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Brooklyn Law Review

Abstract

The problem of litter—and the efforts Americans have taken to eradicate it—has largely been a footnote in the story of environmental law. But litter has never been a small issue, both in terms of the magnitude of the problem and the legal system’s attempts to address it. Every state in the country and thousands of municipalities have laws on litter. Few areas of law are so ubiquitous. I call this body of law “litter law.” This Article is the first piece of legal scholarship to comprehensively examine litter law. How did the thousands of laws regulating litter come to be? How are they enforced? Do litter laws create any problems? And can litter laws be improved? This Article addresses these questions in four Parts. First, this Article traces the creation of litter law from the Twentieth Century trash boom to industry’s resulting push to individualize the responsibility. It then explores the numerous public anti-littering campaigns and the societal norms they influenced. Second, this Article catalogs the state and local litter laws those anti-littering campaigns inspired. It finds a pervasive world of litter laws in every state and nearly every municipality in the country. Third, this Article interrogates the enforcement of litter law, drawing on the jurisprudence of litter law as well as empirical evidence. It articulates the numerous problems with litter law enforcement, including First Amendment conflicts, pretextual policing, and lack of corporate responsibility. It concludes that litter law is seldom enforced and difficult to prosecute. Fourth, this Article sets forth ways to improve litter law. While acknowledging the successes of litter law, it argues that the traditional tools for cutting litter could use some sharpening. This Article presents several statutory fixes and best practices to address the problems of litter law. These changes can help make litter law more effective and enforceable.

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