This command may sound harsh and inhuman; unless candy wrappers are made edible, too. But these small scraps of plastic are not the only culprit in our major problem on trash today. Cigarette butts are also one of the most common litter items. Can you imagine anyone eating an edible cigarette filter after smoking?

Studies show, about 20 percent of litter thrown in the streets, highways, and parks often ended in the waterways and carried out by flowing water to rivers and oceans. California spends around $30 million annually on clean-up and litter removal projects. In Los Angeles, the County Department of Public Works reports that residents throw cigarette butts anywhere at about 600,000 times a month. A quick computation would give 7,000,000 cigarette butts a year.

Both candy wrappers and cigarette butts take a long time to break, but the cigarette litter is the most hazardous. A single butt decomposes after 12 years and while undergoing the lengthy process, it is also discharging toxic pollutants such as lead, arsenic and cadmium that cause soil and water pollution. Because litters are swept away into oceans, some marine life may eat them and end up as food on our dining table—if these poor creatures did not choke after swallowing trash and die, of course.

5 Tips to Stop Littering:
1. Learn the habit of keeping small trash inside your pocket when outside your home. Empty those pockets in the waste can.
2. Keep a small waste can inside your car. Teach the kids to put the candy and chocolate wrappers in it, along with fastfood wrappers and plastic bags.
3. Dispose your cigarette butts properly. Stop thinking the highways as your giant ashtray. Even if you’re not a smoker, keep a covered ashtray inside your car for passengers’ butts and candy wrappers.
4. When cleaning the street in front of your home, do not use water hose to get rid of them in the drain hole. Sweep and scoop the litters to dispose on street garbage cans. Otherwise, the litters you sprayed down the drainage may come back in bulk the next flood.
5. Join the volunteer group for local clean-up of roads and streets. Some of the groups for litter prevention are KAB or Keep America Beautiful and Auntie Litter.

You live in this environment. Do your part to protect the environment. Keep your space clean.