Scorecard: Indiana Remains Dirtiest In Midwest America

Online, June 11, 2014 (Newswire.com) - Indiana remains the dirtiest government in America's Midwest--an unwelcomed repute brought to light in the 2014 American State Litter Scorecard, presented at the American Society for Public Administration Conference in the District of Columbia.

This is the Hoosier State's second time to receive a distinction of having least clean public spaces, of all located in the nation's midsection.

The first Scorecard in 2008 provided Indiana with a 'below average" ranking of 30th of the 50 states. In 2011, the state plummeted downward to be placed among "worst" performers, at 45th. This year, it dived down to 48th, with Nevada and South Carolina the top two filthiest.

Washington remains the nation's cleanest state, but Iowa and Missouri were among the Midwest's top performers for tidiness. Neighboring Michigan and Kentucky also found themselves amid the "bottom-ten" least clean, with Kentucky attaining a three-times-in-a-row, "worst" state standing.

Spacek says that littering, the illegal human disposing of man-made items onto public property, breeds diseases and insects. The Scorecard claims that each year, over 800 Americans are killed in debris-litter attributed vehicle accidents, including 28 deaths across the Hoosier State in a recent 12 month period, due in part to inadequate and untimely litter removals by officials and contractors.

States were evaluated based on indicators such as littering slogans, recycling and beverage deposits legislation, stewardship of thoroughfares, and corruption risk of state government public service activities. The habits of its residents were also considered, including: licensed drivers' knowledge of littering and roadway laws and per-person daily waste disposals.

Spacek took Indiana to task for non-enactment of a statewide anti-littering slogan and legislative failure to enact container deposit and comprehensive recycling laws, despite media reports of vast voter support in research polls to pass Green legislation. Yet, Spacek said, the personal conduct of citizens has been "to a contrary; they are actually acting less Green in daily lives than they will assert to telephone opinion pollsters. Instead, Hoosiers are increasingly not recycling or reusing unwanted items that needlessly end up into landfills and incinerators."