In South Africa, littering is a problem you’ll likely run into daily. On long and busy stretches of road, it is a commonality to see someone in the vehicle in front of you discard a paper or a fast-food container out of the window. It does not take an eagle-eyed individual to spot this problem, even if you did not physically see someone litter throughout the day, you would have likely seen the aftereffects of these wrongdoings. In every gutter you would find waste, on every street corner where people leave their garbage for removal, you would see loose pieces of litter added onto the pile. The difficult truth is that every individual is responsible for our environment and by not actively participating in the struggle against environmental harm, we are putting ourselves at risk. Every piece of waste that does not end up in a recycling bin or a dustbin is an added ripple and when all these ripples compound to form waves, then a flood of danger is upon us.
This danger comes in many forms, the most notable form of danger comes in the form of fire. In South Africa, there are densely packed informal settlements that are at risk of setting ablaze, especially in the drier parts of the country. Litter is composed of materials that can reflect the sun and materials that are extremely flammable. Not only will litter be a problem, but the wood chips, peat, moss, and chemical fertilizers in the soil are also combustible. Imagine something as small as a chocolate wrapper landing up in a field near an informal settlement, if this wrapper reflects sunlight onto dry grass in the area and the field starts to burn, then the fire will spread. This fire is dangerous and once an informal dwelling catches fire, the likelihood of four or five other dwellings catching fire is high. Something as small as a chocolate wrapper can ruin the well-being of five families.
This is a small issue compared to the health risks brought about by littering and dumping. In areas where littering is common, small pieces of litter can compound to form garbage piles. These garbage piles become breeding grounds for pests and insects. Diseases like cholera and E.coli use flies as vectors to spread while mosquitoes also proliferate in these dumps and can cause malaria in certain parts of South Africa. Another disease on the rise in South Africa is rabies, another disease that can be spread by rats that use garbage dumps as feeding grounds. These rats will not only attack humans that use the garbage dumps as a means of income, but they can also bite stray dogs and cats which are much harder to avoid than some pesky rats.
Infection is also common when considering littering, especially in cases where a glass container is discarded of next to the road. It takes a misplaced foot and a sharp glass shard from a dirty glass bottle to cause an infected wound. Imagine a glass bottle that you wrongfully threw on the side of the road a week ago, ends up becoming an infection for a child innocently playing on the sidewalk, it does make you reconsider the choices you make regarding the environment daily.
In rare cases you can also find discarded needles in garbage dumps, these needles are not only sharp enough to cause severe bleeding, but they could be the cause of blood-born diseases spreading. A notable example of these blood-born diseases is HIV, a disease that is extremely common in South Africa. The main takeaway is to be vigilant, and never downplay your actions today, because you never know if your ripple might become a tsunami for someone else. A wrapper thrown on the floor might become a burnt-down home for someone else, a bottle on the floor might be a week in the hospital for someone else, a piece of paper next to the road from every South African individual, might be the start of a breeding ground for the rat that spreads incurable rabies. Always be mindful, be responsible with mother nature, and mother nature will be responsible with you.
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