Littering/Dumping of Solid Wastes onto Public Lands in 13 Northeastern US States (Virginia to Maine) and Key Cities. PRESENTED by Steve Spacek, Director, Am State Litter Scorecard (litterscorecard.com), November 9, 2019. Like on FACEBOOK, follow TWITTER @litterscorecard

1. CONDITIONS AND CHALLENGES:
THE 2019 NECoPA STATES (and Key CITIES)
Litter Scorecard
STEVE SPACEK
Director, American State Litter Scorecard (litterscorecard.com)
The Northeastern Conference for Public Administration
LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY
Brooklyn, New York USA
November 9, 2019

2. CONTENTS
Conditions Slides 3 – 8
Challenges Slides 9 -10
Conclusion Slide 11

3. CONDITIONS AND CHALLENGES: CONDITIONS
HENRY DAVID THOREAU and TEDDY ROOSEVELT were among those laying out
early Northeastern U.S. roots for Environmental Protection. Their legacy is best seen in
NECoPA’s New England STATES (ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT). Yet NECoPA’s NY, NJ, PA,
DE, MD, VA, WV --and America’s Southern States--saw far less initiative. Said ROBERT
BULLARD et al, these governments were “… plagued with symptoms produced by their
[politically-induced] maladies.” [“Seriously-contaminated community”] Land(s) [were
amongst] “the most befouled in the United States.”
One standout Malady: HUMAN-induced Littering/Dumping of Solid Wastes
onto Public Lands --Conduct unlawful in EVERY U.S. STATE!
--HARMS, Disfigures Landscapes…
--BREEDS Diseases, Insects, Pests….
--KILLS Humans and Animals!

4. CONDITIONS AND CHALLENGES: CONDITIONS

5. Its tough to measure actual, real world results. To answer inquiries about
littering/dumping, researchers use commonplace “surrogates” (data elements) that
adequately function to measure public performance, address problems, or develop
non-existent knowledge.
SOURCES: Dubnick and Frederickson, Public Accountability: Performance Measurement, the Extended State and the Search for Trust.
CONDITIONS AND CHALLENGES: CONDITIONS
TWO UNITS OF ANALYSIS
1. The NECoPA STATES--
13 Governments with combined total population of over 72 million (2017)
*Majority white with some racial diversity; politically moderate; little to no religiosity
2. Key NECoPA CITIES:
New York City, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, others
*Populations over 150,000; non-white; segregated neighborhoods; middle age; politically liberal
SOURCES: 2017, 2014, 2011, 2008 American State Litter Scorecard; Busy Bee Cleaning Services; Major Publications; U.S. NHTSA; U.S. Census Bureau

6. 1. NECoPA STATES
State ‘08 Scorecard ‘11 Scorecard ‘14 Scorecard ‘18 TEN BIG MOSTLITTERED ‘17 DEATHS ‘17DEATH%POP ’17PROFLITTR% BTTROVERALL’08-’18
NH 6 best 9 best 15 above avg NO 4 0.000296347 13.0921114 YES
ME 8 best 4 best #1 NECOPA 4 best NO 5 0.00037451 11.5655965 YES
VT 3 best #1 NECOPA 7 best 7 best NO 1 0.00016012 14.21206186 YES
CT 4 best 5 best 2 best #1 NECOPA NO 9 0.000251827 13.7141705 YES
RI 21 average 6 best 12 above avg NO 1 0.000094653 14.2261232 YES
DE 17 above avg 36 below avg 19 above avg NO 2 0.00020896 12.4672179 YES
MD 11T above avg 12 above avg 9 best NO 17 0.00028216 12.7116822 YES
MA 11T above avg 14 above avg 25 average NO 9 0.00013113 13.868976 YES
WV 47 worst 29 average 21 average NO 5 0.000275171 12.2726532 YES
NY 22 average 10 best 12 above avg NO 30 0.00015313 12.91990355 MIXED
VA 10 best 22 average 30 below avg NO 24 0.000283513 13.2770527 MIXED
NJ 12 above avg 14 above avg 11 above avg YES 21 0.000236259 12.5818708 NO
PA 31 below avg 23 average 15 above avg YES 50 0.000390916 12.8653205 NO
CONDITIONS AND CHALLENGES: CONDITIONS

7. CONDITIONS AND CHALLENGES: CONDITIONS
2. Key NECoPA CITIES
CITY RDigest ‘05 Forbes ‘11 Forbes ‘12 T+L”Dirtiest’‘11 T+L’”Dirtiest”‘12 SC RD10BIGCLEAN’17 BUSYBEECLEAN’18 BETTROVERALL’05-’18
VIRGINIA BEACH 33 NA NA NA NA YES #1 NECOPA NA YES
ROCHESTER 46 #1 NECOPA NA NA NA NA NA 33 YES
RICHMOND 34 NA NA NA NA NA 30 YES
BUFFALO 26 NA NA NA NA NA NA INCONCLUSIVE
HARTFORD 9 NA NA NA NA NA 23 YES
PITTSBURGH 23 5 NA NA NA NA 11 NO
BOSTON 5 NA NA 14 12 NA 14 NO
PROVIDENCE 7 NA NA NA NA NA NA INCONCLUSIVE
NEW HAVEN NA NA 7 NA NA NA NA INCONCLUSIVE
BRIDGEPORT NA 15 4 NA NA NA NA INCONCLUSIVE
CAMDEN NA 13 NA NA NA NA NA INCONCLUSIVE
WASHINGTON 13 16 NA 15 12 NA 12 NO
BALTIMORE 24 17 18 6 3 NA 15 MIXED-NO
PHILADEPHIA 2 12 3 2 6 NA 4 NO
NEW YORK 1 14 11 5 1 NA 1 NO

8. CONDITIONS AND CHALLENGES: CONDITIONS
NECoPA 2019 LOSERS: “Dirtiest,” Most Litter-Polluted STATES, Key CITIES and “Boss”
Phil Murphy
NEW JERSEY
Bill deBlasio
#1 Dirtiest City: NEW YORK CITY
Tom Wolfe
#1 Dirtiest State: PENNSYLVANIA
Jim Kenney
PHILADELPHIA
Jack Young
BALTIMORE

9. CONDITIONS AND CHALLENGES: CHALLENGES

10. CONDITIONS AND CHALLENGES: CHALLENGES
* REDUCE UNNECESSARY SOLID WASTE GENERATION
* RESPECT FOR THE RULE OF LAW BY CITIZENS, PUBLIC SERVANTS
ALIKE
* REUSE AND RECYCLE: MANDATE COMPREHENSIVE RECYCLING
PLANS/GOALS; CUT DOWN SINGLE-USE BAGS & STYROFOAM
CONSUMPTION
* INFORMING “PROFILED LITTERERS” BY AGE, BEHAVIORAL CHOICES,
OCCUPATIONS
* MANDATED, TIMELY, ADEQUATELY-FUNDED LITTER/WASTE
ABATEMENTS
* HOLDING INDIVIDUALS, PUBLIC OFFICIALS, CORPORATIONS
ACCOUNTABLE FOR UNLAWFUL ACTIONS

11. CONCLUSION
A “zero waste” movement continues to spread slowly from the pro-Green
New England region into the NYC-WASH DC region…and points south and west.
For over 40 years, polls continue to show this result: MOST NECoPA residents and
Americans believe the public sector “[is] not working enough to protect the
environment, and that economic growth should be sacrificed to do so.”
Successful performances are obligatory with many, if not all,
modern day governments. Littering and dumping remains a danger to public
health, safety and welfare. Public litter prevention and abatement remains a decreed
function of NECoPA states and localities.
Sources: Dubnick and Frederickson; Forbes, Reducing Litter on Roadsides; Gallup Organization, “Environmental Polls;”
Leal and Meiners, Government versus the Environment; Staley, “Research in Review,” Waste 360.

12. Illegal Littering/Dumping
Breeds Diseases; KILLS
Humans, Pets, Landscapes!!
2019, American State Litter Scorecard
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