Litter, It's a Beautiful Thing

I don't know why this particular piece of litter caught my eye.  Maybe because it was at eye level, and the sun was hitting it just the right way to make it glow.  Maybe because it was a Harvey's cup.  But it got me thinking about the sheer volume of litter tossed out by careless, impolite people every day, and the resources that we have to put into managing that. 

I remember seeing scenes set in New York in my childhood - the trash scattered everywhere, blowing down the street when the wind blew. And I remember my pride when I heard about a movie company strewing trash up and down a street on the night before a shoot, only to arrive and find that Toronto Works had received a complaint and had shown up to clean it up.

Is increased litter a sign of a decaying neighbourhood?  Or does it trigger decay some way?  Either way, folks, don't litter.