Litter is a big problem everywhere I think. Here there are people, volunteer groups, who go out regularly in their own areas & pick litter up. It does make a difference.
At present, on our main roads, the grass & wild flowers are quite high, but along comes the council to mow it & after that the litter really shows up & they never pick that up as well.
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Our village is generally litter-free because we have various volunteer groups who do a litter pick about twice a year where they go into ditches and less accessible places. However, our nearest town is dreadful - face masks, cigarette packets, chewing gum etc. There are plenty of litter bins too! A few years ago the council installed a loud speaker system which worked alongside the CCTV cameras and if anyone was seen dropping litter they would be told to pick it up. It always made me feel as if I’d dropped litter when it boomed out - even though I hadn’t!! That is no longer there though now and so the town is worse than ever.
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A couple of years ago our council employed litter officers and people were being instantly fined £50 even for dropping cigarettes on the street . Of course there was a hoo ha in the local paper and people were furious but it worked . They have now gone . It seemed the company were paying the council to do the job so a percentage went to the council so no strain on the council tax etc . Brilliant idea as far as many were concerned
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Same where we live Eliza, a couple of groups have started up clearing up litter, it wasn’t so long ago you were fined for dropping litter, when our secondary school was open…it’s now closed and pupils moved to a new school, …at lunch time, the rubbish that was left by some pupils was horrendous, from the shop where they bought their lunch,right up to their school, paper and boxes strewn all over
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You are all right loads more rubbish on the streets than pre lockdown. I belong to two litter picking groups as I am in the middle and we collect loads but still its there.
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I salute to the groups picking up litter, especially when there are children among them, it teaches them to have respect for people and the place they live, but it must make them angry when they have picked up someone else’s litter only to see it building up again
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Has anyone noticed a build up of cups/etc by traffic lights or slow/stationary traffic locations
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I haven’t noticed any of that Kazz, just litter strewn everywhere, in the bus shelter, there have been cans, crisp packets, sandwich cartons where the crusts are left in the plastic container…
There has even been private things, which I couldn’t repeat in this thread, not that it shocks me mind.nothing shocks me these days.
maybe litter bins are not such a good idea at bus shelters, in summer anyway, I’ve seen the wasps they attract…
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I would imagine it would be better than dumping waste in the bus shelter where wasps and flies hang out all over it…
They don’t need to put it right next to the shelter, but at least a short distance away. not half a mile down the road…
@pauline3 Where I used to live there was a bin next to the bus stop and it kept being set alight. It was moved across the road from the bus stop and was never set alight again. Mind you, rubbish was left at the bus stop after the bin was moved. It’s difficult to win in these situations isn’t it?
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What a lot of weirdos there are they could be bored youths i suppose. In the genteel country town where i live they set a fire in ih invalid toilets why for the love of whatever. On the FB page I suggested they be put in the stocks until they were begging for a loo,( it was zapped as being unkind ) no worries for disabled people needing a toilet - they wrecked the door too.
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Street litter bins were removed during the IRA bombing campaigns to prevent them being used to hide bombs in. That’s why bins are so few and far between.
Our local council has the opposite problem, the number of bins in the town centre are about right but they are almost always full to overflowing because the council can’t afford to empty them once/week like they used to. Now they are starting a trial of double sized bins so they’ll be able to empty them once every 2 weeks thus helping to reduce the area’s carbon footprint (or so says the pamphlet the Tories published last week). Cynical me thinks it’s just to save money because our council is well skint thanks to many years of Labour mismanagement of the finances.
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Try and find a litter bin at London rail stations for the same reason .
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Even after a quadruple bypass, she’s out there with her litter picker, I must get my son to order one, isn’t it just great when we all do our part to make this earth a much better cleaner world…
She’s a real star, @Eliza, thank you for sharing,
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If you think your areas are full of litter you need to read this article in today’s Mail on Sunday about Glasgow: Climate change summit: Nicola Sturgeon's SNP turned Glasgow into environmental disaster | Daily Mail Online
That Nicola must wield enormous power if she is also responsible for Glasgow being the eighth hotspot in Europe for Covid and the difference in life expectancy.
From the first paragraph it read like a puff piece for the city’s Conservative Party Councillors as they are the only people quoted in the article. Perhaps you should ask yourself, “Does the Daily Mail support the Tory Party?” Because it certainly reads as if they do.
The litter is often caused by people who don’t care anymore & councils who don’t want to spend money.
In the past if my household waste couldn’t be collected for some reason, I would take it myself to the council waste site & help any older people who could not do the same.
As a child my friends and I were taught not to drop litter on the floor, just take it to the nearest bin , yet somebody dropped a MacDonalds bag on my front path on Saturday evening, ( so probably a teenager walking home, as Macdonalds is a mile from my house). What is wrong with their bin at home?
Where I live it is just a few lazy people, so the streets are generally clean,
Perhaps people are just becoming bone idle, so wont walk a few extra feet to put things in a bin and leave it for somebody else to do.
I also blame the supermarkets for forcing us to buy a bag of fruit and veg, rather than just what we need.
Why do they need to package most of what they sell? WHY? Because it makes more money if we buy a lot ( so eat more or throw it away) & they don’t need as many staff to serve people who want smaller portions!
Chain gangs that’s the answer all have to wear pink track suits:)