<p>Research indeed demonstrates that littering is significantly more frequent when there is existing litter - for reviews, see <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0013916595272003" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Huffman et al (1995)</a>, and <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=RuBSAAAAMAAJ" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Geller et al (1982. pp 84-97)</a>.</p>
<p>A more recent review by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/JFM-06-2017-0025" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Vos et al (2018)</a> summarizes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Among researchers, there is a general consensus that littering is
significantly more likely to occur in a littered setting than in a
litter-free setting.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The authors discuss a number of other factors known to reduce littering behaviour, including the presence of others, existing litter being in piles, seeing other people picking up trash, and the scent of cleanser.  Factors that increase littering include lack of trash cans, and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory" rel="nofollow noreferrer">broken windows effect</a>.</p>
<p>As for long-term observational studies, your best bet is probably <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0013916511412179" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Schultz et al (2013)</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Findings are reported from coded observations of the littering
behavior among 9,757 individuals at 130 outdoor public locations</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some interesting findings from this study:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>... of all 8,990 individuals that were observed moving through a
diverse range of sites, 4% littered.</p>
<p>... the large majority (85%) of littering behavior results from
individual-level variables (e.g., age, gender, attitudes, and
motivation) ... 15% of the variance in observed littering behavior was
due to some aspect of the context (e.g., existing litter, lack of
convenient receptacles, etc.).</p>
<p>... for  every  unit  increase  in  the  amount  of  existing  litter
(from  0-10),  the  observed littering rate increased by 2%.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Lots more detail in the paper.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-26T02:36:44.247Z
2021-07-26T02:36:44.247Z
Arnon Weinberg
<p>Sometime in middle or high school I remember coming across this popular thinking of,
when an area or neighbourhood has some trash, it makes people think it's ok to litter there themselves, and the more trash there is, the more of an unspoken 'norm' littering becomes. However, the hope was that the reverse is also true, and if a neighbourhood's cleaned up, then it signals to people that littering is the anti-norm here.</p>
<p>But I have gone on trash cleaning walks around my neighbourhood in the past few months, and I can't say that that hope is totally founded. The street by my apartment building has trash reemerge with a vengeance within a week. It makes me think there's some discrepancy in how this is thought about. Like, it's harder to see during night-time, so it absolves you from confronting the results of trash on the grass, and the like.</p>
<p>Are there long-term studies around (various) neighbourhoods that study this behaviour, and detangle and clarify the different factors at play here? Other studies are good too.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-23T04:54:30.673Z
Related in Skeptics.SE https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/a/3593/43717 I seem to remember a similar question here but can't seem to find it. Maybe I am mistaken.
Chris Rogers
<norms>
How long does an area clean-up help it stay clean?
themorewerealize
# How long does an area clean-up help it stay clean?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-07-23)

Sometime in middle or high school I remember coming across this popular thinking of,
when an area or neighbourhood has some trash, it makes people think it's ok to litter there themselves, and the more trash there is, the more of an unspoken 'norm' littering becomes. However, the hope was that the reverse is also true, and if a neighbourhood's cleaned up, then it signals to people that littering is the anti-norm here.

But I have gone on trash cleaning walks around my neighbourhood in the past few months, and I can't say that that hope is totally founded. The street by my apartment building has trash reemerge with a vengeance within a week. It makes me think there's some discrepancy in how this is thought about. Like, it's harder to see during night-time, so it absolves you from confronting the results of trash on the grass, and the like.

Are there long-term studies around (various) neighbourhoods that study this behaviour, and detangle and clarify the different factors at play here? Other studies are good too.

**Tags:** norms

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Related in Skeptics.SE https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/a/3593/43717 I seem to remember a similar question here but can't seem to find it. Maybe I am mistaken.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2021-07-26. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

Research indeed demonstrates that littering is significantly more frequent when there is existing litter - for reviews, see [Huffman et al (1995)](https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0013916595272003), and [Geller et al (1982. pp 84-97)](https://books.google.ca/books?id=RuBSAAAAMAAJ).

A more recent review by [Vos et al (2018)](https://doi.org/10.1108/JFM-06-2017-0025) summarizes:

> Among researchers, there is a general consensus that littering is
> significantly more likely to occur in a littered setting than in a
> litter-free setting.

The authors discuss a number of other factors known to reduce littering behaviour, including the presence of others, existing litter being in piles, seeing other people picking up trash, and the scent of cleanser. Factors that increase littering include lack of trash cans, and the [broken windows effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory).

As for long-term observational studies, your best bet is probably [Schultz et al (2013)](https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0013916511412179):

> Findings are reported from coded observations of the littering
> behavior among 9,757 individuals at 130 outdoor public locations

Some interesting findings from this study:

> ... of all 8,990 individuals that were observed moving through a
> diverse range of sites, 4% littered.
>
> ... the large majority (85%) of littering behavior results from
> individual-level variables (e.g., age, gender, attitudes, and
> motivation) ... 15% of the variance in observed littering behavior was
> due to some aspect of the context (e.g., existing litter, lack of
> convenient receptacles, etc.).
>
> ... for every unit increase in the amount of existing litter
> (from 0-10), the observed littering rate increased by 2%.

Lots more detail in the paper.


---

