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AIBU?

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Original poster

To ask if anyone will admit to littering?

217 replies

Icanttakethisanymore · 08/09/2025 15:36

I am genuinely intrigued to see if anyone will admit to littering, on purpose. I was walking through the woods earlier and there was a starbucks cup and a few can discarded along my route. I am sure that occasionally people drop things by accident but undoubtedly some of it is intentional. I genuinely can't imagine chucking my rubbish on the floor so if anyone will admit to it, why do you do it?

OP posts:
MyDogHumpsThings · 09/09/2025 12:29

CommissarySushi · 09/09/2025 12:26

I was hoping @didntlikeanyofthesuggestions would come back to explain herself or tell us she was winding us up.

I doubt she will after these responses. Whilst I don’t agree with what she did at all, her rationale was the incorrect assumption that it would break down quickly and be used by wildlife. I wish she’d been given the benefit of the doubt and educated rather than piled on.

angelos02 · 09/09/2025 12:29

CommissarySushi · 09/09/2025 12:26

I was hoping @didntlikeanyofthesuggestions would come back to explain herself or tell us she was winding us up.

Yes - me too. I have a feeling they weren't joking though. I assume that by their logic, they would be happy for people passing their front garden to just chuck empty pizza boxes there as the birds could use them for a house!

MyDogHumpsThings · 09/09/2025 12:27

CherryOakAsh · 08/09/2025 16:28

I think six months is far too optimistic. I would guess it would take between one and five years for cardboard pizza boxes to fully degrade into the soil, depending on their location and the weather.

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I agree. I’ve used cardboard as a weed suppressant in my garden (under mulch). It’s still there, more than six months later, though somewhat degraded. I’d imagine plastic-containing pizza boxes will be there for a long time.

CommissarySushi · 09/09/2025 12:26

I was hoping @didntlikeanyofthesuggestions would come back to explain herself or tell us she was winding us up.

TheGetAlongGang · 09/09/2025 12:11

I don't litter at all

When mine where small,I'd carry a carrier bag on the handle of the buggy the rubbish the dc produced

My friend allowed hers to just throw rubbish on the floor and walk off (there would be a bin in front of her and she'd walk past it while telling them to throw it on the floor

I work at a druve-thru

There are 5 bins scattered around (2 at the exit) and we are sent out 3 times a day to litter pick as people can't be bothered to lean out if the car window to put their rubbish in them and they just dump it and drive off

The same people leave their trays/mess at the table/floor while walking past at least 3 bins on their way out-i work so hard to empty them as soon as they are 3/4ths full

It's disgusting

My grandad taught me to 'take nothing but photographs and leave nothing but footprints'

(If I've made a spelling mistake and this is unreadable,I apologise,I'm slightly paranoid now after another poster who very nicely pointed out that i do this due to dyslexia,i have triple checked my post but my brain may have missed one)

Sahara123 · 09/09/2025 12:07

I used to work in a school. One summer a group of pupils sat eating their lunch on the grass, all fine. They then got up and left their litter on the grass, a teacher told them to go and pick it up, to which one of them said it’s ok , the Janitor picks it up …

Maddy70 · 09/09/2025 11:51

I never ever litter. Why would anyone ? It's dangerous to wildlife as well as an eye sore

Original poster
Icanttakethisanymore · 09/09/2025 11:48

Nanny0gg · 09/09/2025 11:44

You are wrong.

'Little insects' would struggle to demolish a banana skin

And there are rats in the countryside too

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Fair enough. I’ll take the banana skins home with me in future.

OP posts:
Nanny0gg · 09/09/2025 11:44

Icanttakethisanymore · 09/09/2025 11:20

People seem to take a different view on apple cores and banana skins - are they different? I assumed in both cases some little insects would eat them. I'm happy to accept I could be wrong though!

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You are wrong.

'Little insects' would struggle to demolish a banana skin

And there are rats in the countryside too

Nanny0gg · 09/09/2025 11:42

OtherS · 08/09/2025 17:36

Yeah, it was huge. Definitely in the 80s, not sure when it started or ended. I think that's when the man throwing rubbish into the bin logo was introduced. I'm sure I remember having it drilled into us at primary school, as well as loads of adverts and posters. The country was definitely significantly tidier a decade or two ago, I think the same's true across Europe. Everywhere seems rather dirty now :( I've not been to NZ but I do remember thinking Sydney was wonderfully clean a few years ago, they maybe had an Aussie version!

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The Keep Britain Tidy campaign began in 1955, initiated by a conference of 26 organizations following a resolution by the National Federation of Women's Institutes in 1954 to start a national anti-litter campaign. The original campaign featured initiatives like the "Tidy Man" symbol, public information films such as those featuring the animated character Dusty the Kangaroo, and then campaigns in the 1970s and 1980s aimed at reducing litter and promoting recycling.

Google Search

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1ONGR_en-GBGB1050GB1050&cs=0&sca_esv=f6511093bb828960&sxsrf=AE3TifN3bykV2REUX8pT3JzXkklSEmQfaw%3A1757414515732&q=Tidy+Man&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjJmpmfv8uPAxWjXUEAHaUKNGAQxccNegQIBBAB&mstk=AUtExfC9BqAIH2vmoGyjbJUFZmIkPggGOP1Z0OANoBiZTa_Kr2atek4sn4UcZyuGAQTcb0NgmHQp38oYJx_mvAiNCbN-1MUo9dr-iUjppR9CsFflLBlf-21FBKBFaJGF1JYThduagcw_FysIBmKeAg3Y1yt4b2EPZC6_YMePK2YdQNB9n7A&csui=3

Ninjasan · 09/09/2025 11:30

Bananachimp · 08/09/2025 16:28

I've twice thrown an apple core out a car window.

Do you throw apple cores in your garden to rot? No?

Ninjasan · 09/09/2025 11:28

didntlikeanyofthesuggestions · 08/09/2025 15:40

If I know that things will rot away quickly and there's no bins nearby I do it.

Over the summer we had takeaway pizzas in the park and as there were no bins we left the boxes in some bushes. They're cardboard so they'll be gone by now or birds would use it for a house.

Just leave it to rot away? To you leave rubbish in your garde? Can you not take your rubbish home or just find a bin? I am sure there was a bin near.

DamsonGoldfinch · 09/09/2025 11:26

Just take your rubbish home with you, whatever it is. If you wouldn’t throw it on the ground in your own home, don’t throw it on the ground in someone else’s. That hedge is home to a lot of wildlife who don’t want your peel or grapes or whatever other bits of detritus you want to get rid of.

Thissickbeat · 09/09/2025 11:22

Never. I'm a litter picker.

I bet the majority of cigarette smokers have littered and still litter.

Original poster
Icanttakethisanymore · 09/09/2025 11:21

Swiftie1878 · 09/09/2025 09:23

No, but it does depend where the bushes are. Food waste can encourage rats.

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I would only do it in the countryside, not in an urban or suburban area.

OP posts:
Original poster
Icanttakethisanymore · 09/09/2025 11:20

Nanny0gg · 09/09/2025 11:08

Not sure about the banana skins. Bushes aren't compost heaps

Show quote history

People seem to take a different view on apple cores and banana skins - are they different? I assumed in both cases some little insects would eat them. I'm happy to accept I could be wrong though!

OP posts:
Nanny0gg · 09/09/2025 11:08

Icanttakethisanymore · 08/09/2025 15:57

Just to add - I wouldn't consider an apple core in the bushes littering. I wouldn't leave food on a patch of grass or a path but I would throw apple cores, banana skins etc. into undergrowth. (Hoping no-one is going to come along and tell me that's a heinous crime)

Not sure about the banana skins. Bushes aren't compost heaps

Nanny0gg · 09/09/2025 11:06

chipsandpeas · 08/09/2025 15:48

i have done, but i try not to

How difficult is it to 'not to'?

Nanny0gg · 09/09/2025 11:05

didntlikeanyofthesuggestions · 08/09/2025 15:40

If I know that things will rot away quickly and there's no bins nearby I do it.

Over the summer we had takeaway pizzas in the park and as there were no bins we left the boxes in some bushes. They're cardboard so they'll be gone by now or birds would use it for a house.

So why couldn't you take them home?

That was the definition of littering!

Nearly50omg · 09/09/2025 09:51

didntlikeanyofthesuggestions · 08/09/2025 15:40

If I know that things will rot away quickly and there's no bins nearby I do it.

Over the summer we had takeaway pizzas in the park and as there were no bins we left the boxes in some bushes. They're cardboard so they'll be gone by now or birds would use it for a house.

And why didn’t you just take it home with you? Dirty lazy bastards!!!

Swiftie1878 · 09/09/2025 09:23

Icanttakethisanymore · 08/09/2025 15:57

Just to add - I wouldn't consider an apple core in the bushes littering. I wouldn't leave food on a patch of grass or a path but I would throw apple cores, banana skins etc. into undergrowth. (Hoping no-one is going to come along and tell me that's a heinous crime)

No, but it does depend where the bushes are. Food waste can encourage rats.

JG24 · 09/09/2025 09:01

Tweakie123 · 08/09/2025 16:28

I don't litter. I dated a guy when i was about 18/19. I remember we had fish and chips in the car. I was driving and when he finished eating he just threw the wrappings out of the window!! I was horrified. The police turned up at my house as well as someone must have reported the littering which was fair enough. Turns out he was also a smack head so the relationship didn't last long 🤣

I went on a date 20 years ago with a guy that threw his mars bars wrapper out of the car window. I was in shock and have never forgotten it. He was so nice and normal and I presumed nice, normal people didn't litter!

Huntrix · 08/09/2025 23:45

Great trolling with the bird house comment. 🤣

Netcurtainnelly · 08/09/2025 19:02

didntlikeanyofthesuggestions · 08/09/2025 15:40

If I know that things will rot away quickly and there's no bins nearby I do it.

Over the summer we had takeaway pizzas in the park and as there were no bins we left the boxes in some bushes. They're cardboard so they'll be gone by now or birds would use it for a house.

Take them home.

AnnaSunshine · 08/09/2025 18:54

So, this is an aside, but I think most people do not realise this:

Biodegradable material in anaerobic conditions (like landfill) does not break down into carbon dioxide and water, it makes methane which is twenty times more active as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

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