EarthDay'21: Gen- Z, Construct Workers apt to TX, Bexar Littering

By STEVE SPACEK Thursday April 22, 2021

Generation Z and those working in Building Construction-Grounds keeping are the largest, most inclined groups in San Antonio, Bexar County and much of the state of Texas to litter solid wastes
onto public spaces (sidewalks, streets, parks, rivers). 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 in the Lone Star State during the Covid-19 outbreak, said Steve Spacek, a native Texan and director of the American State Litter Scorecard.

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.

Generation Z is by far the largest populated, profiled litterer cluster in San Antonio, Bexar County and across the entire state of Texas. They are an age 16-25 demographic long known to local, county and state waste removers and litter researchers at the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT): High Schoolers, College Undergrads and Youngest Adults. A second prominent “prone to litter” group is Building Construction and Groundskeeper Employees, found in Bexar County and with Texas’ urban areas with rapid infrastructure growth. These blue collar workers tend to dump much more textiles, wood boards, sheetrock, electrical wiring, scrap metal and window panes than do Generation Z'ers. Two other prime litterer clusters operating locally and in Texas are Fast Foodies, known for tossing quick-served food packaging and beverage containers onto streets, sidewalks, parks, and creeks, and Cigarette Smokers, who provide the number one solid waste thrown onto public spaces in Texas and America: filters ("butts"). But research data from TxDOT, the US Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Insider and Construction Drive show Fast Foodies and Cigarette Smokers have a much smaller population presence, and cause less seen littering in San Antonio and throughout Texas than do Construction-Groundskeeping workers and Generation Z.

Last year, San Antonio made the Scorecard's "U.S. 15 Biggest Most Littered Cities" list, along with Fort Worth and Houston. All three Texas cities were noted for their widespread, visible waste litter; for whopping death rates from vehicle incidents with unremoved litter; for being a Centers for Disease Control epicenter of uber-high Covid -19 cases and deaths. In 2018, Texas made the Scorecard’s "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 Lone Star State for its #1 in USA stellar death count from waste and debris incidents, as determined from annual data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

website: litterscorecard.com Follow on TWITTER @litterscorecard