Drink bottles and cans are a dominant share of litter by volume

Why this is its own facet

Single-use beverage containers — plastic bottles, aluminium cans, glass bottles and their caps — are among the most-collected litter items worldwide and, by volume, can exceed half of all litter in some surveys. They are bulky, highly visible, and consumed on the go, which is precisely the consumption pattern most associated with littering.

Specific harm

Beyond visual blight, bottles and caps are a leading category in marine and freshwater debris, fragmenting into microplastics and harming wildlife. Caps in particular are small enough to be ingested by birds and fish.

Why it is a distinct lever

Because the littered item carries intrinsic material value and has a clear point of sale, container litter is uniquely amenable to economic instruments that the rest of the litter stream is not — which makes it worth treating as its own facet with dedicated approaches.