People often tell us their stories of how they didn't simply stay quiet when they encountered a litterer in the act. Some stories were dramatic; like the lady who got out of her car at a red light, went up to the car in front that had just littered and threw it back in the offender's car. Other stories were coy; like the guy who played dumb and walked over to a woman who had casually and deliberately dropped an old receipt on the ground. He picked it up and politely said, “Here, you dropped this.”

Of course it's very tempting to be snide towards a litterer and say something like, “Were you raised by wolves?” Or going one step further and picking the litter up and tossing it in a nearby trashcan and then sarcastically saying, “Wow, I can't believe how much effort that took!” But we advocate civility since that usually gets better results; (and it's simply the right thing to do, even if we've been guilty of doing otherwise). For example, one time while waiting at a red light the man in the car ahead of us dropped his cigarette butt out the window, so we shouted: “You dropped your cigarette butt!” The man opened his door; leaned down, and then picked it up. (Another time, though, with the identical scenario, the woman in the car made an obscene gesture.)

And if ever confronted by an especially obnoxious litterer, (perhaps a member of the pitiful litterclub), and they respond to your admonition by mockingly tossing even more trash on the ground so that they can feel empowered, please tell them, “If not for people like you StopLittering.com wouldn't be so successful!”