Litter in Australia is prevalent in many areas and a significant environmental problem, particularly in the large cities of Sydney and Melbourne. In 2023, plastics make up 81 per cent of all surveyed litter.
A Parks Victoria litter trap on the Yarra river catching floating rubbish in Melbourne.
Platform of Strathfield station in Sydney, Australia.
Facemask in Gladys Elphick Park, Adelaide, SA.
Anti litter sign in Woodford Island, NSW, in June 2021.
Litter consists of waste products that have been discarded incorrectly, without consent, at an unsuitable location. The word litter can also be used as a verb: to litter means to drop and leave objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, paper cups, food wrappers, cardboard boxes or plastic bottles on the ground, and leave them there indefinitely or for other people to dispose of as opposed to disposing of them correctly.
Platform of Strathfield station in Sydney, Australia. Rubbish accumulated over months, perhaps years due to unsustained periods of frequent cleaning.
Rubbish on a street corner in Germantown, Maryland, left behind by panhandlers.
A small river's valley in India shows extensive littering of plastic and paper. Human waste, illustrated by the urinating man, increase fecal coliform and other bacteria levels in the water.
Littering in nature
