Earth, Our Home Looking more like a pile of filth. By Julie Peller Ph.D.

An unfortunate sign of the approaching spring season in regions with cold winters is roadside trash. The fall foliage and winter snow no longer hide the trash along the roads and in the fields. The accumulating garbage visible in early spring reminds me of the phrase in Pope Francis’s Laudato Si, “The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth.” He made this statement in context with society’s materialism and throwaway mentality.

Much of modern trash is plastic-based; it does not decompose and accumulates over time. The ongoing rise in the production of single-use materials is another factor contributing to an increasing load of trash in the environment. Not only is the trash unsightly, filthy, and unhealthy, but taxpayers are footing the bill for the cleanup. The Alabama Department of Transportation reported spending over $9.4 billion in 2024 to remove trash from roads, which impeded progress on road improvements and safety. One official statement was, “If people were to stop littering, ALDOT could use those funds for much-needed road projects.”

North Carolina is another state with data on the burden of garbage. The cost of litter cleanup was over $56 million in 2023, according to the report “The Cost of Litter in North Carolina.” The state’s department of transportation spent $32 million, local governments spent $22.4 million, and nonprofits assisted with nearly $2 million. The recommendations by the organizations that studied the trash data (Duke University, North Carolina Conservation Network, Environmental Law and Policy Center, Cape Fear River Watch, Haw River Assembly and Mountaintrue) included i) implementing a bottle deposit program, ii) local government action on plastic waste, and iii) “Skipping the Stuff” to reduce single-use plastic consumption, among others.

Ask your local government how it is addressing this enormous problem. The city of Gary, Indiana, has initiated a program to reduce municipal solid waste, “Gary Forward: Reduce first, Reuse more.” It has partnered with the Plastic Reduction Alliance, and the Green Junction will report on its progress. Solutions exist. Are we all willing to learn, make changes, and prioritize reduction and reuse to create a cleaner, healthier earth?

Julie Peller, Ph.D., is an environmental chemist (Professor of Chemistry at Valparaiso University). She has been writing a weekly column, The Green Junction, for the past seven years and is helping to move the call of Laudato Si to action. Her research interests include advanced oxidation for aqueous solutions, water quality analyses, emerging contaminants, air quality analyses, challenges along the Lake Michigan shoreline (such as Cladophora, water, and sediment contaminants), and student and citizen participation in environmental work.