Trash on the Street
Everyone wants to live in a nice and clean place. Walking around the streets seeing trash everywhere is everything but satisfying. Streets become full of papers, trash bags, or other junk mostly due to littering. No matter how hard the city tries to keep it under control, the battle to keep people from littering still continues. For years, Detroit has been one of the biggest cities struggling with the cleanliness of their streets and neighborhoods in America. According to the Detroit Environmental Agenda, the illegal dumping and littering are one of the highest environmental issues that are considered very serious. On top of that, there is even little to no recycling in the Detroit
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area (7%). This is much lower than the national average at 26%. When walking around in Detroit, some streets can be seen covered in trash with no one around to pick it up. This is becoming a bigger issue not only because of what people dump onto the streets, but also because of the way it is impacting the people living in Detroit. If nothing is done to improve Detroit's sanitation, things can get really bad.
Causes of Littering
Many ask, why don't the people in Detroit leave their trash in the bins like everyone else to get picked up and properly disposed of rather than going into a neighborhood and dumping it? The biggest reason is that trash collectors are not doing their jobs properly. Residents of some neighborhoods in Detroit, such as Sterling Heights, are complaining about the lack of schedule that the trash collectors have. They are not picking up the trash when scheduled, leaving these people with bags in their yard. Not much has been said by the trash collector companies, but it is known that this is so because of the amount of cuts to the budget and the lack of workers within these companies. To add to the issue, an article on Business Insider states that the city has planned to cut off trash collecting services in 20% of Detroit. This leaves a major problem on even more Detroit residents, which explains why many find alternative places to leave their trash rather than their yard.
Read more on Budget Cuts
Read more on Budget Cuts
In addition to the trash collectors, many have been dumping trash and even dead bodies. Most of this dumping can really be seen in surrounding neighborhoods. Especially due to excessive amount of abandoned homes and lots not being looked after or removed. This is allowing people to leave their trash in these vacant areas and avoid paying fines. As a result, these areas have risen several concerns for the people within the neighborhood. It has been noted by the Detroit Police Department (DPD) that Detroit has become a dumping ground for people, including leaving dead bodies. Not only has this been increasing the amount of crime, but it is also impacting the surrounding residents. It is something that is hard to monitor since the DPD has other pressing issues to address. According to Margaret Dewar, an urban and regional planning professor at the University of Michigan, "There is no one to watch. There is no capacity to enforce laws about dumping. There is a perception you can dump and no one will report it." It can be easily seen that residents do not appreciate people coming in and dumping corpses in their neighborhood. One thing that the city is trying to do to help is enforce a fine for littering; however, residents having to pay fines for the amount of trash on the street, even if it is not their trash. The problem is that most of the residents are unaware of this law. A resident, Vanessa Kilgore of Oak Park, claims that, "They [government] should warn you that they are going to enforce this law [fines]. And, your first ticket shouldn’t be $100. We’re not slumlords." Most, if not all, of these fines are a minimum of one hundred dollars. For most Detroiters, it is extra payments that they cannot afford.This proves to be an economical issues on top of the environmental issues. It shows that neighborhood residents are annoyed and upset with the amount of trash being left near their homes.
Trash, however, is not limited to just neighborhoods. Although it is not as problematic downtown as it is in the neighborhoods, it is far from perfect. Potholes have been spotted in Detroit being filled with trash. Take a look at the video below.
Trash, however, is not limited to just neighborhoods. Although it is not as problematic downtown as it is in the neighborhoods, it is far from perfect. Potholes have been spotted in Detroit being filled with trash. Take a look at the video below.
Health Impacts
It has been reported that due to all of the trash that has been dumped around, people have been having a harder time to breathe. This is caused by the rotting smell that people are constantly inhaling on a day to day basis. Not only is this harmful to the people by toxins in the air, but it is also entering the water. that the people are drinking and using. This, water pollution, in itself is another problem that is very serious, especially in Michigan. It can have major impact on not only the people, but also life under the water such as fish. In addition, it is also affecting the animals that live within Detroit, such as house dogs and cats. They are eating some of the trash left on the street, affecting their health,