Litter (waste products)

When the Skylab space station burned up in Earth's atmosphere in 1979, the government of Western Australia fined NASA $400 for littering. It was eventually paid in 2009.

The 'Don't mess with Texas' slogan started out as an anti-litter campaign.

Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the world, with 4.5 trillion discarded annually.

Of the trillions of disposed cigarette filters worldwide, only a third have been properly disposed of. Two-thirds are in the environment.

Tires are the most often dumped hazardous waste. In 2007 the United States generated 262 million scrap tires.

The term "litterbug" was popularized by Keep America Beautiful in the 1960s. The organization was formed in 1954 with the intention of breaking Americans' "habit of tossing litter into streets and out of car windows.”

Walt Disney invented the modern public trash can. He did this to keep the smell of garbage down at Disney. Previous to this, public trash cans were made of wire mesh, which allowed goop to seep out of the bottom and the smell to escape. He developed a new style of trash can, a rectangular one with a lid and two adjoining flaps on top. The flaps locked the trash into place and prevented the smell from escaping. Disneyland was the first place to host them.

Robert Spears, who pleaded self defense, was acquitted of murdering a man and throwing his body into the Ohio River. After the verdict he was charged again, this time for littering the river.

"Dumpster" is actually a brand name and that the generic name for the waste container is "skip" or "skip bin".

12 is the average amount of steps a person will hold a piece of trash before they litter.