Cutting down on fast food trash?

[verbiosa]

Today, for the third time in three weeks, I saw people stop at the exit to a parking lot and drop a bunch of fast food garbage right on the ground out their window. When I look around town, our biggest litter problems seem to be plastic bags from Walmart and fast food containers from everywhere. Pop, bags, burger wrappers. ech.

Our city is working on new initiatives right now to cut down on littering. There's a meeting next week as a matter of fact, and I'd like to bring something helpful to their attention. I'm wondering ... does anyone live in a town where there's a plan to cut down on fast food garbage? Does it work? What doesn't work about it? How could it be better?

Thanks for any ideas.

[darelldd]

We've tried like heck to avoid allowing fast food businesses in town.

What hasn't worked is that they offer lots of money, and some have made it in.
What has worked is that there aren't many (three in a town of 75k?).

I agree that it is a significant problem, and once the business is established, I'm not sure what can be done. Ban disposable containers? Make everybody come in with their own reusable containers, or make people buy them on site? Skip all the disposable wrapping if food is eaten on-site? Make fast-food illegal (can you imagine?) Dunno.

[Godiva]

Seems to me the problem isn't fast food garbage.

It's lazy-ass, inconsiderate morons whose mother didn't teach them to pick up after themselves and deposit their garbage where it belongs.

I say take their license plates, then haul their parents there to pick up their children's garbage. Be sure to let Mom and Dad know they're there because their grown children are pigs.

[darelldd]

Yikes.... well, yes I agree with that to some extent as well. Though even when all that trash IS disposed of properly, it is still a sizeable problem - just not as visible "in my back yard." Fast food places generate gobs of trash. Beyond the "fast" and the "cheap" I have no use for them. But the statistics show that I'm in the minority (as usual). The "lazy" part is what makes these places profitable in the first place.

[verbiosa]

I agree. It comes down to laziness. Especially the people the other day. They were five feet from a garbage can, didn't even have to get out of the car, just swerve over.

Well, I've been talking to people on other sites and think I'm going to talk to the city about increasing fines and putting up more signs reminding people not to litter. Maybe if they think they can make some money off of it, it will inspire them a little.

Thanks.

[skruse]

I offer these suggestions after doing environmental design and refuse-minimizing efforts in both rural and urban areas:

1. Eliminate drive-throughs. Have people park their vehicles and walk in. Several fast food franchises object to eliminating drive-throughs saying that drive-throughs amount to 80% of business in some cases. There is an additional air quality benefit when vehicles do not idle.

2. Eliminate plastic bags - encourage personal, resusable cloth bags.

3. Standardized containers - for collection, cleaning and reuse. With the end of oil, the end of single-use items is also in site. Allowing vendors to generate single-use items without responsibility only adds to expensive solid waste.

The NSF installation at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica has 37 categories of recyclables. The place stays clean because everyone models high ethics.

[hyo silver]

Maybe the trash could be recycled into more fast 'food'. It would taste about the same, and likely have similar nutritional value.

[robincx]

Two subjects I hate.
Hit them in their pocket book, fast-food, littering types pay attention when you take their money. Humans that have the nature of littering and consuming fast food have already eliminated themselves from the "can learn" column. Install ticket cams in reliable violater areas. Post the violaters names on "Keep Iowa Clean" billboards.

[priussoris]

well coming from phx,AZ. we had red light cameras why not tell the board to install cameras for your litter bugs to be caught on tape and fined, $500.00 is a pretty good " I gotta stop trashing up the joint I'm going broke" attention getter.

It's not the store keepers fault for selling a burger or whatever in a bag/wrapper etc...

if the camera doesn't work a good ole ass whippen should do or caning as in singapore for graffiti.

I also hate the thrown out cig.butts in the street or parking lots

[jimmyrose]

I like robincx's solution above.

But this is a serious problem with our youth, who, uncorrected, will continue to contribute to this problem for many years. I was traveling once on a highway in upstate NY with my nephew, who at the time must have been @ least 9 or 10. He was in the back seat drinking a can of soda. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw him throw something out of the window. I asked him what he just did, and he said, "I got rid of the empty soda can". Screeched to a halt on the shoulder, and made him walk back, pick it up, then hold onto to it until the next rest stop we took.

His rationale was that "someone will pick it up". I explained that he was to be responsible for making sure his trash wound up where it was supposed to go and not to leave it up to others. He's 30 now and still remembers this incident.