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Original poster

Have you ever left litter?

72 replies

pinkflask · 01/04/2021 08:48

I’m not naturally a “frother” who gets bent out of shape about lockdown rules and so on, and I totally understand why people flock to parks and beauty spots, but I honestly do not understand why people leave litter lying around. I’m really not a massive “rules” fan although generally law abiding but I could honestly, hand in heart say I have NEVER intentionally left litter anywhere, and if I have created litter it was a sweet wrapper or receipt blown out of my hand by the wind I couldn’t catch.

I just couldn’t do it! I don’t leave stuff on the table at McDonald’s either. It’s just so ingrained in me. I don’t think this makes me exceptional either, I thought most people felt like this. But clearly not!

Will anyone here admit to being a litterer? Have you thrown packets out of the window on a car journey? Left picnic detritus in a park? Gone home from a festival leaving your camping stuff behind? (This enrages me! I DO NOT GET IT!)

OP posts:

lynsey91 · 01/04/2021 09:24

No, I am 66, and can honestly say I have never ever left litter or thrown any.

There may have been an odd receipt, shopping list that blew away and I couldn't get it even if I ran after it.

Me and my siblings were taught by our parents that you put your litter in a bin and if there is not a bin or the bin is full you take it home and that is what I do.

Littering makes me angry but also sad. Why do so many people just not care?

Where I live the grass verges and hedges are full of rubbish and there is a big problem of fly tipping. People tip things like old sofas, fridges, mattresses. Just why?

Throwing litter out of a car makes no sense either. Why not keep it in the car and take it home? So often it is fast food wrappers.

Sadly it is often young people. I am sure McDonalds' customers mainly fall in a youngish age group.

As for music festivals! I used to live very close to a huge park where the V Festival was held. When it was over the amount of rubbish was honestly staggering. People would just up and leave their tents, sleeping bags, air beds, barbeques, tables, chairs, uneaten food, unopened drink, often clothes too.

Such a waste to buy a tent, sleeping bag etc, use them once and then leave them behind. They could not even be bothered to take the tents down!

I actually said to my husband last night when we looked at the pictures of all the rubbish left behind after the last couple of warm days that the earth is fucked and hardly anyone seems to care. Youngsters say they are concerned about climate change, pollution, the environment etc but, in honesty, the majority are not

Profilejacket · 01/04/2021 09:24

@rainbowthoughts fair play to you for admitting it and explaining your reasons.

Iwantacookie · 01/04/2021 09:25

No intentionally no but like you occasionally I've dropped things out my pocket or the wind has took it.
I do think their needs to be more public bins though, I'm sure when I was younger you could normally find one as regular as a post box. Now they're like hens teeth.

NotSorry · 01/04/2021 09:27

I’m a Cub Scout leader and (in normal times) we do a district trip to the theatre (think 150 cubs and leaders) all the leaders take a rubbish bag and make sure their row is clear. The rubbish in the other rows is shocking - the theatre we go to is also mostly run by volunteers - it’s disgraceful

LovingKent · 01/04/2021 09:28

Not intentionally no. The amount of litter everywhere sickens me. It has got so much worse during the past few years. A local litter picking group is collecting bags of it daily. I feel it is time for a national campaign to get people to think about the wider impact of their littering on the environment as I don't think many are aware of this. Please sign this petition if you agree. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/566467

eeyore228 · 01/04/2021 09:31

I loathe litter. I bought both DD a drink as a treat and told them to keep the bottle until we got home and to put it in the bin. My youngest however got ‘tired’ of carrying it so she dumped it. I hadn’t even noticed so I said we were walking back to find it. By this time it had started raining, we found the bottle and took it home to the bin. My DD has never done it since.

Profilejacket · 01/04/2021 09:34

Maybe more bins would help but in parks people have had to carry the things that they then leave there so why can’t they carry them home again? (I guess dog poo is the exception to this but still pretty easy to carry until you find a bin or get home)

MooChops89 · 01/04/2021 09:35

@Druidlookingidiot

Absolutely not. My brother is a teacher. A girl in his class made a mess from crushed up biscuits and bits of paper, where she'd been sitting in his lesson. He told her to clear it up. She refused and said

"I'm not a fucking cleaner, that's what cleaners are for."

This is the kind of attitude that our young people are growing up with.

I worked in Mcdonalds when I was a student. People (mostly teens) used to say this to us all the time, or "it's your fucking job you clean it up" You should have seen some of the states people left tables in. If I go anywhere to eat with my little ones I'd be embarrassed to leave any sort of mess behind, surely it's just common decency? Although that seems severely lacking in general these days!

CupoTeap · 01/04/2021 09:40

Nope, leave the beach with litter I've picked up on the way back

SingingSands · 01/04/2021 09:40

Never. It was so ingrained into us as children. I remember big pushes at primary school in the 80s about not being a "litterbug". We had litter picking sessions, lectures in assembly, designed posters etc. I think I remember more public campaigns also - tv and newspaper advertising.

I'm a runner and when DH and I go destination running we take a bin bag and clear up the lay-by we park in. I cannot fathom people who drive to a beauty spot to eat their McDonalds and then throw all their rubbish out the window and drive away.

I'd like to see littering being treated more harshly. Maybe Singapore have the right idea about it, but we'd never be able to replicate that in Britain.

Clutterbugsmum · 01/04/2021 09:44

I don't understand why people leave rubbish. It's not hard to take your rubbish home with you after all you take a bag with your picnic in so you put your rubbish back in the bag to take home with you.

I think schools are to blame as well (I know it's parents fault for not teaching their children to drop rubbish) they should be teaching children not to litter, and how much work it is to clear up after them.
My mum lives next to a primary school and she can pick a carrier bag of rubbish from her front garden every week the schools are in, but funnily enough when their is no school then their is no rubbish in her garden. And there really any excuse as both playgrounds have 2 bins and there are 3 bins on the way out of school and one of those is right next to the final gate out of the school.
But when you have some parent just chucking their Costa coffee cups (I don't understand why you need a bucket of coffee to do the school run) every where then it's no surprised their kids do the same.

Clutterbugsmum · 01/04/2021 09:47

I apologise for spelling mistakes I'm tired and when I am my dyslexia get worse.

megletthesecond · 01/04/2021 09:47

Never.
I'm a regular litter picker. Already got one bag and 3000 steps before work today.

sqirrelfriends · 01/04/2021 09:50

No, not intentionally.

Bloody hate litter, i can only imagine it's a learnt behaviour.

Mellivora · 01/04/2021 09:51

No I don’t but when I was at school there was a keep Britain tidy campaign. I assume it was national. Some of my friends in the school choir even went round singing at public venues on behalf of the campaign. It was really instilled in us it was terrible to litter. Plus my parents brought me up to be respectful generally.

It was brave of you to admit your past errors rainbowthoughts

lachy · 01/04/2021 09:57

Absolutely not. It's a disgraceful thing to do. There was a litter collection taking place along a road local to me last weekend. They collected 57 bags of rubbish along a stretch of road about half a mile long.

Saucery · 01/04/2021 09:59

No, never. I’m also from the era when regular assemblies at school had Litter as their focus.
DS dropped a sweet packet out of his pocket once when he was about 6. I knew it was his because it blew past me and there was no one else around. Put my foot on it and told him to pick it up and wait for a bin. He never saw us drop litter so it must have been a spur of the moment thing.

steppemum · 01/04/2021 10:05

No, I don't think I have ever left litter.

But I have to say, that if the bin was full, I didn't think it was a problem to leave the bag of litter next to the bin. There often isn't another bin nearby. I was surprised to see that this is a no no.

But mostly we would picnic in wilder areas, so there is no bin, and you take it all home.

Unexpectedbaby · 01/04/2021 10:10

Honestly as a teenager yes I did.

However now I would never leave litter anywhere, I clear my table in a fast food place and would stack/tidy plates in a restaurant.

Also, if a bin is full take the rubbish with you until you find a alternative bin/get home. This is probably why my car gets so much rubbish in it 😂

BlackCatShadow · 01/04/2021 10:15

Me, too. I hate litter. We go to an absolutely beautiful beach about an hour's drive from our house and it's shocking to see all the litter left at the end of the day. I just don't get why people do that. I can understand the odd thing might get left, but people who just leave everything. It's selfish and lazy.

I remember when I was a kid and we were in a car park and a woman told her daughter to go and throw her wrapper in the bushes. Like that was what you do with sweetie wrappers.

Newnamefor2021 · 01/04/2021 10:38

No, never it really angers me. Although I am sure the odd receipt has escaped my pocket and car parking ticket blown form the car on occasion.

One of my children who is autistic will shout a people if they drop stuff and while I tell him to be quiet I'm inwardly agreeing with him.

MondayYogurt · 01/04/2021 11:02

Question: Do people count cigarette butts as litter? Because I've had several smoker friends over the years maintain they don't litter, but still drop butts.

Jocasta2018 · 01/04/2021 11:03

I remember living in central London when all the bins had been removed due to the IRA.
Most people got into the habit of taking their rubbish home then but it wasn't such a disposable culture back then either.
Used to confuse the hell out of the tourists!

lynsey91 · 01/04/2021 11:06

@MondayYogurt

Question: Do people count cigarette butts as litter? Because I've had several smoker friends over the years maintain they don't litter, but still drop butts.

Yes I definitely class cigarette butts as litter.

Arbadacarba · 01/04/2021 11:07

@MondayYogurt

Question: Do people count cigarette butts as litter? Because I've had several smoker friends over the years maintain they don't litter, but still drop butts.

I'm a smoker and most definitely class them as litter.

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