partnered with keep america beautiful and national cleanup day for the inaugural nationwide earth day cleanup. cleanups were held in all 50 states, 5 us territories, 5,300 sites and had more than 500,000 volunteers. commercial properties such as retail, office and industrial have litter picking maintenance programs. this service may be provided by property owners or contracted to various service providers by property management companies acting on owner's behalf. litter picking is performed on foot using simple hand tools. a worker will walk the sidewalks, parking lot and landscape and sweep up litter material into a litter collection tool. contents are emptied into a waste bin on job site. in kiwayu, a kenyan island, some of the collected litter (flip-flops) is used to make art, which is then sold. litter traps a parks victoria litter trap on the river to catch floating rubbish on the yarra river at birrarung marr in melbourne, australia. litter traps can be used to capture litter as it exits stormwater drains into waterways. however, litter traps are only effective for large or floating items of litter and must be maintained. a recent watershed litter survey showed a difference in the composition of street litter and stormwater litter. monitoring dumping sites increasingly, there have been efforts to use technology to monitor areas prone to dumping. in japan, a study used geographic information systems (gis) to map areas of dumping based on site characteristics. another study used satellite images to detect possible illegal dumping sites. container deposit legislation container deposit legislation can be aimed at both reducing littering and also encouraging picking up through local recycling programs that offer incentives, particularly for aluminium cans, glass bottles and plastic bottles. in new york, an expanded bottle bill that included plastic water bottles increased recycling rates and generated 120 million dollars in revenue to the state general fund from unclaimed deposits in 2010. in some countries such as germany and the netherlands, container-deposit legislation has been introduced on cans and plastic bottles. parts of belgium are also considering adopting such legislation. people can thus collect refund value money from this type of waste. the result of this is that in germany, hardly any cans or plastic bottles can still be found along the road. in the netherlands, the amount of litter has dropped considerably since the new law was implemented, and 95% of the plastic bottles are now recycled. according to chris snick, the revenue that can be obtained from waste picking can be financially profitable in countries where container deposit legislation has been introduced: in 1 hour he managed to pick up 108 cans and 31 plastic bottles, earning him 13.90 euro (€0.10 per can/plastic bottle). by comparison, in countries where only the value of the aluminum for example would be refunded, 139 cans would yield only 1.72 euro (0.0124 euro per can; assuming there is 15 grams of aluminum in a can, and with scrap aluminum valued at 0.8267 euro/kg). fines no littering sign at a highway in cape cod, massachusetts. some countries and local authorities have introduced legislation to address the problem. actions resulting in fines can include on-the-spot fines for individuals administered by authorised officers in public or on public transport or littering from a vehicle, in which the vehicle owner is fined - reported by either responsible officer or third party, sometimes online. specific legislation exists in the following countries: united states - punishable by a minimum fine of $200 and a maximum fine of $1,000 or even more in some states for a first offence, community service, or both, as set out by state statutes and city ordinances. all 50 states have anti-litter laws, with various fines, community service, and/or imprisonment as possible punishment. united kingdom - leaving litter is an offence under the environmental protection act 1990. this was extended by the clean neighbourhoods and environment act 2005 under section 18. it carries a maximum penalty of £2500 upon conviction. however, many local authorities issue fixed penalty notices under section 88 of the environmental protection act 1990. often incorrectly known as "on the spot fines", they do not have to be issued on the spot. nor are they a fine. if an alleged offender does not want to pay a fixed penalty notice, they can have the case heard in the magistrates court. australia - no national legislation, although state based environmental protection authorities have laws and fines to discourage littering. the netherlands - dutch police and local supervisors (known as buitengewoon opsporingsambtenaar, or boa) fine citizens for throwing away cans, bottles or wrappers on the street. switzerland - dumping refuse and household waste inappropriately or illegally incurs a heavy fine. anti-litter campaigns the international tidy man many groups exist with the aim of raising awareness and run campaigns including clean up events. world cleanup day is a worldwide campaign. trashtag and plogging are examples of individual scale litter movements. in the united states there are a number of organizations running anti-litter campaigns. keep america beautiful was founded in 1953, and promulgated the word litterbug, coined by its partner the ad council in 1947. at least 38 states have high profile, government-recognized slogan campaigns, including don't mess with texas; let's pick it up new york; don't trash california; take pride in florida; keep iowa beautiful. national cleanup day is held annually on the third saturday in september. in australia, clean up australia day is supported by many major australian companies, firms and volunteers alike. anti-litter organizations include "keep australia beautiful", founded in 1963. it created the popular "do the right thing" campaign and its tidy towns competition became well known being a very competitive expression of civic pride. keep britain tidy is a british campaign run by the keep britain tidy environmental charity, which is part funded by the uk government. history throughout human history, people have disposed of unwanted materials onto streets, roadsides, in small local dumps or often in remote locations. prior to reforms within cities in the mid-to-late 19th century, sanitation was not a government priority. the growing piles of waste led to the spread of disease. anti-littering legislation seems to have existed in ancient greece, as is evidenced by a road marker discovered on the island of paros, bearing the inscription "whoever drops their litter on the street owes 51 drachmae to whoever wishes to claim them". to address the growing amount of waste generated in the united states, the solid waste disposal act of 1965 was enacted. in 1976 the federal government amended the solid waste disposal act, creating the resource conservation and recovery act (rcra), which requires a "cradle to grave" approach to the proper handling of potentially hazardous materials. rcra gives authority to the environmental protection agency (epa) to regulate and enforce proper hazardous waste disposal. many countries now have laws that require that household hazardous waste be deposited in a special location rather than sent to landfills with regular refuse. household hazardous waste includes paints and solvents, chemicals, light bulbs, fluorescent lights, spray cans, disposable batteries, and yard products such as fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and insecticides. additionally, medical waste generated at home is considered a hazardous waste and must be disposed of properly.