A new roadside litter survey shows that Islanders have reduced littering by almost two-thirds since 2005, Environment, Energy and Forestry Minister Richard Brown said today.
The survey was carried out for the Department of Environment, Energy and Forestry in Spring 2009 by the Southeast Environmental Association. Researchers counted and classified roadside waste from 100-metre-long sections of highway at 46 locations across Prince Edward Island. Results were compared to litter survey numbers from the same sites in 2005.
“Based on these numbers, there has been a great reduction in littering. In 2005, there was an average of 152 pieces of litter collected from each of these sites. In 2009, that average was down to just under 53 pieces per site,” the minister said. “That suggests that fewer people are littering in this province. It’s great news.”
Sarah-Jane Bell, chair of the Southeast Environmental Association, said the results suggest Islanders seem to be taking better care of the landscape by littering less.
“Disposable cups from various fast food outlets were the most common littered item found in the survey. The difference wasn’t significant between urban and rural sites but sites with the most litter were located about 20 minutes from the store in which it was purchased. Clearly some people throw out their waste when they have consumed the products rather than waiting until their next stop”, she said. “The challenge is to change this behavior which comes down to taking responsibility for proper disposal,” said Ms. Bell.
The most commonly found items in the litter surveys were cups - mostly from takeout establishments.
The next most commonly found items were cans (4.76 per site), cup lids (4.46 per site), and plastic bottles (3.57 per site).
Beverage cans (evenly divided between beer and pop cans) were the only item in the top categories to show an increase since the last roadside litter survey in 2005. At the time of the earlier survey, sales of carbonated drinks in metal containers were not allowed on Prince Edward Island. That ban was lifted in 2008.
“While we saw an increase in cans among roadside litter, that was offset by a decrease in the number of glass bottles that were recovered. More to the point, the bottles found at roadside in past years included many bottles that were broken and not returnable. All the cans found this year have been sent for recycling through the province’s Beverage Container Management System,” said Minister Brown.
Copies of the Roadside Litter Survey Report 2009 are available at http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/eef_litter09.pdf
BACKGROUNDER
Roadside Litter Survey 2009
Litter was collected from 46 sites across Prince Edward Island in the spring of 2009.
At each site, litter was gathered from a 10 metre wide area along each side of a 100 metre long stretch of road.
Material collected was sorted into 32 categories and counted for each site. Cigarette butts were not included in the count for the overall study.
The overall amount of litter averaged 52.91 items per site in the 2009 study. In the last study in 2005, an average of 151.21 items were gathered from each site.
The most commonly found items were (in order):
1) Cups - 7.5 pieces per site (13.72 in 2005)
2) Cans - 4.76 pieces per site (1.63 in 2005)
3) Cup lids - 4.46 pieces per site (12 in 2005)
4) Plastic bottles - 3.57 pieces per site (3.5 in 2005)
5) General plastics - 3.26 pieces per site (23.72 pieces in 2005)
6) Cigarette packages - 2.72 pieces per site (10.96 in 2005)
The most commonly found items in the litter surveys were cups - mostly from takeout establishments. Tim Horton accounted for 42 per cent of the discarded cups, followed by Irving (12 per cent), Wendy’s (12 per cent), McDonald’s (11 per cent) and Robin’s (eight per cent).
The next most commonly found items were cans (4.76 per site), cup lids (4.46 per site), and plastic bottles (3.57 per site).
Cans (almost evenly split between pop and beer cans) were the only litter items in any of the top categories to increase. This was offset by a decrease in glass bottles - 2.93 per site in 2009 compared to 6.7 per site in 2005. Overall, the number of beverage containers was down slightly with 11 per site in 2009 compared to 12 per site in 2005.
The study was carried out by the Southeast Environmental Association on behalf of the Department of Environment, Energy and Forestry.
Once the litter counts were completed, items gathered from the roadside were sorted and disposed of via the province’s Waste Watch and recycling programs.
This is the fifth roadside litter survey to be conducted, with previous studies in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.