Editor’s Note: Clean Fairfax occasionally works with people who need to complete community service hours ahead of a court date. This summer, we were approached by a person who had gotten pulled over and ticketed for littering a cigarette butt. They spent 25 hours cleaning up trash in and around their neighborhood, and this experience inspired them to share this article with other members of the community.

Ever since an assembly at school when I was in fourth grade, I have been environmentally conscious. I have been an avid recycler since I got a car at sixteen. Back then, you had to separate the recycling and drive it somewhere to drop each type of material into bins. For the last seven years, I have also picked up trash in my neighborhood every week after trash day because the animals inevitably get into it and spew trash around the neighborhood. I had quit smoking for thirteen years but recently started again. Although I was very conscious of doing my part for the environment, cigarette butts were a different story. I figured I couldn’t put an ashtray in my car because it would smell really bad, so I would throw them out the window, subconsciously thinking they were so small, what impact could they make?

I did just that one day and was pulled over by a police officer for littering. He gave me a ticket and I thought I could just mail in a fine and that would be that. When I saw a court date on the ticket I asked if I could just mail in the payment. During that conversation I realized this is a criminal misdemeanor and I would have to appear before a judge. Boy was I surprised! I have a business working with kids and I cannot have a misdemeanor on my record, so this threatened my entire livelihood. My friends and family could not believe that I of all people got a littering charge, but that’s where my thoughtlessness around smoking got me.

I called a lawyer as soon as I got home and paid him $700.00, knowing that I could also end up owing a fine of up to $2,500. He told me to voluntarily do community service before my court date and there was a judge in Fairfax County who would put everyone in jail for 30 days for littering. Cue more shock! I had a month to do community service and all the while I was terrified that I could possibly go to jail, lose my income, let down my team who would no longer have their jobs, and I could have a record and a huge fine to pay. I knew I deserved it so I braced for the worst.

I spent 25 hours picking up trash for Clean Fairfax in my area during the intense summer heat. Driving through my community, it looks pretty clean. Once I got up close, it was filthy. The amount of trash on the streets and sidewalks was just awful. I was quite shocked at the amount of single use trash. Whether it was a McDonald’s cup, a Chik-Fil-A bag with food containers inside, napkins, straw wrappers (sooooo many straw wrappers,) small alcohol bottles–on and on the list went. Almost everything I picked up was a single use item from food and drink establishments like Starbucks or Panera, which means the individual impact of throwing one or two things out onto the street, or an overflowing trash can that no one empties for weeks, makes the biggest impact. The closer I physically got to a store that served food or drinks, the more trash there was to pick up. It was so obvious what was causing all the trash accumulation. It was rarely big items I picked up, almost always small things, clearly caused by individuals throwing one thing here or one thing there, or not bothering to pick something up that didn’t quite make it into the trash can.

The second most common items I picked up were smoking related, including cigarette butts, lighters, empty cigarette packs, or items like the plastic ends of black and milds. There was very little smoking related trash in residential areas, but still a great amount of single use items. I could not believe the amount of butts on the streets and sidewalks. The bus stops were most definitely the worst for trash and for butts, and they even have a trash can at each stop. I learned that cigarette butts wreak havoc on the environment because they slowly leak a chemical cocktail of highly toxic and carcinogenic substances into soils, waterways, lakes, and oceans.

Once I was pulled over, I knew I was never going to throw a butt out the window again, but I didn’t realize until that day how simple the solution was. I was not going to get an ashtray due to the smell. BUT, the easiest and simplest solution was to just get a water bottle, half filled, and put each butt in there. How simple!!!! Of course. If I had bothered to put any thought into it at all, I could have figured that out. Instead, for one month, I worried every day about my career and income, having a criminal record, possibly paying $3,200 total, and maybe even going to jail. How ludicrous when all I needed was a water bottle. I also had to shorten my summer vacation because I had to be back in town for court. How I cursed myself for being so stupid.

I knew I was guilty, I was not going to deny it, so I did expect the worst going before the judge. I have never been so nervous in my life. By the grace of God, I stood before the judge and it was dismissed. I deserved worse, but I was incredibly thankful that my team and I were still going to have jobs and I paid $700 in total instead of $3,200.

Although I never would have littered any other item, I hope someone reads this and understands the impact that cigarette butts and all the other trash we generate have on our water and soil. I also hope to make people understand that, for example, throwing just one McDonald’s cup out the window or onto the street, is causing a pile up of trash and making our community disgusting. We all have to live here, it’s all ours, and we should each do our part to keep it clean. 

How I wish we as a society could somehow stop making so many single use items and for people to do their part and go out every now and then and pick up trash. I can see now that it would make a monumental impact on all of us and our communities. I am now aware that littering is against the law in the state of Virginia and expensive, so if nothing else motivates citizens, let it be that. Awareness is important.

Signed,

Lesson Learned!