Litter Quantities and Composition: Nationally and in Selected U.S. States

This paperlooks at litter cleanup efforts and associated costs in Michigan, and attempts to determine the proportion of litter composed of discarded beverage containers. A few studies have previously attempted to estimate cost savings from the reduced beverage container litter resulting from container deposit programs. However, the previous studies have looked only at roadway litter. Roadway litter is just one category of litter, and does not include litter at parks, beaches, creeks, business parking lots, or other types of locations. Roadway litter also does not consider the costs of litter cleanup for stormwater system cleanouts. Before looking at Michigan specifically, we will discuss what is known about litter composition and cleanup costs nationally, and in selected U.S. states.These national and state cost estimates are helpful for benchmarking as well as for filling in gaps in information for Michigan. As we discuss below, litter cleanup costs are widely dispersed among public, private and nonprofit entities. The scope and budget for this paper does not allow for the comprehensive amount of surveying and information gathering that would be needed to estimate litter cleanup costs for all entities in Michigan.