Easy Way to Save $70 million in California

By Manny Fernandez

DO NOT LITTER: This subject feeds into environmental sustainability and the simple methods we could ALL employ to make a difference . . . and save $70 million now spent in California alone to clean up our litter!

Following are a few simple methods we could ALL employ to make a difference:

• ALWAYS bring your own bags when shopping. Europeans have managed this gracefully for decades; no reason why we can't follow their sophisticated example.
• Phase out plastic bags and bottles.
• Just stop littering. Do not throw trash on the ground. Formalize community cleanup days to help develop awareness of just how serious littering is and how much it costs our town and taxpayers.
• Use cigarette butt containers: Cigarette butts should NEVER be thrown on the ground anywhere in the world for any reason, including Novato + 4.5 trillion butts filter into our waterways annually. Among the 600 chemical additives found in the average cigarette are arsenic, lead, formaldehyde, ammonia, and the pesticide benzene. The carcinogens from 100 filters can kill an adult human; we eat the fish that nibbled on those poisonous filters. Those carcinogens are in our drinking water. States with fines for cigarette litter include Oregon, Virginia, Washington state (fine is $1024), and Massachusetts.