EarthDay 2021: Fast Foodies, Gen-Z's GOOD at Littering GA, SC, AL

By STEVE SPACEK Wednesday April 21, 2021

Fast Foodies, Generation Z and those working in Building Construction-Grounds keeping are the largest, most inclined groups inside the Atlanta Metro Area, across Georgia and in some highly urban areas of Alabama and South Carolina, to litter solid wastes onto public spaces (sidewalks, streets, parks, waterways). Wastes capable of breeding viruses, damaging landscapes and taking away human lives on a daily basis. This information comes as Thursday's 51st Earth Day is celebrated during the Covid-19 outbreak, said Steve Spacek, director of the American State Litter Scorecard and a public performance specialist.

Observations by psychologist Francis McAndrew and journalist Alan Bisbort, and findings from over four decades of US state litter studies have gleaned consistent, prominent litterer clusters marked by an engaged activity, by occupational employment or by age generation. These clusters are known in research findings as Profiled Litterers—persons most prone or willing to litter solid waste, anywhere, anytime.

Fast Foodies are by far the largest populated, profiled litterer cluster in the ATL metro area, across the state of Georgia, and in "city-fied" areas of South Carolina and Alabama. They are known for tossing quick-served food packaging and beverage containers onto streets, sidewalks, parks, and waterways with little remorse. The Generation Z demographic rules Fulton County and the city of Atlanta, a demographic long known to waste removers and litter researchers--High Schoolers, College Undergrads and Youngest Adults within an age 16-25 confine. Building Construction and Groundskeeper Employees litter much more textiles, wood boards, sheetrock, electrical wiring, scrap metal and windowpanes than do Fast Foodies and Generation Z'ers. The "Other" prone-to-littering cluster is Cigarette Smokers, who provide the number one solid waste thrown onto public spaces in America: filters ("butts"). But research data from Reducing Litter on Roadsides, the US Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Insider and Construction Drive show smokers have a much smaller population presence in the Southeastern US (GA, AL, SC) than do Fast Foodies, Gen-z'ers and Construction-Groundskeeping workers.

Last year, Atlanta made the Scorecard's "U.S. 15 Biggest Most Littered Cities" list. "Hotlanta" was noted for widespread, visible waste litter; for a big death rate from vehicle incidents with unremoved litter; for being a Centers for Disease Control epicenter of uber-high Covid -19 cases and deaths. In 2018, both Georgia and South Carolina made a "Ten Most Litter Polluted States" list, cited for outrageous, troubling volumes of unabated waste litter along pubic roads and other transportation routes. Additionally, the list recognized the Peach and Palmetto States for their stellar death counts from crashes with waste and debris. South Carolina and Georgia are among the USA's ten states for anyone's best chance to easily die from even a remote injury in such accidents, determined by annual data released from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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