Litter

[Daisy]

I have always hated to see litter anywhere, but this last couple of years it seems to have got worse and worse. It seems as though people have got no pride in their towns, cities or countryside - but then when you see what gets washed up on beaches you realise our oceans are treated like giant rubbish dumps as well.

What brought it home to me recently was travelling on the A34 around Newbury in Berkshire, and up towards the M40. Every inch of verge and central reservation was covered in plastic bottle, plastic bags, discarded fast food containers, unidentifiable rubbish - on and on. It was disgusting. The contrast with the M6 toll road was chalk and cheese. On both journeys we saw litter pickers out keeping the well-kept verges immaculate.

But, people shouldn't have to go round picking up other people's discarded rubbish. Why can't they take it home with them.

Would it help if car manufacturers designed spaces for rubbish bags or containers, I wonder.

If I occasionally eat while I'm driving, I throw any rubbish into the passenger well and take it to our bin when I get home. It's not hard, it's not rocket science.

Rant over - but what do you think? Am I being unreasonable?

[Lizzie48]

I agree with you Daisy, you are not being unreasonable. I can never understand why people throw rubbish on the streets. It doesn't seem as bad here at the road sides, I brought my children up not to throw rubbish down and I know they never do, GD the same, I live near Lidl with a bakery, also a school in the area, the children go and get their cakes etc there, walk outside eating what they have bought, throw the brown bags on the ground, it has been talked about both with Lidl ( not their fault) and the school, the houses between the Lidl and school complain, it does seem to be improving, that is just one of the things. So much plastic litter, we do have deposit on the larger plastic bottles here and they are planning on bringing it in for the smaller ones.

We save out waste and take it, like in the UK, to a depot, ours is near the shops so very handy for papers, glass etc, it is is busy at the shops there seems to be always someone that throws a bag in the container, blocks the shute so no-one else can get rid of what they have, most people take it home to try again, always some that put their bags next to the container, along come the birds and before you know it the litter is everywhere! Rant over! But, I agree with you.

[Lizzie48]

I am just thinking to myself of a very funny thing happening when I first came to live here. The Dutch had deposit on milk bottles etc, no-one thought to imform me of this, I couldn't speak a word of Dutch, the milk man came to the house we had a few times a week, I had saved the empty bottles and gave them to him, instead of me having to pay him for the milk he gave me money!!!! I couldn't understand this until someone explained it to me.

[Gemini]

It's disgusting Daisy, something which annoys me immensely too.

I often wonder what visitors to the UK think, as they are driven away from airports to see plastic litter all around them.
Some areas are worse than others, but it seems to be all over the place.
I once saw a whole pile of rubbish in B&Q car park. The driver obviously decided to tidy up the car and dump the rubbish where they had parked. Never mind that there are bins if you must tidy your car in a car park!

I lived in town for over 20 years. It was common for me to have to remove coke bottles, beer cans, sandwich and and fish and chip wrappers from the front hedge! No way had they blown there, they were firmly wedged in . People would be eating or drinking, finish up then deposit them in the convenient hedge-bin

[Oma]

Don't get me started , it drives me mad , and its not just the young , coming out of shops I have often seen older /elderly people open a new pack of cigarettes and throw the wrapper on the floor,
Another bug bear is chewing gum the amount stuck to pavements is shocking why spit it on the floor ? wrap it in a bit of tissue or wait till you pass a bin , personally I would ban it outside .

Gem its the same the world over we have been to many countries with the same problem and graffiti too .

Lizzie we have those bins in our supermarket car parks , they are always over flowing as they are not emptied enough , B once saw some rats around them in a Morrisons car park ,
we ran the council as we really didn't know who else to contact about them , Morrisons were no help , , I rang back a few days later to see if anything had been done and the lady told me they had found a family of rats nesting in the clothes bank , For a while all the recycle bins were emptied quickly but we noticed again that seems to have slipped and they all have black bin bags on the floor next to them again

[Lizzie48]

Oma, I am cringing here, a nest of rats in the clothing!!!! The bins are emptied regular here, it is the stupid people that block the shutes that cause the problem. The chewing gum, the same problem here, GD1 told me it is banned completely at the school she attends. If anyone is caught with it they have to scrub the playground or something similiar.

[Nanto2girls]

Hate litter, especially when its left on the pavement outside our house.
We also get drinks cans and fish and papers pushed into the hedge.

The first time we went to London, we went to the statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus.
I could't believe to amount of rubbish round the statue. never saw it like that in magazines or on TV.

[Daisy]

Nanto - how awful to see national landmarks like that surrounded by rubbish.

Lizzie - I'm sure if children had to scrub their playgrounds here there would be parents who would say it's their child's right to dump chewing gum wherever they want.

It seems to be a national disease, not helped by useless 'schemes'. Where I live in the New Forest, there were always animal-proof bins in most of the little car parks dotted around the Forest. Then it became a National Park, adding another layer of bureaucracy to a system of care which had worked very well.

Admittedly sometimes, especially in the summer rubbish would be left by overfull bins, but it was never a massive problem. But the great and the good at the National Park Authority came up with a fool-proof solution. Remove the bins from most of the car parks, and put up a notice saying "take you litter home". I'm sure you can guess what happened next.

The ensuing tsunami of rubbish is not only unsightly, it's dangerous as the ponies forage in it and can end up eating things that will lead to a slow and agonising death. Fly tipping is getting worse as well.

[Plantaholic]

I agree with everything that has already been said. I do not understand why people just throw things out of car windows either Daisy, it is so easy to take them home or to your destination. They stopped putting bins around our local pond because they just used to overflow. The school children should be sent to clear up their mess.

[Grauntie Mag]

It’s not too much of a problem where I live, only when it’s the summer hols and then the cleaning company have their work cut out, but every morning the beaches are cleaned up ready for the next lot!
We have a small problem in our road with dog mess, I’m pretty certain I know who the culprit is, having caught him before. I just need to catch him again and he will have a very nice plastic bag put through his letter box 😁
Fly tipping is a regular sight along the A127. Not pretty.

[Plantaholic]

I remember when visiting Brighton the streets and the Prom. were so clear, no rubbish in sight.

[Daisy]

It’s not too much of a problem where I live, only when it’s the summer hols and then the cleaning company have their work cut out, but every morning the beaches are cleaned up ready for the next lot!
We have a small problem in our road with dog mess, I’m pretty certain I know who the culprit is, having caught him before. I just need to catch him again and he will have a very nice plastic bag put through his letter box 😁
Fly tipping is a regular sight along the A127. Not pretty.

Grauntie - our neighbours across the road had a dog mess problem. Someone was walking round our little block late at night with their off-lead dog, who was no doubt delighted to leave his visiting card in a three-cat garden! The house owners rigged up a huge movement-triggered light! They haven't had the problems since. Fly tipping is awful, and it amazes me that stuff gets dumped on major roads with plenty of people and traffic around.

[Nana]

When I was younger my mum wouldn't allow any of us to eat in the street... or drink for that matter. It all boils down to respect for oneself & your environment. Here endeth the first lesson.

[Oma]

Good manners cost nothing Nana do they xx

[Gemini]

There isn't a litter problem in the village where I live, A large village which is officially a town (although no one calls it that) with it's own council, separate from York Council. We also have very active LibDem councillors here, I don't know if those are the reasons, but I expect so. We have plenty of troublesome teenagers, I don't imagine for moment no litter is dropped!
Just get onto the ring road as you leave the village and drive around and then you see plenty of litter by the roads.