Bags of litter picked up alongside Interstate 780. (Photo courtesy of Sindy Harris)

By Sindy Harris
Special to the Herald

Benicia may have noticed a cleaner Interstate 780 and its ramps lately.  My husband, Steve, and I hope so, since we adopted a three mile stretch of I780 and its adjoining on and off ramps through CalTrans’ Adopt-A-Highway program several months ago.  We have become a bit obsessed with our mission and pick up some portion of Benicia’s freeway or its ramps two or three days a week.  It’s a dirty job and neverending.  Nevertheless, it has an incredibly interesting (almost forensic) side to it, as the more we clean up, the more we see the anatomy of a litterer.  You might be surprised!  In this first segment of the Anatomy of a Litterer, I am going to share what we have observed about litterers, who appear to be female.
Aside from cigarette butts, which are the most littered item by far (scary because of the risk of fires), the next most littered item is dental floss picks.  I wasn’t aware that that many people even flossed their teeth regularly, let alone did so while driving.  But these little floss pickers are seemingly everywhere.  Right up there with the colorful dental floss pix are also cotton swabs. There is apparently a surprisingly significant amount of personal hygiene going on while driving.  *   So far, I would definitely predict women over men as the littering culprits of these copious items. Indeed, I might even go so far as to blame this type of litter specifically on mothers.  This pains me to say — because mothers always seem to get the blame for just about everything in our society.  But, doesn’t it make sense that cute, little green and purple floss pickers are used by children at the urging of their mothers?  Mothers are in charge of hygiene matters, and we are all told by our dentists virtually every visit that we need to floss more, right?  And, mothers undoubtedly encourage these same well-flossed kids to throw their pickers out the window.  And, of course, the roads are not anyone’s personal trash bin!
And, my second reason for believing females are the culprit of so much litter is the unbelievable number of straws and plastic Frappuccino cups or other icy beverage cups from Starbucks.  In all the months Steve and I have been picking up trash, we have NEVER seen a paper coffee cup, nor any of the myriad size cups Starbucks offers for their greater than normal number of hot beverages, only plastic cold beverage cups from Starbucks litter our roads and their accompanying straws.  If I were trying to solve a murder, and not just predicting who litters, this fact could substantially narrow the pool of suspects.  And, unfortunately, it could narrow it to female suspects alone. When was the last time you saw a guy drinking a Frappuccino? Drinking a Frappuccino with a straw?  Or drinking any beverage (his beer, vodka, etc.) with a straw?  Of course, one of my best male friends has informed me that he drinks with a straw every day.  So, perhaps, my stereotypical straw drinker is not only female!
It shames me, as a woman, to say, that my (un)scientific evidence shows that the most common items littered are apparently thrown out by women.  I implore my gender to do better. Show a litter respect. Benicia is not anyone’s personal trash bin.  Love your town.

Next: Anatomy of MALE littterers

Sindy Harris and her husband Steve are volunteers with CalTrans’ Adopt a Highway program. Sindy will also be a site coordinator at 9th Street Park for the annual California Coastal Cleanup on Sept. 15.

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