Litter Costs Us Our Health and Millions of Dollars

By: Ilse García Romero

Have you ever wondered how much of your taxpayer dollars go to cleaning up litter in your community? A recent Duke Environmental Law and Policy Clinic report suggests that in 2023, North Carolinians spent a whopping $56.3M cleaning up 14.6M of litter. This includes $32.0M and 12.2M lbs contributed by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, $22.4M and 1.5M lbs contributed by local governments, and $1.9M and 900k lbs contributed by nonprofits like Greensboro Beautiful.

The report also found that most of the litter collected is made of plastic, including about 60% of roadway litter and 80-90% of litter in water resources. The plastic litter collected is usually single-use containers, retail bags, and drinking bottles that end up being landfilled, bypassing the opportunity to be recycled. If these items are not collected, they can degrade into microplastics, damage local water quality, and wreak havoc on citizen health.

Another key finding of the Duke report calls for the reallocation of taxpayer dollars spent on litter cleanups. Instead, waste managers and volunteers urge the state government to address litter prevention more proactively. Some of their recommendations include:

• The continued funding of NCDOT cleanup efforts
• A bottle deposit program to provide a financial incentive for residents to recycle
• NC law reinstating the local government’s authority to regulate plastic containers
• Examining procurement policies and pilot programs that eliminate single-use plastic foodware
• Leveraging water quality policies to combat litter in waterways
• “Skip the Stuff” bills that require food service establishments to give out items like utensils and individual condiments packages only if requested by the customer
• Require Extended Producer Responsibility to hold companies accountable for the waste they produce.

Want to contribute to the solution to our litter problem?

As part of the Greatest American Cleanup, the country’s biggest litter cleanup efforts yet, Greensboro Beautiful is sponsoring litter cleanups through April 30th! Organize a cleanup with your friends using our Litter Hotspot Map, sign your group up here, pick up supplies at Gateway Gardens, report what you pick up here, and make a difference in our community. For more information on getting involved, visit our Great American Cleanup webpage. 

The Greatest American Cleanup calls for people all over the country to pick up 25 billion pieces of litter and beautify 25,000 communities across America in time for her 250th birthday on July 4, 2026. Join us by donating your time and signing Keep America Beautiful’s Declaration of Action!