Litter and trash in Las Vegas seen differently amidst the Coronavirus lockdown
UNR students return home to desolate streets, exposing a litter issue within the community.
by Krystal Carter
Nevada students returned home to Las Vegas after campus was closed in March to discover a slightly different city than the one they left before COVID-19.
With Las Vegas shut down because of the Coronavirus, issues of how the strip maintains its allure to tourists with flashy lights and clean streets emerge while the adjacent streets become clearly plagued with a persisting litter problem.
The backstreets of Las Vegas and open lots are normally dumping sites, and gutters are polluted with litter. Even with trash cans and dumpsters in sight, some pedestrians still improperly dispose of their trash on the ground without considering the environmental consequences.
Due to the Coronavirus, less traffic and fewer visitors give students and locals a different perspective of what really goes on in their hometown.
University of Nevada, Reno student Dejiah Cobb, said that “UNR is kept as clean as it can be. There’s never really trash around and the buildings are kept tidy. I rarely see that happening now in Vegas.”
With roads and sidewalks less cluttered with people, the excessive amount of litter in places like Downtown Las Vegas is stripping away the aesthetic features of the area.
“Locals should be willing and able to help keep their areas within the city and county clean.”
Long-term residents of Las Vegas call on other locals to help out within the community, especially during times like these.
Svante Singleton, a former Republic Services supervisor says, “Locals should be willing and able to help keep their areas within the city and county clean. They shouldn’t look just to officials to make sure that it happens. They should be able to make that happen themselves.”
Continuing to ignore the litter problem polluting our city will mean years of costly environmental impacts.
Rather than looking for scapegoats for the litter problem, more fortunate locals should take it upon themselves to take action and clean the community for the community’s sake. Meanwhile, the large homeless population that courses through the city of Las Vegas unintentionally services the community by picking up moderate amounts of trash and litter and repurposing it.
Continuing to ignore the litter problem polluting our city will mean years of costly environmental impacts. Svante adds that he’s seen the impact of improper disposals of trash, chemicals, and medication first hand. “I’ve seen it to where it impacts our water supply within the community,” he said.
When trash blows away, life goes on but how does the quality of life get better when litter pollutes most of the city and infiltrates our water supplies?
For locals, getting involved is the most effective preventative measure to take as a community to combat the fight against litter pollution.
It will take serious involvement from locals to consistently reduce the amount of litter and improperly discarded trash, to beautify the entire city.
According to Svante Singleton, getting involved and not littering is “just better all the way around for everybody, nobody wants to see eye-sore trash everywhere.”
For locals, getting involved is the most effective preventative measure to take as a community to combat the fight against litter pollution. Luckily for Las Vegas, the Keep Clark County Clean campaign outlines the specific environmental effects of litter in the Clark County area and a number of solutions and tips to maintain the cleanliness of the community.
— end —
Dejiah Cobb: dejiah2001@gmail.com Svante Singleton: bigsang@yahoo.com
