We feel for executive director of National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) Mr Audley Gordon as he recently voiced disgust at people’s antisocial behaviour.

“We have to do better,” said Mr Gordon as he focused on an illegal dump in a remote area of Middle Quarters, St Elizabeth.

“Why should [people] dig up the tiles at their house, but they carry it and just discard it here…?” asked Mr Gordon.

He identified other smelly, unsightly, unhealthy stuff left at the roadside dump, including sanitary napkins and roofing material.

“Jamaica is a small place. We have about three million people… Why are we doing this to each other?” he asked.

The answer is that far too many people have no sense of social responsibility; no concern for others, and no thought for the environment or even basic cleanliness.

We see it daily with people casually throwing paper and plastic waste through car windows or dropping it at their feet in our towns, cities and rural communities.

As is said repeatedly, littering — both casually and on a deliberately large scale — not only adversely affects the look of the physical environment, it can have much more far-reaching consequences.

For example, garbage often end up blocking water courses, gullies and drains; flooding homes, businesses, schools…

Much flood damage in this country is garbage-induced.

Ponds, whether large or small, formed by such blockages breed mosquitoes which spread deadly, life-threatening diseases including Dengue.

A casual look at our gullies often shows misplaced garbage with discarded refrigerators, stoves, car parts, and plastic containers of every size and shape, forming an unsightly partnership.

Inevitably, some of that is washed into the sea and rivers contaminating fish, other water-based life, and even drinking water.

This newspaper has often pointed to the importance of proactive efforts at all levels of society and in all available media to encourage behaviour change.

Yet, we are also aware that. for generations, Jamaicans have been exposed to basic environmental education through school curricula and teachers insisting “drop it in the bin” not on the ground.

Why such messages have not had greater impact is not easy to understand.

Yet, there can be no relaxing of that push for Jamaicans to stop ‘duttying up the place’. Instead, it’s a drive that must be stepped up in consistency and thoroughness.

Anti-litter laws must also come into play with punishment for those who breach. Our overworked constabulary needs all available help for that to happen.

In that regard, we note talk down the years for the use of cameras to identify traffic offenders, litterbugs, and others who break the law.

Mr Gordon is also urging people to use their cellphones to take pictures of those involved in illegal dumping.

“Take photographs of the truck… Just make sure the photograph can zoom in on the plate number… Give us the information, we will track down the perpetrators and …make examples of them,” said he.

Perhaps if we can make plentiful examples of offenders the message that people should think of others as well as a safer, cleaner environment will start to have a real impact.