Littering in Yonkers

Yonkers is the third largest city in New York and has a big issue with littering. Littering
contributes to a large proportion of overall pollution. Without addressing this issue, Yonkers
could face a severe threat to public health. It remains up to the citizens to do their due diligence
and prevent the negative social and economic impacts that littering can cause.

WHERE AND WHY DOES LITTERING OCCUR IN YONKERS

Littering is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “trash, wastepaper, or garbage
lying scattered about.” Littering frequently occurs in public spaces and on highways. Most of the
waste consists of plastic bottles, fast-food bags, and other junks.
The City of Yonkers defines it as “…waste material which, if thrown or deposited as
herein prohibited, tends to create a danger to public health, safety and welfare.” To understand
why people litter, we have to understand the psychology of the action that can help us better
battle this problem.
A California State University social psychologist named Wesley Schultz conducted
research to understand why littering occurs. “We found that the distance to a trash receptacle was
the strongest predictor of littering,” Schultz says. “So the farther away you are from a trash can

or a recycling container, the more likely you are to litter.” (Blouin) But oftentimes however, even
when there are receptacles nearby, littering still occurs. The presence of existing litter was
strongly predictive of littering behavior. So if you’re in a place that’s already highly littered,
you’re much more likely to litter than if you’re in a place that’s clean or free of litter.”
Southwest Yonkers tends to be highly littered compared to the northeast. Factors such as dense
population, poor infrastructure, and lack of any action contribute to the littering issue in Yonkers.
According to the City of Yonkers code, “No person shall throw or deposit litter in or upon
any street, sidewalk or other public place within the City except in public receptacles, in
authorized private receptacles for collection or in official City dumps.” Throughout Downtown
Yonkers, there are many receptacles for depositing litter; however, the problem is still frequent in
areas such as Locust Hill, Chicken Island, and Elm Street. Elm Street has the worst proportion.

WHY LITTERING CAN BE DETRIMENTAL FOR YONKERS CITIZENS

Littering is a major breeding ground for bacteria and other diseases. Littering is
something that accumulates over time, so when the issue remains neglected, it becomes a serious
problem to deal with.
In Yonkers, littering contributes to most land pollution. On land, litter attracts many pests,
such as roaches and mice, which can spread bacteria and viruses. In many park areas, mice can
be seen scurrying around here and there and sometimes even crawling next to citizens. Trashes
can also be scattered throughout the park. This poses a major threat to public health. Yonkers’
public parks need to have a cleaner environment and encourage citizens to pick up their trash in
parks. The more trash builds up, the fewer people will go to the parks. A solution to the presence

of litter in public parks would be sporadic days of clean-up by the community. The more we
seek a clean environment, the less people will throw away their waste material.
Streets and sidewalks are also heavily affected by littering. An example of this is Elm
Street in Southwest Yonkers. I have spoken with many citizens of southwest yonkers, and many
of them have said how dirty the street is. Most of the litter on Elm Street is waste material, and
while receptacles are placed up and down the street, the street still seems to be flowing with litter
up and down. Elm Street is on a hill, and the street is also small, so it makes sense why there is
an exacerbated problem with litter on Elm. There is also a denser population of citizens residing
on Elm Street, which means that more people throw away more waste material. The issue of Elm
Street requires the active action of residents on the streets. There should be a call for action by
the city council to improve the quality of life of Elm Street and shed its reputation as being the
most littered street.

ACTIVE DUTIES YONKERS NEEDS TO DO TO PREVENT LITTERING

There’s much to be done to reduce the high presence of litter in Yonkers. Primarily, the
City of Yonkers needs to involve the community in solving this issue. A year ago, Mayor Mike
Spano made a statement saying, ‘No one should be dumping in our community,’ after there were
complaints of illegal dumping on the I-87 highway. The strongest way to stop people from illegal
dumping is by forming communities and organizations that make it their mission to fight the
issue.

On June 2, 2023, many environmental organizations in Yonkers delivered over 18,000
petition signatures urging the state leader to bring to the Senate floor for a vote, the Packaging

Reduction & Recycling Infrastructure Act, and the Bigger Better Bottle Bill. In their statement
they said, “As trash incineration continues to exacerbate the public health crisis in environmental
justice communities like Peekskill, what we need is strong state legislation that tackles waste at
its source and ambitious benchmarks to break our dependency on plastic.” The first act would
require companies to cut their plastic packaging by half in 12 years and redesign what is left to
make it reusable, refillable, or actually recyclable. “The Bigger Better Bottle Bill” expands New
York’s existing container deposit law to include more containers such as tea, wine, liquor, hard
cider, and nips bottles. Passing these bills will help address the issue of water pollution and
create greener communities by stopping the use of toxic chemicals in packaging.
This kind of unity and shared goal for change can help reduce pollution in Yonkers. The
more we work together to reduce litter, the better it is.

IS PREVENTING AN ENTIRE CITY FROM LITTERING REALISTIC?

It is not always easy for changes to occur. Often, when there are actions to prevent
littering and when there are groups that form to fight pollution, the problem still remains. It’s
becomes somewhat of a natural instinct for us to throw out our waste material on the streets,
sidewalks, and subways. There are many reasons why the amount of waste materials has
increased over the past centuries. Most of what we drink and eat are packaged in plastic bags,
cans, and containers. Most of these are almost never reused and are therefore discarded as waste.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, when we want to do good by recycling our
waste, 9% if not less of our plastic is recycled. The problem always seems to never change and
sometimes even grow.

We need to acknowledge that all the problems that we face on land and sea have been
addressed by our hands. We need to accept that our major corporations have exploited and used
people through their unethical business practices and have created a problem for us that we need
to stop from happening again. We need to be smarter citizens and city officials in order to protect
our health. Littering can be prevented in our cities by changing our lifestyles. We must stop using
plastic for everything and start using either biodegradable or other forms of packaging.
Approximately 400 million tons of plastic are produced worldwide, so it is clear that plastic is
our enemy, and we need to stop using it. We also need to reuse our items as much as possible.
When we reuse our items, we don’t throw them out as waste until later on. These actions can
save our waters, our land, and overall our health. We must always keep trying to fight the issue
rather than give up and risk the spread of viruses and further harm the surrounding environment.

CONCLUSION

Littering in Yonkers will only continue to be an issue if we continue to set it to the side.
The more we neglect the issue, the more littering builds up. We risk an increase in rodent
infestation, viruses, and unsafe areas to live in. When we look at other cities around the US, there
are some that are struggling with needles in public areas, excessive garbage on sidewalks, and
very dangerous areas. In Yonkers, we are thankful that our communities are not as badly affected
by these issues; however, every problem starts little by little, so it will only be a matter of time
for Yonkers to be like these cities if littering is neglected. Everyone in Yonkers needs to be
united with the change we have to bring in our community