How does litter negatively impact the environment? 

Everyday, millions of people litter and don't really think about how it can negatively impact the environment. They just throw it away and think that it will blow somewhere else and disappear.

Here is how litter negatively impacts the environment:

This is a picture of a beach being
 littered and food rotting on the
beach that can turn into germs.

1) Litter can negatively impact the environment because it can contain bacteria leading to diseases.

When people litter they think that the trash just disappears. Instead the litter blows away and it just lays somewhere to rot. When litter rots it creates germs on the object. Then, when animals come to eat it, they can get a disease-causing germs on them and pass it on to humans. This negatively impacts the environment because when one person or animal gets the disease, it is possible for it to spread worldwide. Studies have shown that litter can cause diseases here when they say that "If food scraps are left lying around in the house or on the ground, particularly in warm, damp weather, it will rot and lots of germs will grow on it. If people, flies, cockroaches, rats or mice touch the rubbish they can get disease-causing germs on them. Anything they touch is then likely to get some of the germs. For example, germs will get onto people’s food if it comes into contact with flies, cockroaches, or mice that have germs on them." This shows that litter can cause diseases because the germs on the rotting litter can spread worldwide.

2) Another way litter negatively impacts the environment is because it can kill animals on land and water.

This is a picture of a porcupine being strangled
by plastic can wrapping.

When people go to the beach they usually throw there trash in the water thinking that it will just wash away with the waves and eventually just disappear. But, they don't know all the negative impacts this has on the land and water animals. Just one plastic bag can kill an animal by suffocating them. Also, this can cause an animal to be extinct because the fish or any animal can eat the trash mistaking it for food and eat poison or trash that cannot be digested and die. Other ways litter can kill animal and fish are shown here: "Plastic bags and plastic wrap can asphyxiate marine animals and fish, and birds can easily entangle themselves in plastic six-pack rings and strings. Animals also get sick or die from swallowing trash, such as cigarettes and silicon packets. Metal scraps and broken glass can cut the flesh of birds and other animals." This shows that litter can kill animals on land and water because they don't know the dangers of the object being thrown onto the land or water. 

Littering is more than just making trash disappear, but think about all the animal's lives, and diseases that this can cause.