Environmental awareness has come a long way. It’s easy to doubt that when you look around and still see litter on the streets in 2025, but remember that in the Victorian era people were throwing 'number two' out the windows.
Even once we got rid of that nasty habit, though, the entire span of the 20th century seemed to be plagued with littering. Trash was everywhere. Food waste, empty bottles, and even abandoned cars were strewn across streets, forests, and beaches. Not even the classic Crying Indian commercial could save the world from litter.
Enjoy, or maybe don’t enjoy, these photos from a time when people hated using trash cans and preferred to just drop their trash wherever they were standing at the current moment.
1
Then-just-elected Mayor of Burlington Bernie Sanders picking up litter after his electoral victory, 1981
2
Burning trash in the street in Manhattan in 1907
3
Litter building up at the bottom of an escalator in Blackpool, England, 1990
4
Litter on the ground in Blackpool, England, 1987
5
Pollution and debris in Boston Harbor in 1987
6
Overflowing garbage cans in Harlem, 1968
7
Litter lasts forever– 1960s-era trash found in the forest in 2023
8
Before-and-after image of a street cleaning in Nuremberg, 1930
9
Pile of garbage on a New York City sidewalk, 1968
10
An image of littered glass bottles in Michigan in the 70s
11
Garbage piling up in NYC after a sanitation worker strike in 1968
12
Grizzly bear enjoying dumped trash in Yellowstone, 1970
13
Picking up trash from the roadside in Vail, Colorado, 1972
14
Discarded pesticide cans by an airfield in Fresno, circa 1970s
15
A garbage cleanup detail wearing white suits in New York. They had to be escorted by police to protect against disgruntled residents. Circa 1890s.
16
A woman using a reflector on Coney Island Beach surrounded by litter, 1971
17
Picking trash up off the streets of New York, circa 1890s
18
Young people cleaning up litter in Fort Smith, Arkansas, 1972
19
Another pic of trash and tires dumped on the land next to JFK airport, 1973
20
Illegal dumping area off the New Jersey Turnpike, 1973
21
The land along Jamaica Bay, owned by JFK airport, littered with tires, 70s
22
Neighborhood kids in Brooklyn playing in dumped trash, 70s
23
Anti-littering installation in Times Square in 1955
24
Household trash dumped in front of an incinerator plant in South Brooklyn, circa 1970s
25
Local residents dumping trash in Pinedale, California, 1972
26
An anti-littering billboard along I-580 in 1972. Doesn’t seem to be working!
