The ACT is the second-dirtiest place in Australia, with the Northern Territory taking the top spot, but Canberrans might not be entirely to blame for the mess.
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The ACT has 40 items of rubbish per thousand square metres, a Keep Australia Beautiful study shows.
Canberra and surrounding areas litter at 14 times the rate of their NSW neighbours and 21 times more than Victorians.
The main culprits were industrial waste, plastics and cigarette butts, found around retail centres and highways, the report said.
Figures show about 21 cigarette butts could be found for 1000 square metres of land in the territory.
But the study said industry, transient workers and tourists might be responsible for much of the mess.
Peter Mclean, chief executive of the organisation, said he was shocked by the results.
"There's a reasonably high transient population in the ACT, and that may be related to the litter," Mr Mclean said.
"People passing by, tourists and short-term workers are less connected to the area than the local community.
"The ACT really needs to look at what Victoria is doing. They have more litter and a tenth of the population."
He believes there is a psychological element to Canberra's rubbish problem, and Keep Australia Beautiful plans behavioural studies, particularly on the transient population.
"A lot of Canberra residents have been doing the right thing and they deserve a pat on the back," he said.
But the study also found there had been some improvement in the litter rate this year.
And although illegal industrial dumping accounts for nearly a quarter of Canberra's rubbish, companies are making an effort – redesigning their packaging, looking to use less, or to use recyclable materials.
Clean-up costs for industrial dumping could cost thousands of dollars, especially if there were chemicals or asbestos involved, Mr Mclean said.
The main fight against litter was to change attitudes towards dumping, he said.
"We work with the transport industry – garbage trucks and things. But it all starts at home.
"Simply put it in the bin. If there isn't one, take waste home."
Cigarette butts were the number one problem Australia-wide, he said.
"Smokers don't see it as a major issue, but butts add up to millions every year. We also know they start thousands of fires every year."
One of the reasons butts ended up on the ground was that smokers would need to carry a personal receptacle for their cigarettes and there was a status issue around carrying a receptacle, he said.
"It is pretty uncool to carry one. But it's pretty uncool to start a bushfire."
ACT Emergency Services Commissioner Dominic Lane said Canberrans needed to ensure bush and grass fires did not occur from carelessly discarded cigarette butts.
Cigarettes caused fires in Canberra every year, and discarding a lit butt carried a $300 on-the-spot penalty, he said.
