Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why the UK is so filthy compared to other places?

229 replies

OptimismvsRealism · 24/06/2024 16:58

Everywhere I've visited recently in Europe seems immaculate compared to my home city and other cities I visit for work etc. even the US seems better. What's going on??

Really think filth in public places is at the heart of a lot of our problems.

OP posts:
Willyoujustbequiet · 24/06/2024 17:36

Cangar · 24/06/2024 17:06

I like to pretend the uk is worse than anywhere else as much as the next mumsnetter but this clearly is bullshit. There are plenty of dirtier places in Europe.

This

It depends where you live. Up here it's lovely and clean, more so than anywhere I've been abroad. Except Singapore

Original poster
OptimismvsRealism · 24/06/2024 17:36

Musicaltheatremum · 24/06/2024 17:34

I live in Edinburgh...it's filthy. They had a staffing problem recently and my recycling bin wasn't emptied for 4 weeks and my bottle box was overflowing as we had had a party !!. I hardly use landfill now so that wouldn't have been so bad. I also come from Newcastle and was horrified at the city centre. So dirty. The roads in Edinburgh are atrocious for potholes.
I'm just back from Austria far far cleaner.

Show quote history

It's unbelievable. One of the richest cities in the UK too. I watched binmen emptying bins into lorries, letting the rubbish overflow onto the ground then drive away leaving it for the wind and seagulls.

OP posts:
Musicaltheatremum · 24/06/2024 17:34

OptimismvsRealism · 24/06/2024 17:15

New York actually prompted this thread! I don't love it as a destination but it makes Edinburgh and Newcastle look like shit (to be honest they make themselves look like shit).

Show quote history

I live in Edinburgh...it's filthy. They had a staffing problem recently and my recycling bin wasn't emptied for 4 weeks and my bottle box was overflowing as we had had a party !!. I hardly use landfill now so that wouldn't have been so bad. I also come from Newcastle and was horrified at the city centre. So dirty. The roads in Edinburgh are atrocious for potholes.
I'm just back from Austria far far cleaner.

Thelittleweasel · 24/06/2024 17:34

@OptimismvsRealism

Because we (as individuals) do not pay nearly enough in taxes to pay for what we need!

All political parties make a benefit of saying they will not put up taxes. Surely there are clever people who could work out that we who could afford it pay much more?

Rhythmisadancer · 24/06/2024 17:34

motorway verges are so depressing here, some places are like driving through landfill

HelpMeGetThrough · 24/06/2024 17:34

Our motorway verges are mostly glorious, especially at this time of year, I saw so many poppies and wildflowers driving back from Norfolk last week.

Having been stuck on the side of a motorway for 3 hours waiting to have the car transported, if you take a proper look at the hard shoulder, you'd not like what you'd find.

Endless bottles of "Driver Tizer" and bags of shit.

TinkerTiger · 24/06/2024 17:32

Visit Paris.

Original poster
OptimismvsRealism · 24/06/2024 17:29

beetr00 · 24/06/2024 17:27

in 2022 when there was a bin strike perhaps?

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/7b19/live/95fa5330-2260-11ef-b40a-01d78a8b114b.jpg.webp

Show quote history

This year. I thought there was a bin strike but turns out not! Genuinely tragic waste of a potentially world class city.

OP posts:
beetr00 · 24/06/2024 17:27

OptimismvsRealism · 24/06/2024 17:08

The worst place I've been recently is Edinburgh. Knee deep in dog shit and overflowing bins.

Show quote history

in 2022 when there was a bin strike perhaps?

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/7b19/live/95fa5330-2260-11ef-b40a-01d78a8b114b.jpg.webp

Londonrach1 · 24/06/2024 17:25

Depends where you are and when you go abroad...I found France in the cities and Rome etc to get very dirty compared to London. Near me it's pretty clean. France seemed to have dog poo on the floor everywhere..yuk

Original poster
OptimismvsRealism · 24/06/2024 17:23

carguide24 · 24/06/2024 17:22

you’re really not having a great holiday are you? given this and your other thread!

Reflecting it's a lot better where I am now anyway!

OP posts:
rainfordays · 24/06/2024 17:23

A lot of people here are inconsiderate and disgusting. I was at a beautiful country park last year, and some people who were extremely well turned out in an expensive Range Rover parked just across from me. There was a bin about twenty paces away, but they still dumped a load of shit (literal shit, as in dog shit and dirty nappies) outside their car plus rubbish from food and drinks, then just drove away and just left the whole mess there for someone else to deal with. Dirty fuckers. Wish I'd photographed their car and the mess, and posted it on a local FB group or something. Why would anyone think that was acceptable?!

Cangar · 24/06/2024 17:23

Which European places though? I’ve been in Paris, Rome, Stockholm and Faro this year (travel lots for work). Only Stockholm was cleaner than London in my opinion.

Tangled123 · 24/06/2024 17:23

I was shocked by the number of discarded cigarette butts lining the streets of Auckland. So nasty.

Most of the roads near me in NI are lined with the rubbish people throw out of their cars. That’s disgusting too.

carguide24 · 24/06/2024 17:22

you’re really not having a great holiday are you? given this and your other thread!

Original poster
OptimismvsRealism · 24/06/2024 17:18

Cangar · 24/06/2024 17:17

I live in London, where do you live?

Show quote history

Central London benefits from disproportionate government funding and corporate sponsorship. It's not a typical British town. That said, it's filthy compared to many European destinations.

OP posts:
Wulfeniii · 24/06/2024 17:18

My husband's family come from a town in southern Italy. It's a beautiful area, but every time I have visited I have been shocked by the amount of graffiti and litter there is in public areas. The bushes along every road are full of litter, and there is graffiti everywhere. It's disgusting.

I do think some countries really do put a lot of effort into to keeping areas neat and tidy though. I went to Lithuania about ten years ago and it was so clean and neat and tidy everywhere we went. I suppose it could have gone down hill since then but I hope not.

I think British roads are really poor, but cleanliness wise I don't think we're either the best or the worst in the world, and the town I live in is always clean and tidy.

Easipeelerie · 24/06/2024 17:18

I think of UK city streets as relatively tidy, not too smelly but full of ground in dirt and muck.

European city streets get washed every night so you get a the cleaner look and clean smell mixed with the pungency of bad drains and the aroma of those giant communal bins they have.

So it’s swings and roundabouts.

Cangar · 24/06/2024 17:17

OptimismvsRealism · 24/06/2024 17:16

I wonder if the people who don't think it's that bad live in leafy suburbs...

I live in London, where do you live?

Original poster
OptimismvsRealism · 24/06/2024 17:16

I wonder if the people who don't think it's that bad live in leafy suburbs...

OP posts:
BogRollBOGOF · 24/06/2024 17:15

I don't think the UK is substantially dirtier or cleaner than other places and it varies from neighbourhood to neighbourhood.

Fewer dogshit/ ornamental poo bags would be appreciated though, but again, it's localised.

AgnesX · 24/06/2024 17:15

carguide24 · 24/06/2024 16:59

not sure where you live

but i live in a lovely part of kent and whenever i go to europe i always note how much more rubbish the dog shit there is as opposed to my hometown

The first time I ever visited Kent, I was astounded at the amount of litter and rubbish there was compared to my northern town (which is still quite clean).

I think that my current town in Scotland has overtaken Kent now ... I think people have got progressively mankier and councils have cut back on cleansing.

Original poster
OptimismvsRealism · 24/06/2024 17:15

MiriamMay · 24/06/2024 17:14

You should see New York

New York actually prompted this thread! I don't love it as a destination but it makes Edinburgh and Newcastle look like shit (to be honest they make themselves look like shit).

OP posts:
Cocothecoconut · 24/06/2024 17:15

Well said @OhmygodDont

MiriamMay · 24/06/2024 17:14

You should see New York