Young children often fall on litter in playgrounds and get cut or scraped and need medical attention. Every year, many people are hurt by litter. Litter also harms plants. Many smaller plants along the roadway are killed when covered with litter tossed from cars. If enough litter is dumped around a tree, it can be killed as well.
Few people think about the harm to plants from litter.
Litter kills or injures animals. Many small animals crawl into bottles or jars and get stuck and slowly starve to death. Animals get caught in plastic six pack rings, plastic bags, fishing line and a multitude of throwaways. Birds that are stuck, can't fly away from danger. Sometimes the six pack rings grow into the animals neck and eventually cause them to starve to death.