The pandemic creates a trash epidemic

ACROSS THE COUNTRY, AS THE WEATHER improved and pandemic lockdowns were lifted, Americans ventured outside and noticed that their neighborhoods looked a little different.

A little… dirtier.

They saw mattresses piled outside cemeteries and disposable masks clogging the gutters. Vacuum cleaners left in the woods, fast-food wrappers blowing on the highway, piles of tires. Neighborhoods that had been relatively clean before the pandemic were now full of litter. “There is garbage freaking everywhere,” says David Biderman, the executive director and CEO of the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA).

In Portland, Ore., the city picked up more garbage in 2020 than in any other year on record: 3,000 tons, 50% more than in 2019. Additionally, requests to clean up trash and remove graffiti were