The oversized soda can in the SUB is meant to demonstrate how small pieces of trash can turn into big problems, but the soda can is made of material that isn’t environmentally friendly.
The soda can, which stands about 10 feet high, is made of Fiberglass and Styrofoam, said Adam Greenhood, the creative director of the Albuquerque-based Esparza Advertising firm. Greenhood’s firm designed the soda can, on display in the SUB basement, for New Mexico Clean and Beautiful’s litter prevention and control campaign, Toss No Mas.
“This is not a pro-environmental campaign,” Greenhood said. “Just don’t throw stuff out.”
The process for making polystyrene, the generic term for brand-name Styrofoam, “pollutes the air and creates large amounts of liquid and solid waste,” according to the Earth Resource Foundation’s website.
The EPA classifies styrene, the basic building block for polystyrene, as a possible human carcinogen. Chemicals in food containers made from polystyrene can leak into food and cause health problems, the website said.
Greenhood said the soda can will be transported and displayed in movie theaters, shopping malls and public functions around New Mexico. The SUB is the soda can’s second stop, and it will remain there for about the next two and a half weeks.
“The reason people litter is that they think it is kind of a small thing,” he said. “It’s a big, big problem. When you read the nutrition facts on the back of the can, it has all of these really enlightening facts about the littering situation in New Mexico and how bad it is.”
Joe Lobato, the director of the Toss No Mas campaign, said his campaign targets 18-35-year-olds because they litter more than people in other age groups. Lobato said the country spends $11.5 billion annually picking up trash.
“This is money that could go into education, health care or other issues that are bigger than litter,” he said.
Lobato said New Mexico faces challenges in keeping trash contained.
“One of the challenges for New Mexico as a whole is our wind and properly contained trashcans,” he said. “Because if you have it where it’s open, it can actually blow away and create more litter.”
Lobato said that more than 6,000 pieces of trash litter every mile of road in New Mexico. He said people litter because they don’t care about environmental welfare.
“It’s been shown that they don’t care,” he said. “They think someone is going to pick up after them. They take no ownership in the environment.”
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