” when asked how likely it is for someone to actually get caught or fined for littering.
  
• About one-half of the survey respondents expressed that they could recall seeing or hearing litter abatement advertisements in Pennsylvania. Of survey respondents that could recall litter public education and outreach, about one-half reported such litter public education and outreach was rare.
  

The Litter Summit was held on November 14, 2019, and brought together key stakeholders from across the Commonwealth to discuss the results of the Pennsylvania Litter Research Study. The Summit was attended by 124 representatives from state and local governments, non-profits and private industry. Feedback received from attendees on how to reduce and eradicate litter in Pennsylvania included:

• The majority of Litter Summit attendees responded that regulations and enforcement (51.7 percent) and infrastructure (37.2 percent) should be the focus for reducing littering and illegal dumping.
• Litter Summit attendees identified the need to educate the public as to the negative impacts of litter. For example, attendees stated the need to increase awareness that litter on land will end up in Pennsylvania waterways.
• Attendees stated that additional funding was needed for enforcement personnel and infrastructure.
• Solid waste management infrastructure and recycling facilities for electronics and household hazardous waste were identified by Litter Summit attendees as a means to decrease littering and illegal dumping. In addition, attendees stated more litter receptacles and cigarette butt stations would assist with reducing litter in Pennsylvania communities.
  

The Pennsylvania Litter Research Study was ultimately published in January 2020 and provided a thorough understanding of the littering issue in Pennsylvania.

Cost of Litter & Illegal Dumping in Pennsylvania Study

To learn more about the economic impact of litter and illegal dumping on local governments, KPB also commissioned Burns & McDonnell in 2019 to survey nine cities on the money they spend to manage litter and illegal dumping. Participating cities included: Allentown, Altoona, Erie, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Reading, and Scranton.

The Cost of Litter & Illegal Dumping in Pennsylvania report was released in January 2020 and found that collectively these nine Pennsylvania cities spend more than $68.5 million annually on prevention, education, abatement, and enforcement efforts to address litter and illegal dumping throughout their respective communities. Overall, communities collectively spent the most money on litter and illegal dumping abatement activities (about $54.5 million or 80 percent). This includes activities such as street sweeping or other cleaning programs and volunteer cleanup events designed to keep their streets and other public rights-of-way free of litter and illegally dumped goods. While abatement and clean ups are an important part in the fight against litter, those efforts do not address the root causes of littering or illegal dumping.

Using funding to implement behavior change strategies of infrastructure, education and enforcement would be an effective way at addressing the root causes of littering and illegal dumping. However, litter and illegal dumping prevention activities, like providing ample trash and recycling receptacles in public places or providing convenient and affordable disposal options for materials that are commonly dumped such as tires, appliances, and electronics, collectively only received 13 percent of the total funding analyzed. Education and outreach aimed at educating the public regarding the impacts of litter and illegal dumping and how to avoid them is receiving just one percent of the total funding, while enforcement activities received about six percent of total funding.

Overall, the findings from this study show that these cities spend about four times as much to remove litter and illegally dumped items from their communities as they do to prevent it from being generated in the first place.

​Given the large volumes of litter found across Pennsylvania and the high costs that state and local governments spend each year to try to address it as demonstrated by the Pennsylvania Litter Research Study and the Cost of Litter & Illegal Dumping in Pennsylvania report, DEP and PennDOT, with support from Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, began development of a multi-stakeholder initiative to identify ways to change Pennsylvanians’ behaviors to end littering. The recommendations on how to end littering developed as part of this initiative would then be included in Pennsylvania’s first ever Litter Action Plan Report as a reference tool for all Pennsylvanians on how they can be a part of the solution to Pennsylvania’s littering problem.

The initiative formally began in spring 2021 with the development of four workgroups made up of state and local government representatives, members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, environmental and community groups, and businesses across Pennsylvania. A complete list of workgroup participants is included in Appendix I. These workgroups were centered around Keep America Beautiful’s model for change, which is based on social psychologist Wes Schulz’s nationally recognized model of behavior change. This model includes four behavior change strategies that can be applied to mobilize people to create sustainable change.

Accordingly, the four workgroups that were formed as part of the Litter Action Plan initiative were:

1. The Litter Education and Outreach Workgroup – Education and outreach are essential components to making sure all Pennsylvanians know littering is unacceptable and there are better ways to manage their waste. This workgroup focused on potential outreach strategies and recommendations for a statewide anti-litter education campaign.
   
2. The Infrastructure Workgroup – Ensuring infrastructure, like trash cans and waste management services, are available to all Pennsylvania’s communities is key to addressing the issue of litter in Pennsylvania. This workgroup focused on ways to ensure Pennsylvania communities have the necessary infrastructure in place to help ensure there are ample ways to properly manage commonly littered items.
3. The Litter Laws and Enforcement Workgroup – Regulations and enforcement are a tool at preventing and deterring littering behavior. This workgroup evaluated the effectiveness of current ordinances, laws and statutes and their enforcement as it relates to reducing litter in Pennsylvania. The workgroup also identified possible statutory and enforcement updates to ensure littering regulations are enforced.
4. The Partnerships Workgroup – Government cannot tackle litter alone. This workgroup involved businesses and industry leaders to provide feedback on the recommendations heard in other workgroups and work to identify ways to help reduce litter across the state.

The four workgroups met virtually in April, May and June 2021 to brainstorm possible recommendations relative to the workgroup focus areas. DEP and PennDOT staff facilitated these conversations, and workgroup participants had robust discussions about potential solutions. Following these brainstorming meetings, the recommendations provided by the workgroups were formatted into draft recommendations, and the workgroups reconvened in September 2021 to provide feedback on the draft recommendations. This report reflects the final recommendations from the four workgroups.

1. Share waste-related model ordinances for local governments. To aid local governments in responsibly managing their waste and better preventing littering and illegal dumping, DEP has compiled a page with links to ordinances currently used throughout Pennsylvania that interested municipalities can reference when looking to update their waste and recycling programs. This webpage contains ordinances that include information on topics such as effective waste and recycling management education programs, program requirements, drop-off program ideas, and transportation and collection considerations. The many sample ordinances that are provided on this webpage can help municipalities to find ideas that could be beneficial for their community’s unique situation and help to reduce littering and illegal dumping through implementation of strong waste and recycling programs.
2. Allow for rural transfer stations to aid in waste management in rural Pennsylvania. Based on findings from the DEP-sponsored Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s Illegal Dumping in Pennsylvania: A Decade of Discovery. Recommended Policies and Programs for Future Prevention and Enforcement 2014 report, distance influences both good and poor waste management practices. Studies have shown that people are willing to drive up to ten miles to use a drop-off location for discarded items, particularly in rural areas. Based on this and other information, DEP is working on a rulemaking to permit the development of small transfer stations in rural areas of Pennsylvania where residents could drop off their waste and recycling at a convenient location. Doing so would ensure that Pennsylvanians in rural areas where it isn’t currently economical to have curbside waste and recycling collection still have a convenient way to appropriately and responsibly dispose of their trash rather than littering or illegally dumping it.
   

1. ​Provide education on litter provisions of the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code. On all vehicle registration cards, there is language acknowledging that it is illegal to litter as stated in the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code in Title 75, Section 3709. Therefore, by signing a vehicle registration, Pennsylvanians agree to not litter. Since the language currently on the registration cards is written to mirror the statutory language, PennDOT is working to provide easy-to-understand messaging regarding these provisions. This includes informative videos to be played at Driver’s License Centers throughout Pennsylvania and infographics to share on social media. PennDOT hopes to reduce the amount of litter motorists generate by educating Pennsylvania motorists that littering is in direct violation of the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code.
   
   
2. Provide education on littering to the judicial system. It is important to make the judicial system aware of both the environmental and economic impacts that litter has on communities to ensure appropriate enforcement of litter and illegal dumping violations. The costs of illegal dumping can range up to $100,000 and are costly to local communities and state agencies. DEP and Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful partnered with the Minor Judiciary Education Board starting in 2017 to provide education on these topics to magisterial district judges. Pennsylvania should continue to support the ongoing education of magisterial district judges, through the Minor Judiciary Education Board, and explain why placing fines on litter violators is important and why the amount of the fine, as well as the option to sentence a violator to pick up litter in some instances, matters.
   
   
3. Educate local law enforcement, tow companies and first responders on accident clean-up requirements. As required by the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code (Title 75, Chapter 37 § 3709), debris from accidents must be properly disposed of and cannot be left on the side of a road or in a median. However, it is more common to see accident debris left behind after an accident has occurred when driving along Pennsylvania roadways. PennDOT is developing educational materials on these requirements that the Pennsylvania State Police will help share with law enforcement, tow companies, local fire companies and first responders aiding in the cleanup of an accident. This way they can become a partner in preventing debris from accidents becoming litter and ensuring the debris is properly disposed of while proper safety measures are in place as an accident scene is being managed. 
   
   
4. Continue enforcement of litter laws. The Pennsylvania State Police work to enforce Pennsylvania’s vehicle code, including handling littering and illegal dumping on state roads and areas not covered by a local police department. In addition to continuing to enforce the law, the State Police should consider creative programs, like their “Operation Clean Sweep”, which highlighted the importance of enforcement of the littering-related provisions of Vehicle Code § 3709 (Depositing waste and other material on highway, property or waters) and § 4903 (securing loads in vehicles), as well as Crimes Code § 6501 (Scattering Rubbish). Additionally, the program helped to inform State Police that PennDOT has designated litter enforcement corridors and encourage the enforcement of Vehicle Code § 3329 (Duty of driver in litter enforcement corridors). Enforcement officers from the Pennsylvania Game Commission, Fish and Boat Commission, and DCNR also work to catch litterers and illegal dumpers and issue citations. These groups should continue to enforce litter laws and find innovative ways to catch individuals who litter and illegal dump.
   

1. ​Provide ample waste and recycling receptacles on state-owned property. As discussed earlier in this report, research has shown that proximity to public waste receptacles helps to determine if someone will litter or not. The state can lead by example and ensure there are ample waste and recycling receptacles at their facilities to make it convenient for members of the public to responsibly dispose of their trash and conveniently recycle items rather than litter. This includes in state parks, at rest stops, and in front of state-owned buildings. 
2. Continue expansion of cigarette butt stations for proper disposal on state-owned property. Similarly, the state can lead by example to provide adequate cigarette butt stations to make sure cigarette butts are disposed of properly on state-owned land. For example, DCNR recently collaborated with Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful in 2020 to reduce the number of cigarette butts carelessly left behind in Pennsylvania state parks. Ash receptacles were placed at points of entry into the parks, and portable ashtrays were distributed to smokers who visited the parks. By providing this basic infrastructure, cigarette butt litter was reduced by a combined total of 42 percent. Continuing to provide these resources to employees and visitors of state-owned properties can help the state lead by example and further reduce the amount of cigarette litter in PA.
   

1. ​Develop a statewide anti-litter educational campaign. DEP, PennDOT and DCED are leading the development of a state-wide anti-litter educational campaign. The campaign will include a branded toolkit of a logo, materials, graphics, messaging and other items for partners to use and promote that focus on educating residents and visitors about the impact of litter.
   
   
2. Promote anti-littering messaging. The state will also develop videos and other graphics to push out through a media buy to share the anti-litter message with all Commonwealth residents. The message sharing should include both traditional and online media.
   
   
3. Continue to build partnerships.  Through the development of the Statewide Litter Action Plan, DEP and PennDOT have facilitated conversations between fellow state agencies, local governments, community groups, communities facing environmental justice issues, and businesses to recommend practical solutions to address Pennsylvania’s littering problem. This kind of collaboration helps to ensure sustainable behavior change. State government will continue to nurture these partnerships and expand connections to help in the fight against litter. At a minimum this will include the continuation of an Interagency Litter Task Force to ensure state government is continuing to take action to prevent litter in Pennsylvania.
   
   
4. Create a littering component to environmental education grant program. To ensure Pennsylvania’s youth understand the importance of preventing littering, DEP should prioritize littering as a topic eligible for its environmental education grant program. The Environmental Education Grant Program was established by the Environmental Education Act of 1993, which mandates that five percent of all pollution fines and penalties collected annually by DEP be set aside for environmental education. The funds can be used for projects ranging from creative, hands-on lessons for students, teacher training programs, and outdoor learning resources to conservation education for adults. By adding litter as a priority topic for grant funding, DEP can help to expand anti-litter education throughout the state.
   
   
5. Work with the Department of Education on anti-littering curriculum. Providing curriculum and materials for educators can help share the anti-litter message to younger children in schools. This instills a sense of responsibility at a young age and the added benefit of children bringing the anti-littering message home to share with their families. DEP and DCNR have worked with the Department of Education to develop anti-littering educational resources historically, including for the PA Pathway to Green Schools program. and DEP and the Department of Education are currently working with Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful to update the associated curriculum materials.
   
   
6. Conduct outreach to public using state-owned land. Park rangers, Game Commission and Fish and Boat Commission staff are often in contact with members of the public frequenting state-owned park or game lands. These individuals can help to share information on where to properly dispose of their trash while visiting state-owned land and on the principles of “leave no trace.”
   
   
7. Develop a Young Ambassador program. Engaging Pennsylvania youth to take a lead role in the fight against litter can help to keep our communities clean and instill a sense of volunteerism in younger generations. PennDOT should develop a Pennsylvania-based Young Ambassador program to engage young Pennsylvanians in spreading awareness on the impacts of litter in their local communities and helping to organize activities to keep their communities litter free. Keep Texas Beautiful currently has a program with a focus on anti-litter and community pride that could serve as a model for Pennsylvania. Additionally, there are already programs in Pennsylvania to engage young people and educate them on the importance of not littering that could also serve as models. For example, in Harrisburg, teens spend the summer cleaning up neighborhoods through the Environmental Teen Corp. (ETC) Program. By providing an ambassador program along these lines, Pennsylvania youth can be empowered to help keep their communities litter-free.
   
8. Continue support for the Pick Up Pennsylvania Campaign. As mentioned above, each year between March 1–May 31 and September 1–November 30 during Pick Up Pennsylvania, registered events can get free cleanup supplies, such as bags, gloves and vests donated by PennDOT, the DEP, and Keep America Beautiful. Through this program, thousands of volunteers help each year to clean up Pennsylvania’s roadways and communities. PennDOT and DEP should continue to support and promote this vitally important initiative to keep Pennsylvania clean.
   

1. ​Evaluate and update littering and illegal dumping fines. Civil penalties associated with littering and illegal dumping are often considered to be either too high or too low and therefore, not an effective deterrent to preventing an individual from littering or illegal dumping in the first place. One example provided was the cost for a small waste hauler or contractor to retrofit a vehicle to have a closed bed to secure waste is far more expensive than just paying a fine for not securing their load. Possible options for improving the efficacy of fines are to establish weight-based or category-based fines. For example, South Carolina instituted a weight-based fine system as their local magistrates disagreed with previously higher fines for littering offenses. Now, someone convicted of littering items of less than 15 pounds (i.e. cigarette butts, food wrapper or beverage container), receives a $25   $100 fine and 8 hours of mandatory litter pick up community service time. If someone is convicted of illegal dumping 15 to 500 pounds, they would receive a $200   $500 fine and 16  32 hours of community service. Someone who is convicted of illegally dumping over 500 pounds worth of items would receive a $500   $1,000 fine and be required to cleanup the illegal dump site. This has resulted in a higher conviction rate from the judicial community in South Carolina and more litterers being held accountable. Many other states use category-based fines. For example, if a littering offense occurs along a Delaware byway, a federal wildlife refuge, a State park, or land that belong to the US Department of Interior, offenders receive an additional penalty of $500 for every offense. In Indiana, if a littering offense occurs within 100 feet of a body of water, the infraction class is upgraded with a fine of up to $1,000.
   
   
2. Create a dedicated fund for littering and illegal dumping fines. To ensure that any fines for littering and illegal dumping are used to help address the issues of littering and illegal dumping, a dedicated fund for littering and illegal dumping fines should be created. The monies in this fund should be spent solely on littering and illegal dumping prevention activities and programs.
   
   
3. Mandate litter pick-up. Currently, some litter-related laws only state that violators may be sentenced to help pick up litter on their second or third offenses. To have violators better understand the impacts of their actions and help to clean up the litter they have contributed to our communities and roads, the appropriate litter laws should be updated to include mandatory litter pick-up as a sentence.
   
   
4. Specifically link community service to litter clean-ups. Litter laws and community service sentences should be updated to include litter clean-ups as an option. See Appendix III for information on Pennsylvania’s existing litter laws.
   
   
5. Update litter-related language on vehicle registration cards. As noted above, all vehicle registration cards have language acknowledging the litter provisions of the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code in Title 75, Section 3709. However, the language currently on the registration cards is written to mirror the statutory language as required by law and may be difficult to understand. The law should be updated to allow this language pertaining to littering on vehicle registration to be more user friendly and in plain English, so all Pennsylvanians know they are attesting they will not litter when signing a vehicle registration.
   
   
6. Ensure universal access to convenient and affordable trash disposal and recycling. Presently, it is not convenient for all Pennsylvanians to dispose of their waste or recycling responsibly rather than through littering or illegal dumping. Pennsylvania’s current laws do not require a municipality to mandate curbside trash collection. For recycling, Act 101 of 1988 only requires municipalities with a population greater than 5,000 to implement curbside recycling programs and pass related ordinances. This leaves many Pennsylvanians without access to convenient waste disposal and recycling further contributing to Pennsylvania’s littering and illegal dumping problems. Pennsylvania’s Solid Waste Management Act and Act 101 of 1988 should be amended to require all Pennsylvanians have access to convenient waste and recycling services, but local governments should be given flexibility on how to provide that access. For example, more populated municipalities can use curbside services, while more rural areas of the state can have rural convenience centers to collect waste and recycling or have community collection events.
   
   
7. Update cover your load. Current Title 75, section 4903 states that trucks with loose garbage are required to cover any garbage going to a disposal site. This helps to prevent loose garbage from escaping out of a truck and becoming litter or causing any accidents on roadways. Additionally, 25 Pa. Code §285.214(b)(1) states “…It is imperative that municipal waste be removed from the vehicle at the disposal site to prevent scattering of litter on the highway during the return trip.” However, there is no law for coverage of trucks once they have dropped off their load to address the scenario where items are accidentally left behind. For optimal impact, the law should be updated to include that trucks also be covered leaving a disposal site to reduce any residual garbage from escaping.
   
   
8. Ensure adequate support for managing waste tires. Waste tires are a commonly illegally dumped item found in Pennsylvania. When illegally dumped, they contribute to mosquito-borne illnesses such as West Nile Virus and can leach toxic chemicals into soil and water causing harm to humans, wildlife and the environment. To help address Pennsylvania’s waste tire issue, the Waste Tire Recycling Act (WTRA) established a special fund called the Used Tire Pile Remediation Restricted Account (UTPRRA) for DEP to carry out the remediation of priority abandoned waste tire piles. Currently, the UTPRRA is funded solely from waste tire hauler annual authorization fees, totaling on average $29,200 per year, and any penalties collected under the WTRA. While DEP has successfully disposed of over 40 million waste tires, there are still approximately 700,000 tires estimated at remaining priority sites. Based on the average cost to cleanup compared to the annual funding currently received via the annual authorization fee and penalties, cleaning these abandoned waste tire sites would deplete the UTPRRA. Most states fund their waste tire cleanups via fees on the sale of new tires. Pennsylvania does have a $1.00 fee on the sale of new tires in Pennsylvania authorized by Act 26 of 1991. However, the revenue from this fee gets deposited into the Public Transportation Assistance Fund to help fund mass transit in Pennsylvania rather than the UTPRRA to aid with cleanup of Pennsylvania’s waste tires. The General Assembly should consider creating an additional new fee on the purchase of new tires in Pennsylvania that would specifically be dedicated to providing infrastructure opportunities for proper tire disposal and tire cleanup efforts.
   

1. ​Identify a new legislated funding mechanism to support county and/or local litter prevention and abatement activities. As noted above, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful commissioned a survey of nine Pennsylvania cities on the money they spend to manage litter and illegal dumping. Participating cities reportedly spend collectively over $68 million each year on prevention, education, cleanup and enforcement initiatives to address litter and illegal dumping. Those costs are in addition to the millions of dollars DEP and PennDOT spend each year to help communities address litter and illegal dumping. To ensure local communities throughout Pennsylvania have the resources they need, the General Assembly should identify and implement a funding mechanism to aid local governments in their litter prevention and abatement activities.
   
   
2. Incorporate extended producer responsibility. As more communities across the United States are faced with increasing amounts of waste and related mismanagement, placing responsibility for the treatment and disposal of products on producers has become an increasingly popular regulatory model. Extended Producer Responsibility, also referred to as EPR, is a policy method in which producers are accountable for the treatment or disposal of post-consumer products. By placing the responsibility for managing waste on producers, this approach helps to provide incentives for producers to prevent waste up front and help to encourage more sustainable product design. This, in turn, reduces the amount of waste generated and how much waste ends up littered or illegally dumped. The General Assembly should consider how EPR policies could be implemented to help reduce littering and illegal dumping in Pennsylvania. Using the findings from the Pennsylvania Litter Research Study as a starting point, the General Assembly could target initial policies at addressing the most commonly littered items found in PA.
   
   
3. Create “environmental court” days. Environmental courts are a type of court system that handle cases related to violation of environmental laws only. This allows for judges to become specialized in environmental laws and ensure that environmental violations, like littering and illegal dumping, are handled more promptly. Pennsylvania’s legislature and the court system should consider where an environmental court might make sense to establish in order to enhance litter and illegal dumping oversight.
   

Litter Program Funding Ideas Across the United States

While there are many funding mechanisms states use for their litter programs, one example is how Washington State funds their litter program. Washington has a 0.015% tax on commonly littered items that can be used by state government to fund litter cleanups and anti-littering education to the public. Washington’s litter tax is on manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers of certain products which contribute to their litter problem. This tax generates about $11.4 million a year and gets deposited into their Waste Reduction, Recycling, and Litter Control Account. The funds can be used by their Department of Ecology for a litter control program employing youth to clean up public places, and for public education and awareness programs relating to litter control and recycling.

Environmental Courts

The Shelby County Environmental Court has become a model for successfully implementing an environmental court system. In 1983, the City of Memphis created the Shelby County Environmental Court, a new division of City Court to handle environmental violations. Then, in 1991, the Tennessee Legislature created the Shelby County Environmental Court and gave it the authority to issue conjunctive orders in aid of its jurisdiction, making it the first countywide environmental court in the country. The court has been very successful, hearing dozens of litter cases per month and over 100 illegal dumping/improper storage cases per month. For more information on how the Shelby County Environmental Court was established, see its enabling legislation here: Enabling Legislation | Shelby County, TN - Official Website (shelbycountytn.gov)

1. ​Incorporate best practices into local ordinances. Communities throughout Pennsylvania have had success with reducing littering and illegal dumping by incorporating litter prevention related best practices in their local ordinances. It is also important to consider enforcement of your ordinances. Possible topics to consider incorporating in your local ordinances include:
   • Require trashcans and recycling cans be covered during collection.
   • Require waste haulers and contractors to clean up any spills they create.
   • Require waste management plans detailing where associated waste will be disposed of be submitted as part of local building/remodeling permits.
   • Require proof of disposal to obtain a local occupancy permit.
   • Require proof of disposal for local demolition permits.
   • Require people to bag their trash so it does not get blown into the street by the wind or if their receptacle gets knocked over.
   • Require businesses to provide waste receptacles and cigarette buckets in front of their buildings and in parking lots.
   • Require businesses to keep their properties clean and litter-free.
   • Specify responsible waste and recycling collection schedules and processes.
   • Prohibit individuals or companies convicted of illegal dumping from bidding on future contracts in your community.
      
2. Collaborate with police, store owners and local residents who have surveillance cameras to catch litterers and illegal dumpers. It is expensive and time consuming for local governments to investigate illegal dumps and commonly littered sites. To streamline this process, local governments should consider developing collaborative surveillance programs with police, store owners and/or local residents that have existing security cameras where there is a lot of litter activity and illegal dumping. By working together, communities can help identify litterers and illegal dumpers.
   
   
3. Create specific tickets for littering and illegal dumping. It can take local law enforcement some time to fill out an arrest sheet and all the necessary paperwork when catching someone littering or illegal dumping. Due to this, it’s often easier to write a warning rather than proceed with a formal citation. To ensure litterers were being held accountable, the City of Allentown through a local ordinance created a SWEEP violation ticketing system, which is a form issued by a police officer or public officer to a person who violates their local ordinances related to littering or illegal dumping. Similar to a parking ticket, the violation ticket is an offer by the City of Allentown extended to a person to settle a violation by paying the fine in lieu of a citation being issued against the violator. The ticket rates are set at $25 or $100 for littering and $1,000 or $5,000 fine for illegal dumping. These tickets take law enforcement only a few minutes to fill out, and the City has become a model for effective enforcement of litter and illegal dumping laws.
   
   
4. Partner with fellow municipal government departments, non-profits, or state government to encourage “litter-cleanup” community service programs for people convicted of low-level offenses. Helping to clean up our communities is an important way to give back. Local governments should consider partnering with local law enforcement and non-profits to allow individuals convicted of low-level offenses to do litter clean ups as their community service sentence. Currently, PennDOT has a Litter Brigade program that is administered by County Magistrates through the County Probation Offices and allows offenders to receive community service sentencing through litter pick up as part of their adjudication. Local communities should encourage the use of the state’s Litter Brigade program or create their own version of a community service program to help clean up their communities.

Illegal Dump Free PA

1. ​Provide ample waste receptacles and cigarette butt stations in heavily trafficked areas by pedestrians. In order to make it more convenient for someone to properly dispose of their trash rather than litter, waste receptacles and cigarette butt stations should be placed in common transition points. According to research conducted by Keep America Beautiful, people were observed littering in public spaces when the nearest trash receptacles averaged about 29 feet away, but the rate of littering decreased when people are within 10 feet of a trash receptacle. Given this, the ideal placement would be to have a trash receptacle on every corner and in the middle of every block in public spaces. However, this might not be practical due to an area’s population density or financial constraints. In that case, it’s a best practice to place receptacles diagonally at intersections to still capture waste from all pedestrians walking.
   
   
2. Ensure public waste infrastructure is well-maintained and regularly collected. Litter attracts more litter. It’s critical that any public waste receptacles are regularly collected by municipalities and well maintained with appropriate signage. This includes ensuring that any signage clearly explains via pictures or instructions what can and can’t be disposed of in public receptacles.
   
   
3. Get creative with public waste infrastructure maintenance. Throughout Pennsylvania, local governments have deployed different strategies to ensure the appropriate collection of public waste receptacles. Some innovative solutions you could consider incorporating in your community include:
   • In Centre County, township buildings have been included as part of their residential waste contract to ensure regular collection.
   • In Allentown, there is an ordinance that allows small businesses to join into a curbside contract at the same rate as residential properties depending on the quantity of waste typically generated.
   • In Lancaster, local government leaders are spearheading a new initiative called the Tiny Can Project aimed at having residents help to reduce litter. The Tiny Can Project will install “tiny cans” (trash receptacles) every few houses on both sides of the street for an entire city block in three target areas. Residents who have a “tiny can” in front of their house will be responsible for emptying the receptacles on trash day and will dispose of it with their regular trash collection.
   • In Cheltenham Township, any individual requesting a special events permit is required to have recycling containers.
      
4. Consider use of smart waste infrastructure. It can be difficult for local governments to know when public waste infrastructure needs to be collected. However, using smart bins or other solar-powered trash cans and compactors is one way to ensure municipalities are notified of a need to collect a near-full public receptacles. With a smart bin, users receive a text message alert that a bin is nearly full, so municipalities know when to send a crew to empty it. Although this smart infrastructure can be expensive, some areas have had success with having local businesses sponsor and/or place ads on the smart bins. By using smart infrastructure, communities can ensure public waste receptacles are well-maintained and don’t contribute to litter.

1. Learn about waste management best practices and what makes the most sense for your community. Local governments and county governments that are actively engaged with how their waste and recycling are managed tend to have programs that are run more effectively and in turn, have less littering in their communities. Depending on current statutory requirements, community needs and access to services, different waste and recycling collection methods will make more sense than others. On page 45, the DEP-sponsored Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful Illegal Dumping in Pennsylvania: A Decade of Discovery: Recommended Policies and Programs for Future Prevention and Enforcement 2014 report provides a helpful graphic outlining factors to consider in providing waste collection services in your community. Additionally, DEP has created a webpage with links to ordinances currently used throughout Pennsylvania that include information on topics such as effective waste and recycling management education programs, program requirements, drop-off program ideas, and transportation and collection considerations. The many sample ordinances that are provided on this webpage can help municipalities find ideas that could be beneficial for their community’s unique situation.
   
   
2. Use a municipal-wide contract with a single hauler for waste and recycling services. Many municipalities in Pennsylvania do not have a default trash or recycling pickup service for their residents, leaving residents to find their own waste collectors – or none at all. For cities, boroughs, and more densely populated townships, a municipal-wide contract with a single waste hauler is considered a best practice as it provides certainty and clear management of waste and recycling for their communities. Areas using a single hauler have seen a reduction in littering and illegal dumping due to consistent collection and management of waste. It is also typically less expensive for the resident than trying to procure their own waste hauler. DEP has a webpage with links to sample recycling program development documents, including bid documents, that may be useful for any community interested in pursuing a waste and recycling program.
   
   
3. Provide adequately sized waste and recycling containers for residents and encourage closed bins if possible. One source of litter is household trash and recycling blowing out of waste and recycling containers prior to being collected. As a best practice, municipalities should include as a requirement in their contracts with waste haulers that appropriately sized containers to hold enough waste and recycling generated by households are provided by the haulers to residents and encourage closed bins to prevent loose materials from being blown out in turbulent weather conditions.
   
   
4. Provide disposal options for hard to dispose of items. To make sure that household hazardous waste items, waste tires, electronics, and other hard to dispose of items are properly managed instead of littered or illegally dumped, local governments should provide opportunities for residents to responsibly dispose of them. This includes hosting community collection events or requiring your waste hauler provide special collection events or bulky item pick ups as part of your contract for waste and recycling services. For example, some municipalities within Lawrence-Mercer Recycling/Solid Waste Department upgraded their waste management contracts to include curbside e-waste and household hazardous waste collection options. There are also many existing county resources online for communities to tap into to aid with providing disposal options and getting the word out about these events. These include DEP’s Electronics Collection Program website, DEP’s Household Hazardous Waste Collection Programs website, DEP’s Waste Tire Program website, and Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s County Resources website. Additionally, local County Recycling Coordinators, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful Affiliates, and County Conservation Districts offer special collection events routinely or in some cases, have permanent drop-off sites for hard to dispose of items, which local municipalities can also promote to residents. 
   
   
5. Conduct your own community litter survey and create your own litter action plan. Just as the state did in 2018-19, consider conducting your own community litter survey to document the quantity, types, and locations of litter within your community and audit your local government structure that deals with littering and illegal dumping. By studying any common themes and possible causes unique to your community, you can develop your own litter action plan tailored for your community’s specific needs. The City of Pittsburgh’s Department of Public Works recently developed its own “Goals on Litter and Dumping (GOLD) Plan” to address its littering and illegal dumping problems. Their plan includes an assessment of factors that contribute to littering and illegal dumping within Pittsburgh and recommended actions the City can take to help address these issues.

Waste Tire Management

The City of Reading offers a special collection service for tires. Residents call the Reading Citizen Services Center with the number of tires they need picked up, and someone will come to pick up used tires at no additional cost to the resident. This program is only for residential properties and not businesses. From August 2020 to August 2021, the Reading Clean City Team collected 762 tires through this pickup program and 400 additional through illegal dump cleanups. The total collected was 29.48 tons of tires, which at a disposal rate of $300/ton resulted in a total of $8,844. Since implementation, Reading has seen a 50% drop in small illegal dumps within the City.

Partnering on Hard-to-Dispose Items

Since 2003, the Pennsylvania Resources Council (PRC), an environmental not-for-profit, has hosted hard to recycle collections in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The intent of this program is to provide convenient and proper disposal of items that are not eligible for curbside collection. At these events, individuals have been able to recycle items such as e-waste, cell phones, polystyrene, alkaline batteries, Freon-containing appliances, tires, and more. According to PRC’s website, these collection events have allowed more than 31,000 participants to recycle 2,000,000 pounds of electronics, 12,000 plus tires, and 3,700 appliances. In 2020, PRC began a Traveling Glass Bin program, which is a week-long, rotating self-serve collection model that provides communities who lost access to curbside glass recycling collection services to still responsibly dispose and recycle their glass.

1. ​Amplify the state-wide anti-litter campaign once it is developed. Pennsylvania state government is working to develop a state-wide anti-litter campaign to educate residents and visitors about the impact of litter. Once the state-wide anti-litter campaign is rolled out, local government partners can help to spread the anti-litter message. This could include making announcements at local events where residents gather; targeting populations, such as school children, smokers, anglers or other groups in your community, that would benefit from hearing the anti-litter message; and using various county-level avenues to get the word out, such as distributing information through housing authorities. By spreading the anti-litter campaign, more Pennsylvanians will learn why littering is not okay and why it is important to keep Pennsylvania litter-free.
   
   
2. Add your local sense of community to the materials from the statewide campaign. The state-wide anti-litter campaign will be developed in such a way to allow flexibility to highlight your community pride. This will help to instill a sense of responsibility in all Commonwealth residents and visitors to keep Pennsylvania litter-free. Once the campaign is rolled out, consider how to use your local pride to connect the anti-litter message with your residents.
   
3. Educate your community on the costs of littering and illegal dumping. In 2019, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful commissioned a survey of nine Pennsylvania cities on the money they spend to manage litter and illegal dumping. Participating cities included: Allentown, Altoona, Erie, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Reading, and Scranton. The survey found that the cities collectively spend more than $68 million each year on prevention, education, cleanup and enforcement initiatives to address litter and illegal dumping with approximately 80% of those costs going towards litter cleanup. Help spread the word about the large sums of money that your community spends on picking up litter instead of providing other programs and services that would benefit your community. This will hopefully spur residents to help with anti-littering and illegal dumping efforts.
   
   
4. Celebrate local businesses who are helping to reduce waste and keep your community litter free. Local governments can encourage businesses to reduce the amount of waste they generate and help to keep the community litter free through recognition programs. By recognizing businesses with a certification or an award, local governments can incentivize businesses to help in the fight against litter. Two successful programs that could serve as models for communities throughout Pennsylvania are the Penn Hills Anti-Litter Group’s Certificate program and the City of Philadelphia’s Zero Waste Partnership program. The Penn Hills Anti-Litter Group in Pittsburgh distributes “Clean Sweep” certificates to local businesses to recognize the businesses’ efforts to keep their business litter free. The City of Philadelphia’s Zero Waste Partnership program recognizes and rewards businesses for their actions to reduce the amount of waste they create. To participate in the Zero Waste Partnership, organizations report on their Zero Waste Actions and monthly waste diversion rates. Programs such as these celebrate those businesses in your community who are working hard to reduce litter and incentivize other businesses to consider doing the same.
   
   
5. Engage your community in the fight against litter and illegal dumping. Local governments don’t have to carry the burden of how to prevent litter or illegal dumping in your communities alone. Consider forming a local board or commission of local government personnel, local non-profits, and engaged community members who are passionate about keeping your community clean. This group can help local governments to come up with innovative solutions and get community buy in for any new anti-litter and illegal dumping initiatives. For example, the City of Pittsburgh established the Clean Pittsburgh Commission in 2005 with a mission to “work to improve the environmental quality of life of Pittsburgh residents through litter, illegal dumping and recycling initiatives.” The Clean Pittsburgh Commission brings together representatives from various City departments, local non-profits, individuals and community groups on a monthly basis to focus on waste-related issues throughout the City. Additionally, communities facing environmental justice issues often experience issues with illegal dumping, and it is vital to seek their involvement in addressing the issue.
   

1. ​Create a Downtown Investment District or Neighborhood Investment District. Enabled by Act 130 of 2000, local governments can create an assessment-based district and levy a special assessment on properties in the specified areas. These funds can then be used to help with litter cleanup and covering the costs of additional litter infrastructure, like trash cans and cigarette butt stations, in commonly trafficked areas.
   
   
2. Use room tax proceeds to aid with funding litter abatement. Another funding mechanism at the local level that can be considered is to use special taxes, like room tax proceeds, to help fund litter abatement activities. In Monroe County, 1% of their room tax proceeds are allocated to litter cleanups. Through these funds, Monroe County has been able to hire residents to help clean up their communities.
   
   
3. Offer low-income assistance programs at the municipal level to aid in paying for waste collection services. For individuals who cannot afford waste collection services, some Pennsylvania local governments provide low income assistance programs to ensure everyone has access to responsibly manage their household waste. For example, the City of Hermitage offers a low-income assistance program funded by local taxes where residents, who have a total gross income of less than $19,050 annually, can receive a discounted quarterly billing that includes a 40% discount on full garbage, recycling and yard waste service. Members of the community only need to complete an application and provide proof of their income level to the city. By offering assistance programs for those in need, communities have seen a reduction in littering and illegal dumping of household waste. This especially can have a strong impact on environmental justice communities.
   

1. ​Reflect on how many single-use items you distribute to customers. As Pennsylvania’s Litter Research Study showed, single-use items were some of the most commonly littered items throughout the state. Businesses should reflect on the amount of single-use items distributed to customers and consider if these are necessary. This could include the number of napkins, straws, bags, and plastic utensil sets handed out, as well as if paper receipts are necessary for customers.
   
   
2. Encourage customers to help reduce littering. To help cut back on the overall amount of litter generated in PA, businesses should encourage customers to use reusable items such as bags, straws, cutlery, cups and other containers. One way to do this is to simply ask your customers if they specifically need commonly littered items while completing a sale at a drive-through or convenience store. For example, staff could ask customers if they need plastic cutlery, straws or stacks of napkins prior to providing them. To further encourage a reduction in potentially littered items, businesses should find ways through advertising or other incentives to encourage customers to choose reusable items. For example, Wawa recently rolled out a “Skip the Bag for Good” initiative in their Philadelphia stores by providing 1,000 customers with free reusable bags and then providing customers an option to buy a $0.25 reusable bag going forward while encouraging them to bring their own bags or consider skipping a bag all together when shopping at Wawa stores. Also related, businesses should reduce excess packaging as much as possible.
   
   
3. Ensure receptacles are in place for employees and those delivering products to your facility.  Many packaging and food distribution facilities require employees to wear hairnets and protective covering.  Having trash cans at employee exits where employees can properly dispose of these items prevents them being discarded in parking lots.  When freight is being delivered to your facility, ensure there are proper places for packaging to be recycled or disposed of correctly.
   

1. ​Provide ample public waste and recycling receptacles in strategic locations. Each business should ensure there are ample waste and recycling receptacles on its property including in the parking lots and parking garages. Businesses should first identify high-traffic areas and places where litter tends to accumulate on their property. Then, they can make sure there are enough receptacles in these areas; that they’re the right size; that they’re clearly labeled for what can be disposed or recycled; and they’re located where they are most convenient for the public to use.
   
   
2. Use the best kind of receptacle for your customers. Findings from a study completed by Walt Disney Co. demonstrated that “open front/side (no flap)” or “front/side (push flap)” receptacles are the best styles for waste or recycling receptacles to prevent litter. These structures help to keep trash and recyclables contained in inclement weather and prevent items from being blown out and becoming litter. If your receptacles frequently have litter around them, Keep America Beautiful shares that is a sign that the receptacle is inconvenient for customers, not big enough or not being serviced adequately.
   
   
3. Ensure public waste and recycling receptacles are well-maintained and clean. As noted above, litter attracts more litter. It’s critical that any public waste and recycling receptacles are regularly collected by businesses and well maintained with appropriate signage. It’s a recommended best practice that businesses include litter cleanup on their property and maintenance of receptacles as part of their regular maintenance schedules.
   
   
4. Provide cigarette butt stations for customers. According to Keep America Beautiful, one of the strongest predictors of cigarette butt littering is the lack of ash receptacles. For every additional ash receptacle, the littering rate for cigarette butts decreases by 9%. As such, businesses should strategically locate cigarette butt stations on their properties to reduce cigarette butt littering. Although some ordinances may require these cigarette butt stations to be a certain number of feet from a business’s entrance, it is important to put them at transition points, especially the point where smoking is allowed outside a building.
   
   
5. Make sure waste haulers do not inadvertently contribute to litter during collection. Businesses should make sure that trash doesn’t fall out of their dumpsters or other containers while being collected and unintentionally become litter. Businesses can work with waste haulers to specify terms to make sure this doesn’t happen. An additional best practice is to have staff inspect your waste collection/storage area after pick up to make sure there’s no leftover items. If there is, staff should work to clean it up immediately before it is blown away.
   
   
6. Keep border areas around business properties litter-free. Research shows that areas that are litter-free are more likely to stay that way. If a business consistently has litter around its property, it’s important to first identify the source(s) of the litter, and then work to prevent the litter from accumulating. This could mean having staff conduct litter cleanup as part of regularly scheduled maintenance or partnering with a Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful affiliate. One creative way to keep your businesses litter free is to adopt a model similar to the “Two Minute Tuesdays” program in the Allison Hill neighborhood of Harrisburg. Businesses in this area have committed to taking a few minutes each Tuesday to ensure the area around their business is clean and litter free. In addition to addressing the issue of litter, this program creates a sense of community pride with local businesses owners doing their part to keep their neighborhood clean.
   
   
7. Consider use of waste and recycling infrastructure specifically for the trucking industry. To make it easier for the trucking industry to properly dispose of their waste and conveniently recycle items while on the road, property owners should consider providing easily accessible waste and recycling infrastructure for truck drivers at rest stops, weigh stations and other locations where trucks typically park. This could include dumpsters or other appropriately sized receptacles so that truck drivers can dispose of their trash and recyclables easily from their cab.
   

1. ​Become a partner in the fight against litter. Businesses can help be anti-litter by partnering with state government to share the anti-litter educational campaign it is developing. Some ways businesses can help include sharing materials from the anti-litter campaign by hanging posters, sharing newsletter content, participating in PennDOT’s Adopt-A-Highway program or Sponsor A Highway program, participating in the DEP-sponsored Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful Adoption Program, and educating staff on the statewide anti-litter campaign.
   
   
2. Ask clients and customers to not litter when doing business. No business wants their products littered, so sharing anti-littering messaging while doing business can be an effective way to get buy-in from clients and customers. For example, food-related businesses can put anti-littering messages on their trash cans or take out materials, and can specifically ask people not to litter while completing check out. Similarly, auto part and repair stores can provide education for customers on where they can dispose of their old parts responsibly. 
   
   
3. For commercial haulers and building contractors, provide targeted “cover your load” education. Under Act 90, if a hauler or contractor’s load isn’t properly covered, they aren’t allowed to dump at disposal or transfer facilities. When this happens, there is an opportunity for targeted education on “cover your load” requirements.
   

1. ​Remember reduce-reuse-recycle. The most effective way to reduce waste is to not create it in the first place. Reducing and reusing prevents pollution, saves energy, and saves money. Recycle when you can by following your local recycling rules.
   
   
2. Reduce your consumption of single-use products. Single-use plastic products, like beverage containers and plastic film, accounted for 30.4 percent of the litter found on Pennsylvania’s roadways. To help reduce this source of litter, consider implementing the following strategies for reducing consumption of single-use products. Using any of these strategies just once a week can make a huge difference in consumption of single-use products and help to reduce the amount of single-use items that could become litter:
   • Instead of reaching for a one-time use bag at a store, have reusable bags handy.
   • Bring reusable or biodegradable travel mugs, water bottles and utensils with you to eliminate the need for single use materials.
   • Don’t take more than necessary from fast food establishments and convenience stores.
      
3. Dispose of your trash properly. By making an effort to practice responsible waste management, communities can be clean and litter and illegal dump free. Here are some ways to ensure trash and recycling are properly managed:
   • Learn and follow local trash and recycling guidelines.
   • On trash day in your neighborhood, take a walk around later in the day and pick up any residual trash that may be left behind accidentally.
   • Learn about special collection events for unused household chemicals, electronics like TVs, waste tires, and other items that cannot be accepted with regular trash pickup.
   • Ensure that contractors are properly disposing of construction and demolition waste at a permitted facility. Residents can report concerns of improper disposal to DEP online.
      
4. Manage your cigarette-related trash appropriately. There are an estimated 186.2 million cigarette butts littered on Pennsylvania roadways. To many people’s surprise, cigarette butts aren’t natural fiber. They contain plastic, leach nicotine and heavy metals into the environment, and take about 5 years to break down. While many vehicle models do not have built in ashtrays, portable options are available at nominal costs, and many businesses have cigarette receptacles outside their entranceways. Make sure to use these methods to dispose of cigarette butts and reduce cigarette butt litter. Quitting smoking is another alternative that is better for health and the environment.
   
   
5. Promote litter prevention and help share the message. Litter creates environmental and economic problems in our communities. It is important to share with your community that litter is unacceptable, gross and a problem for everyone. Take to social media and share how you are being a part of the solution, remind your friends and family of the negative impacts of littering and pledge to not litter. Consider contacting your local law enforcement and emphasize the importance of holding litterers and illegal dumpers in your area accountable. A sample letter from KPB explaining the negative impacts of littering and illegal dumping that can be sent to your local Magisterial District Judge is provided in Appendix IV. A statewide litter action campaign is also forthcoming along with a toolkit for anti-litter messaging. Once released, you can be a partner in spreading the word.
6. Learn Pennsylvania’s litter laws and follow them. Understanding your responsibilities under the law will allow you to be a better steward of our environment. See Appendix III of this report for a current list of Pennsylvania’s litter laws. Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful has also compiled helpful information on who to contact regarding litter laws on their Pennsylvania Littering and Illegal Dumping Enforcement Agencies webpage.
   
   
7. Make sure any temporary signs, banners, and lawn signs do not contribute to litter. Numerous federal and state laws and guidance manuals describe the lawful and unlawful uses of PennDOT rights-of-way with encroachments (for example, outdoor advertising devices). Temporary signs within the right-of-way not only can obstruct visibility or interfere with effectiveness of traffic control devices, but they also can pose safety hazards and are often left behind, causing them to be littered in and along Pennsylvania’s roadways. Since many signs are installed illegally or without consent of PennDOT, it is everyone’s responsibility to understand the laws that govern what can and cannot be placed within state ROWs to make sure that these signs do not contribute to littered items.
   
   
8. Leave No Trace. Taking the time to practice responsible outdoor ethicscan ensure that Pennsylvania outdoor recreation and natural areas remain premier outdoor recreation destinations for generations to come. This includes planning ahead and being prepared by knowing the rules of where you are visiting. To help prevent litter in our state parks and forests, consider repackaging any food ahead of your visit to minimize the amount of waste you create while visiting. If camping, inspect your campsite and rest areas for trash or spilled foods, and make sure to pack out all trash, leftover food, and litter. Check out DCNR’s Leave No Trace Ethics webpage for more ideas about how to be a good steward.
   
   
9. Secure loaded vehicles. With the goal of preventing crashes and injuries caused by debris falling from vehicles, Pennsylvania law mandates that any vehicle driven on a highway must be packed in a way that prevents its load from dropping, shifting, leaking, or otherwise escaping. Before setting out with a fully packed truck bed or trailer, make sure your load is properly secured. This will help to reduce the amount of items that might escape from your vehicle and become litter, as well as help to reduce the amount of car crashes associated with debris on roads.
   
   
10. Educate youth in your community on how to be an anti-litter advocate. Today’s youth will be tomorrow’s leaders, so it’s important that our young people understand the impacts of littering and how to be an anti-litter advocate. Demonstrate sustainable habits for the children in your life. Teach them the importance of not littering and keeping their environment litter free. Provide them with anti-littering activity books developed by Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful as part of the Open Your Eyes to Litter series so they can learn about the impacts of littering. By educating Pennsylvania’s youth, our future generations can help in the fight against litter.

1. Pick up litter when you see it. As Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, “Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean.” Take the time to safely pick up litter. Every piece of litter picked up leads to a more beautiful Pennsylvania.
   
   
2. Join a state-sponsored litter clean up or beautification program. There are multiple ways that you can get involved in regularly cleaning up and beautifying your community:
   • PennDOT’s Adopt-A-Highway program volunteers beautify roadsides two miles at a time. As a participant, you and your civic or volunteer group sign a two-year agreement to pick up litter at least two times a year. In return, PennDOT posts recognition signs along the adopted roadway giving you or your group full credit for your efforts.
   • PennDOT’s Sponsor A Highway program involves businesses and interested parties securing agreements with Adopt A Highway Maintenance Corp. or Adopt A Highway Litter Removal Service of America. These vendors use their skilled maintenance forces to perform roadside litter removal. The sponsored roadway will have signs placed that recognize the sponsors.
   • PennDOT’s Adopt & Beautify and Keystone Pollinator Habitat programs provide opportunities for local citizens and community organizations to beautify sites you select and design for the purposes of enhancing the beauty of the roadside, providing a positive first impression, providing habitat for native pollinators, and exhibiting community pride, which all help to reduce the likelihood of an area being littered.
   • The DEP-sponsored Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful Adoption Program makes it possible for individuals and groups to ‘adopt’ local areas they care about and help keep them clean and beautiful. This program compliments PennDOT’s Adopt-A-Highway program and is available for most municipal roads, trails, waterways and city blocks as long as the consent and support of the owner/maintainer of the property (usually the municipality) is obtained.
   • The Litter Free School Zone program is designed to encourage students to keep their school grounds litter-free and to raise public awareness regarding litter via a Litter Free School Zone sign to be displayed outside participating schools.
      
3. Join or support a local volunteer group. Additionally, many local communities and organizations have their own volunteer clean up programs. There are many other examples than what is listed here, so be sure to check with your local government or local environmental organizations for other opportunities that may already exist in your community.
   • Pick Up the Poconos sponsored by the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau is an active cleanup and anti-litter program in the northeast and has resulted in nearly 15,864 bags of litter being pick up and properly disposed of.
   • Tilden Township in Berks County has its own “Adopt a Roadway” program, where members of the public can adopt an area of local roads and commit to cleaning up twice per year.
   • The City of Lancaster has an “Adopt A Block” program where volunteers commit to cleaning up a block four times between March and October each year.
   • Tri-County Cleanways, a local affiliate of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful serving Butler, Lawrence and Mercer counties, is supported by the Lawrence-Mercer Recycling/Solid Waste Department and provides beautification and cleanup programs that volunteers can participate in each year.
   • Allegheny Cleanways has a “Gratekeepers” program, where volunteers adopt storm drains and keep them litter and debris free.
   • Friends Groups, which are state park and forest specific chapters of the Pennsylvania Parks and Forest Foundation, provide volunteers with the opportunity to improve and enhance Pennsylvania’s state parks and forests through litter clean ups and other beautification and maintenance projects.
      
4. Organize a community clean up. Each year between March 1 May 31 and September 1 November 30 during Pick Up Pennsylvania, registered events can get free cleanup supplies, such as bags, gloves and vests donated by PennDOT, DEP, and Keep America Beautiful. Consider joining thousands of other Pennsylvanians in helping to pick up PA and reduce the amount of litter plaguing our communities. If you decide to participate in a cleanup event, check out the following DEP and PennDOT-sponsored resources from Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful to ensure a successful and safe experience:
   • Steps for a Successful Cleanup
   • Guidelines for Illegal Dump Cleanups
   • Guidelines for Waterway Cleanups

If you see litter, pick it up!

Keep America Beautiful encourages everyone to take part in their 152 challenge and pick up 152 pieces of litter. Why 152? According to Keep America Beautiful’s 2020 National Litter Study, if everyone made the individual action of picking up 152 pieces of litter, our nation would be litter free!

​

​DEP Resources

• Pennsylvania Litter Research Study 
• Municipal Waste and Recycling Management Resource Page
• Electronics Recycling Collection Programs
• Household Hazardous Waste Collection Programs
  
• Waste Tire Program
• County Recycling Coordinators

PennDOT Resources

• Adopt-A-Highway Program
• Sponsor A Highway Program
• Adopt & Beautify and Keystone Pollinator Habitat Programs
• Litter Brigades
  

Keep PA Beautiful Resources

• Pennsylvania Littering and Illegal Dumping Enforcement Agencies
• Open Your Eyes to Litter
  
• Adoption Program
• Litter Free School Zone
• Pick Up PA
  • Steps for a Successful Cleanup
  • Guidelines for Illegal Dump Cleanups
  • Guidelines for Waterway Cleanups
• Illegal Dump Free PA Program
  
• Illegal Dumping in Pennsylvania: A Decade of Discovery
• Tri-County Cleanways (Butler, Lawrence, Mercer)
• Waste Reduction and Recycling, County Resources Page

Keep America Beautiful Resources

• Keep America Beautiful Model Ordinance

Municipal Resources

• City of Allentown, Local Ordinance: Part Seven of General Offenses Code
• Cheltenham Township: Special Events Application
  
• Tilden Township, Berks County: Adopt a Roadway Program
• City of Lancaster: Adopt a Block Program
• Allegheny Cleanways: Gratekeepers Program
• City of Reading: Special Collections Program
• City of Pittsburgh: Goals on Litter and Dumping (GOLD) Plan
  
• City of Philadelphia: Zero Waste Partnership Program
• City of Pittsburgh: Clean Pittsburgh Commission

Other Resources

• Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources: Leave No Trace
  • Pennsylvania Parks & Forests Foundation: Friends Group
• Pocono Mountains: Pick Up the Poconos Program
  
• Pennsylvania Resources Council
• Pennsylvania Department of Education: Pathways to Green Schools Program
• Keep Texas Beautiful: Young Texan Ambassadors Program
• Penn Live: Harrisburg teens spend the summer cleaning up neighborhoods
  
• Washington State
• Shelby County Environmental Court

​Sample Letter to Magisterial District Judges

Provided by Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful - October 2021

[Sender address]

[Date]

Honorable [First Name Last Name], Magistrate Judge
[Court name]
[Court address]

Re: Illegal dumping and littering in [name of municipality, county, district, etc.]

Dear Judge [Last Name]:

I am writing to not only share with you the high costs of illegal dumping and littering in our community but also to ask for your support in appropriately holding accountable those who commit these acts in [community name]. On behalf of the residents, businesses, and government staff who are working tirelessly (many who volunteer) to reduce the amount of trash in our communities, we need to focus on preventing these behaviors.

While enforcement is only part of the solution, it is a necessary component, along with public education and convenient and affordable disposal. Convicting those responsible and holding them accountable for the cost of cleanups can be a strong deterrent. The problem in our state is all too visible:

• Dumpsites can be found in all 67 counties in the state - 6,500 at last count, a conservative number. (1)
• There are also approximately 502.5 million pieces of litter on Pennsylvania roadways. (2)
  
• It is a growing problem. Just in 2020 the number of reports of illegal dumping, litter, and graffiti jumped 213% over the previous year. (3)
  

Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful (KPB) has documented the economic costs of illegal dumping and litter in our communities:

• Cleanups are costly, averaging $600 per ton, or roughly $3,000 per site. (1) This diverts tax dollars and staff resources that could be better spent on community infrastructure, parks or social programs.
  
• Pennsylvania cities spend over $68.5 million annually on litter and illegal dumping; the bulk on clean-ups, almost 69% or $54.5 million each year. (4)
  
• Removing this trash is necessary for residents’ quality of life. However, these cleanups are reactive and alone do not deter future dumping.

In addition to the economic burden that litter and illegal dumping pose to our communities, there are additional negative impacts: 

• Harming wildlife and contaminating our soil, waterways and groundwater,
  
• Depreciating property values,
  
• Attracting disease-spreading rodents and mosquitos,
• Sending a message that no one cares about the community, further eroding the quality of life. (1)

Often the communities most injured by illegal dumping, litter and graffiti are those already dealing with a myriad of challenges, both socio-economic and environmental. It is simply not fair when a small number of individuals avoid paying proper disposal fees and show a blatant disregard for how their illegally dumped trash impacts us all.

A 2020 public opinion study on litter, commissioned by KPB, which mirrored results from a previous poll on illegal dumping, found that many residents don’t take enforcement of litter and illegal dumping laws seriously:

• 84% felt there was little likelihood people would be caught. (2) 
• 37.5% also responded they wouldn’t be likely to report littering to authorities because they felt the perpetrator would not be convicted or penalized. (2)

Historically, a hurdle in penalizing illegal dumpers and litterers has been the difficulty in obtaining concrete evidence. Additionally, high-tech surveillance equipment is often simply beyond many municipal budgets.

Since 2013 KPB has been tackling these issues through the Illegal Dump Free PA program, funded by the PA Department of Environmental Protection. The program provides loans to municipalities of easily-installed, yet highly-effective, surveillance cameras. These efforts are paying off. As of September 2021, the program has installed cameras in 54 communities that netted 87 convictions and returned over $25,000 to municipalities and state agencies in fines, restitution, and court fees.

Another powerful enforcement tool comes from 2018’s PA Act 62, which strengthened existing litter and dumping statutes. This law:

• Mandated community service of 5 - 30 hours for first time offenders cited under the crimes code.
• Increased optional hours for subsequent offences to 30 – 100 hours.
  
• Created Litter Enforcement Corridors where fines are doubled or tripled.
  

In closing, enforcement is an essential part of reducing littering and illegal dumping, along with ensuring affordable, accessible disposal and public education. Through strong enforcement programs and broad public education, KPB with the support of District Magistrates, believes that we can ultimately change the habits and behavior of others and significantly reduce trash in our communities.

Respectfully, 

[Name, contact info]

References

1. Nestor Resources, Inc; Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful. Illegal Dumping in Pennsylvania, a Decade of Discovery. 2014.
2. Burns & McDonnell; Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful. Pennsylvania Litter Research Study. 2020.
3. Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful. Illegal Dumping Across PA in 2020. 2020.
4. Burns & McDonnell; Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful. The Cost of Litter & Illegal Dumping in Pennsylvania, a Study of Nine Cities Across the Commonwealth. 2020.

All of the above resources are available at https://www.keeppabeautiful.org/research/