Christoph S

2026-01-17 10:47:36

How Corporations Convinced America that Litter is Our Fault

Littering only became a real public issue in the States after World War 2, when disposable containers first began to flood the market. It only became a real taboo 20 years later, and not because tree-hugging hippies felt strongly that Americans must hold their garbage until they find the nearest dumpster! When our rivers, forests and sidewalks began to overflow with trash, environmentalists went straight to the source, demanding that corporations put a stop to single-use packaging. But companies didn’t like that idea, shockingly enough, and so they created their own campaign: Keep America Beautiful, which placed the blame on the individual. If industries could convince Americans that litter was a personal failing, then no one would ask where it came from in the first place.

#littering #capitalism

https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-sinister-origins-of-americas-anti-litter-movement

How Corporations Convinced America that Litter is Our Fault

The "Keep America Beautiful" campaign urged Americans to pick up their trash—so that companies could keep producing it.

^{Emily Topping (Current Affairs)}