Littering: What Would You Do?

Feb. 22, 2008 — -- Litter. You see it. You know it's there. But when you see litter in your community, how do you feel? Does it sadden or anger you? When you see someone litter, do you ask them to pick it up? Do you pick it up? Do you just ignore it?

In the "Primetime" series "What Would You Do?" hidden cameras have captured people's reactions to everything from elder abuse to racism to loud people on cell phones.

"Primetime" decided to see how people in Long Branch, N.J., a seaside resort town a little more than an hour from New York City, would react to "The Litterbug from Hell."

Watch the premiere of the series "Primetime: What Would You Do?" Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET

While Long Branch drew more than 111,000 visitors to its beaches this summer, on one windy, overcast day, the beach was uncharacteristically empty.

What activity there was seemed confined to the boardwalk shared by strollers and occasional joggers … and a young man on a bench who thoughtlessly tossed all kinds of litter on the boardwalk. Within moments there was a substantial pile of trash at his feet.

There was no question that people noticed this litterbug. Some momentarily stopped to take in this bizarre scene, but kept on going.

Then an older man came striding up the boardwalk and noticed the young man and the pile of litter blowing around.

"Hey, it's blowin' away," he yelled while remaining a safe distance from the young man.

The young man gestured as if he did not understand, which annoyed the older man.

"You gonna pick it up? No, right? Who cares, right? I gotcha," he said. "Thanks a lot. Have a great day."

And with that, the man stormed off and later pulled out his cell phone to call police.

But what he and the others didn't know was that the litterbug was really an actor hired by "Primetime." With hidden cameras rolling, producers were watching to see whether anyone would react to this blatant disregard for the environment.

A family of German tourists seemed visibly troubled by the mess the actor was making. But America's reputation for violence made them think twice about intervening.

"I didn't want to get in trouble with my family," said Christopher Wetzel, vacationing with his wife and two children. "You never know if he's going to pull out a gun and, you know. … You heard these bad stories, you know? Things can happen."

Likewise, another family of four stopped to consider the situation, the young children upset and anxious to pick up the litterbug's trash.

Geraldine and John Straquadanio were torn between a desire to confront the litterbug and concern for the safety of their son and daughter.

"I think we both thought the right thing to do was to tell him to stop," said John. "But you don't want the worst reaction to occur when we have two kids with us. Maybe if I was by myself I would have been a little more assertive."

A Female Litterbug

With so few people willing to confront the male litterbug, we wondered what the response would be to a female litterbug. But plenty of passersby ignored the female litterbug, too.

Andrea Plotts and her college-age daughter, also named Andrea, were on their way to a nearby restaurant.

Mother Andrea said she still remembers that iconic TV commercial of an American Indian crying at the sight of trash being dumped that brought so much public awareness to the littering problem when it began airing in 1971.

"I still think of the Indian crying … with a tear," she said. "[Litter] does bother me."

Her daughter admitted that littering disturbed her, too, but both women were more concerned about making their reservation on time than intervening.

Then along came someone who would seem to have a good excuse not to get involved: a young mom pushing her toddler in a baby stroller. Yet that didn't stop her from turning around, confronting the female litterbug and picking up her trash.

"I didn't think it was inappropriate for me to pick up her litter," Renee Kiernan said. "I'm visiting here, too, so I don't want to see it on the ground."

But, she said with a laugh, "I'm not going to pick up everyone's litter, no."

With so few people stepping up to take on our litterbugs, we weren't prepared for what came next. An athletic-looking man who looked to be in his 20s had been watching the litterbug for a few minutes. Finally he walked over and sat down next to her.

He asked where she lived and she responded Seabright, a nearby shore community.

'Come On, You're Too Pretty to Litter'

"They throw stuff on the ground like that in Seabright?" he asked.

And so began a conversation that lasted a total of 17 minutes. Our female litterbug continued to throw her trash on the boardwalk even while the young man tried valiantly to persuade her to clean up her act.

When nothing else appeared to be working, the young man tried a little flattery.

"Come on, you're too pretty to litter," he said.

But she wasn't buying it.

The young man's exasperation was starting to show as his questions became more pointed and personal.

"You do this around your house, too?" he asked. "What does your house look like?"

The litterbug gave him a dirty look.

Finally, a man with seemingly inexhaustible patience had reached his limit. He knelt down and practically begged the litterbug to let him throw away some of her trash.

"I'll take care of everything. Don't worry," she assured him.

But the young man was unconvinced and picked up as much trash as he could carry to a nearby trash can.

"Enjoy your day, all right?" he said.

We later learned that the young man, Bryan Gleason, is a Long Beach lifeguard and someone to whom the environment is very dear.

"I lived on the beach my whole life," he told us. "I live in Costa Rica in the wintertime. I hate seeing people litter. It is just the way I was brought up."

Adrienne Gelo, the actor playing our female litterbug, was amazed at Gleason's persistence.

"He was really concerned," she said. "He wanted to make sure that everything that I was throwing away, if I had no more use for it, he was going to throw it away for me."

Carrie Keating, a psychology professor at Colgate University, said Gleason appeared to be trying to form a relationship with Gelo, "for whatever his purpose might be."

"Primetime" asked Gleason whether he would have devoted so much time to a litterbug who was not an attractive young woman.

"I would definitely, you know, have said something," Gleason said. But, he admitted, "I might not have sat there for 20 minutes."

'Minding My Own Business'

Gleason was certainly the exception. On this day, 136 people walked by without saying anything to our two litterbugs. Just nine people stopped to intervene, including three older couples who weren't amused by the mess on their boardwalk.

"You gonna pick that up now that you threw it down there?" said one of the men. "Yeah, we got garbage cans here," said another, clearly annoyed. "All over the godd-- place. Pick it up!"

The men were losing their patience quickly.

"You gonna pick that up or do I call a cop?" threatened a barrel-chested man, pointing at the trash with his closed umbrella.

The litterbug responded, "I'm just minding my own business."

"You're minding my business when you throw s--- on my god-- property," the man said. "I gotta pay for that s---."

A blond woman in the group then walked toward the litterbug to attempt some gentle persuasion.

"You know what? Don't listen to them," she said to the young man, trying to gain his confidence. "Just pick it up. Please do that. I don't want you to get in trouble."

"Thank you," the litterbug responded, though still noncommittal about picking up the trash.

"The woman clearly felt that the punishment should fit the crime and turning the kid over to the police was too much for this particular crime," said Keating. "You could tell she really had empathy for this kid, whereas the men's tactics were much stronger. They pointed with the umbrella and really looked angry and dominant."

Indeed, these people saw the protection of their boardwalk and beach as their civic duty, their patriotic mission.

"We love this area," said Fran Katzenberger. "And we love this country. And I don't care what it is. Whether it's this area or the country, people shouldn't litter. This is what made America in the first place: that people cared."

One of the men in the group was reminded that he had referred to the boardwalk as his property. And a few minutes later, he wasn't backing down.

"It's my land," he said. "It's my home. It's my country. I live here. I fight for this place."

Like many municipalities, Long Branch has a littering ordinance. The penalty is $106 plus court costs.