BIODEGRADABLE LITTERING: SHOULD IT BE A CRIME?

"Oh, I never litter." Is this a truism, yet you discount any biodegradable matter as litter? Your efficiency in disposing of your earth-friendly trash whatever the happenstance, though it may be effective, should it also be ticketed?

Courtesy of Mario Kart?

PRO: Should hippie littering really be a criminal offense? If a coconut falls on a beach how is that any different than if I throw my apple core out my car window at 47mph? Why can't things that happen in nature be considered natural?

CON: A styrofoam plate will be a garish white blot on the side of the road until a loving girl scout comes to pick it up. A rotting pineapple is as much an eyesore.

PRO: Organic compost is a unique biochemical breakdown that makes for the best soil. People pay for horse manure. I volunteer to dump most of my trash in their yard. For free. What's wrong with that?

    A band of underwater criminals?

CON: The biochemical breakdown of even all-organic items takes much longer than you might might presuppose. A typical apple can takeup to two months before it is completely decomposed.

PRO: It is cheaper to ditch-as-you-go than to pay for it to be hauled to the dump. Our taxes could be reduced. Tuesday mornings would be quieter for the lack of Waste Management trucks. Also, biodegradable "plastic"ware tastes like tortilla chips.

CON: That they do. That they do.

YOU DECIDE:

                                    

LITTERING

Littering is knowingly depositing in any manner litter on any public or private property or in any public or private waters, without permission to do so.

"Litter - any solid or liquid material or product or combination of solid or liquid materials or products, including, but not limited to:

               any rubbish, refuse, garbage, paper, package, container, bottle, can, manure, or sewage;

the whole or a part of an animal carcass or

               the whole or part of any article, raw or processed material, Motor Vehicle or other machinery, that is disposed of; or

              any other material or product that is designated as litter in the Alberta Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, as amended and the Regulations thereunder."

IS THE ABOVE FAIR?

Are cats especially guilty of littering?