# Littering pre-1970: was it really like Mad Men? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 10, 2008, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/littering-pre-1970-was-it-really-like-mad-men/462928 "2008-09-10T12:30:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/littering-pre-1970-was-it-really-like-mad-men/462928/61 "2013-04-24T23:08:26Z")
No littering in my family. My dad was really strict about that. He wouldn’t even flick a cigarette butt out the window. I remember seeing car ashtrays emptied on mall parking lots. It always disgusted me. It’s been years since I saw anything like that. Now I see crack pipes on the ground. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/littering-pre-1970-was-it-really-like-mad-men/462928/62 "2013-04-24T23:33:34Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#): > > Watch it honey, that’s my neck your describing! 😃 > > From what I’ve seen in other very rural areas, dumping your garbage over behind the hill wasn’t all that uncommon in other places either. "[_O]ff the side of the side road there was another fifteen foot cliff and at the bottom of the cliff there was another pile of garbage. And we decided that one big pile is better than two little piles, and rather than bring that one up we decided to throw ours down."_ ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/littering-pre-1970-was-it-really-like-mad-men/462928/63 "2013-04-25T01:50:47Z")
I just rewatched _Fort Apache_ today. John Wayne’s character threw a whisky bottle into the Grand Canyon. I was shocked. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/littering-pre-1970-was-it-really-like-mad-men/462928/64 "2013-04-25T01:56:45Z")
Born in 1962. We simply didn’t litter. Huge no-no. Apple cores out the windows? Only exception… ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/littering-pre-1970-was-it-really-like-mad-men/462928/65 "2013-04-25T02:23:57Z")
It wasn’t uncommon to see people throwing trash out the window in the early 70s. It started to become taboo as the decade wore on. ---
**Author:** ![Qwakkeddup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/90ced4/32.png) [@Qwakkeddup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwakkeddup)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/littering-pre-1970-was-it-really-like-mad-men/462928/66 "2013-04-25T02:57:17Z")
That Tennessee Trash video was kind of interesting. There have been many occasions, mainly from one place that I lived where I witnessed people who pulled over to the curb and proceeded to clean out their car. Usually nice dressed older people in a nice car. A couple of them dumping right in front of someone walking down the sidewalk, and once in particular in front of me. Just tossed it off into my yard. Jerks. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/littering-pre-1970-was-it-really-like-mad-men/462928/67 "2013-04-25T04:44:52Z")
There was far more litter in the past. It was definitely something that changed in the 70s. That said, it’s also a regional thing. Or even a national thing; on my first visit to the UK in 2000, I was shocked and grossed out by how much litter London has. People just drop stuff without a second thought. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/littering-pre-1970-was-it-really-like-mad-men/462928/68 "2013-04-25T06:28:11Z")
Earth Day littering commentary, 1970 or 1971 or so. [We have met the enemy and He is US.](http://performancemanagementcompanyblog.com/2013/03/19/we-have-met-the-enemy-and-he-is-us-pogo-and-management/) (Scroll down to see the pics.) ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/littering-pre-1970-was-it-really-like-mad-men/462928/69 "2013-04-25T12:17:04Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > What, your theatres aren’t running the “please dispose of all waste in the designated receptacles” announcement along with the “turn off your cellphones” and “don’t talk” announcements? Ours have been for years. I know this is a zombie thread, but neither of the cinemas I go to regularly have these, or convenient bins. One sometimes, but not always, has a staff member with a binbag at the exit. They also don’t have “don’t talk” adverts, for what that’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/littering-pre-1970-was-it-really-like-mad-men/462928/70 "2013-04-25T16:26:36Z")
World population has more than doubled since 1960, so there could be both a _decline_ in the rate at which each person litters and an _increase_ in the net amount of trash we see at the same time. Also, smoking is down, and most of the people I see who are smokers have a much more relaxed attitude toward dropping unwanted things on the ground (everything, not just butts). That said, I live in a planned, environmentally conscious community in one of the wealthiest and best-educated counties in America, with a community association aggressive about policing up trash. Absolutely optimal conditions for the minimum amount of litter. …and there is **always** trash visible in _every square yard_ of woods, bushes, and treelines, and a fair amount rolling/blowing around openly in streets and gutters. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/littering-pre-1970-was-it-really-like-mad-men/462928/71 "2013-04-25T17:32:37Z")
As mentioned, it wasn’t uncommon to see people cleaning their cars by just tossing the stuff out onto the street and people though nothing of emptying their cars’ ashtrays out onto the ground. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/littering-pre-1970-was-it-really-like-mad-men/462928.md?page=3)