Last week I broke a personal record.

Usually a cause for rejoicing, breaking this record made me angry, instead.

About twice a week my husband and I do volunteer work in two historic cemeteries in downtown Allentown.

One holds the remains of many local soldiers who fought in the American Revolution. The other is the final resting place for hundreds of local Civil War servicemen.

Each time we visit these cemeteries, I carry a pail, among other things. Any trash we encounter along the way is picked up and put in my pail.

Most days I have to empty the bucket twice as I make my way around each cemetery.

One day last week, I emptied it seven times before I finished one cemetery.

Why does all this garbage end up where it doesn’t belong?

Trash cans are nearby, sometimes within a few feet of the scattered beer bottles, cans, broken glass, cigarette packs and butts, bandages, condoms, discarded clothing, dirty paper plates, food scraps, needles, drug bags and other disgusting debris.

Perhaps the answer to my “why” question is because people get away with littering. Usually there are no consequences.

Like most municipalities, Allentown has ordinances specifying fines for littering. And although the city has surveillance cameras beside the cemetery, no one seems to get caught and punished.

Why?

We have found over the years that word spreads quickly when someone gets ticketed for a quality of life infraction, such as violating the animal control ordinance, and behavior improves markedly for months.

But regardless of whether or not someone may be fined, why are people littering in the first place?

Maybe they do it on purpose as a display of arrogance.

Maybe it is more convenient to toss a candy wrapper on the ground or out the car window, but how difficult can it be to keep a bag in the car for trash or to hold on to disposable items until a garbage can is spotted.

Litter is a fire hazard. It’s also harmful to wildlife. Birds often choke on paper or pieces of balloons left on the ground. Animals get sick from eating litter.

Litter also threatens water quality and aquatic life. Cigarette butts, for example, may seem harmless, but trillions of them are littered every year, releasing toxic chemicals into the ground and water sources.

Tossed cigarette butts also start fires.

Abandoned tires not only provide a great home for mosquitoes, they, too, are a fire hazard. And the burning rubber decomposes into oil and pollutes ground and surface water.

The litter that’s thrown into our cemeteries and farm fields can get caught in mowers and machinery, breaking the equipment.

Most litter is not biodegradable and will be marring the earth for years to come if no one cleans it up.

For example, tin cans can last 50 years. Aluminum cans can hang around for 500 years.

Plastic six-pack beverage holders last about 100 years. They also can kill animals which get caught in them.

Glass bottles tossed on the ground can last 1,000 years, while plastic bottles will hang around indefinitely.

Litter is expensive. Millions of dollars are spent each year for litter cleanup. Without volunteers who adopt a highway or park to clean, litter would cost government bodies even more.

Not only is it unhealthy for us to be around such filth, litter also sends a strong message that no one cares.

Litter spoils our surroundings. And it seems to be a lot worse here than in places I visit during travel.

Imagine a world without litter.

Each of us can make a difference by disposing of trash properly and by picking up litter when and where we see it.

The natural world is depending on us.