| The
Challenge of Litter in New Jersey’s Densely Populated
Areas
GBB Makes Recommendations Aimed at Achieving
a 50%+ Reduction in Litter
Fairfax, Virginia (April 15, 2005)
- Gershman, Brickner & Bratton,
Inc. (GBB) recently completed and presented a report to the
New Jersey Clean Communities Council (NJCCC) on a comprehensive
visible litter survey performed in 2004. The main finding
of the survey is that while New Jersey’s overall litter
rates are close to the national average, they are significantly
higher for urban streets as opposed to freeways/rural roadways.
GBB’s report recommends
that a media-based litter reduction program be implemented
in New Jersey with the goal of achieving a 50% or more reduction
in litter. The program should initially focus on reducing
deliberate littering along urban streets and target people
between the ages of 6 and 24. Subsequently, the focus should
be expanded to target people between 11 and 44, the group
that does most of the urban street accidental littering.
“New Jersey Clean Communities
Council uses an effective grass-roots approach.” stated
Steve Stein, Senior Project Manager at GBB. “Stepped-up
enforcement and more education will help New Jersey achieve
significant reductions in littering. A media-based campaign
will also help New Jersey achieve these goals.”
The primary objective of the
survey was to determine the extent, rate, composition and
probable origin of litter along New Jersey’s streets,
highways and other locales, using a unique stratified random
sampling model, and recommends strategies that help ensure
a successful media campaign to reduce litter. The model accounts
for factors that influence litter, such as roadway type and
adjacent land use, traffic volume, weather, income, county
population size, distance to the nearest city, and the type
and duration of litter control program effort. The report
is available on the NJCCC Web site at: www.njclean.org/pdf/New
Jersey Litter Report.pdf
Sandy Huber, Executive Director
for the New Jersey Clean Communities Council said, “When
I read this report, I was pleased at the level of professionalism
and the attention to detail. This information will help us
focus our educational efforts more successfully on the most
littered areas and the age groups that tend to litter more
heavily.”
The GBB Project Team included
the Institute for Applied Research (IAR), an international
leader in visual litter surveys. This methodology has been
utilized by GBB and IAR in 73 major litter surveys, including
one that led to the now famous “Don’t Mess with
Texas” campaign, and recent ones for the states of Mississippi
and North Carolina.
GBB is a national solid
waste management consulting firm that works on solid waste
collection, processing, recycling and disposal issues, including
construction waste and demolition debris projects for both
the public and private sectors.
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