Setting the Record Straight: The Blaze Doesn't Litter in Its 'Big Drink' Exclusive

Earlier today, The Blaze's assistant editor Tiffany Gabbay posted a video in which she took to the streets of New York City to purchase as many high-caloric and sugary drinks before Mayor Michael Bloomberg's ban on ginormous soft drinks goes into effect.

The video, although highly entertaining, did cause me some concern -- and it's not just the freedom to drink week's worth of calories in one afternoon. It's that apparently The Blaze litters. I saw red flags at 4:40 when the 16 ounce-plus drink containers were nonchalantly left by the side of the road.

Does Tiffany not know you can be fined for littering in Manhattan? Does she not know it's $50 for the first offense and the second and third repeat offenses within a year are $250 and $350, respectively. Considering that Tiffany set down four drinks -- and if we follow the trend and make the fourth offense a $450 fine -- we're looking at a $1,100 fine.

I had to investigate this horrible oversight lest any environmentalists attack the Blaze for committing such heinous crime. Tiffany swiftly informed me this was just for show and we can all rest assured Mother Earth wasn't caused any harm during the filming of this video.

Still, this brought to mind an interesting point with the large drink ban. A lot less plastic is used and thrown away from one large fountain pop (yes, I'm from the Midwest and say "pop") than a slew of smaller fountain drink containers. Therefore, if people are going to seek out their liquid sugar high anyway, not only should businesses have the freedom to market any size drink they please, but it actually could be better (environmentally) to go jumbo.

But I'm really just relieved that I don't work with a litter bug.

Check out Tiffany's full post and see the video here.