We need a National Anti-Litter campaign

[LovingKent]

The amount of litter everywhere at the moment is truly depressing and seems to have got so much worse over the past few years. Every beauty spot / park /street seems to have rubbish in it. Our local litter picking group is collecting bags of it every day. Every time the media reports large gatherings, there is a huge amount of litter left behind.

People do not seem to understand the huge environmental impact of their littering actions.

Councils do not have the money or resource to be constantly cleaning up.

We need a new national anti-litter campaign to raise awareness of the environmental effect of littering.

Please sign and share this petition. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/566467?fbclid=IwAR0tiz3Aqbmo2JtL_oK8fUwMBWENO-HcCckVzdnx5WlxFTh4EOBON59Mlv4

Please also write to your MP. I have. It is time the government took some action on this issue.

Design of bins also matters. Open bins get raided by squirrels, birds like magpies and crows and foxes.

Wasn't a European city training magpies to litter pick ?

I hate litter. Every week before bin day I pick up every bit of litter in the road. By the next day there is loads more. We have a litter bin and people drop it next to it instead of in it.

"Broken bottles in parks/beaches, old takeaway food, nappies, condoms, etc etc ?"

Never seen any condoms around here (after a year of visiting lots of parks!). Probably gets cleared by the park keepers and street cleaners. It's mostly things like takeaway boxes, coffee cups etc which isn't going to be harmful to me, and I just ignore it.

Most litter isn't harmful to people - it's harmful to the environment and other creatures.

Seems strange to comment on a thread if your attitude is to ignore litter

There are 2 families just up the road from us and when the children get together the amount of litter they drop, throw etc is amazing. It looks like they have just come out of their house with the rubbish bin and dumped it. There are cans, bottles, chocolate wrappers, sweet wrappers, crisp packets etc and no one, or rather the parents don't give a damn about it. (then again they don't care that their kids are in peoples gardens and damaging cars but I digress) We manage to get out garden clear from it for about 2-3 days before they have thrown (yes they have been seen) assorted rubbish in to our garden. I just don't get why they are like this. It makes me wonder if their own homes are the same, a huge festering pile of rubbish, possibly home to cockroaches etc.

I was raised to always put rubbish in a bin or carry it in my pocket until I found one. I just find it so annoying as to why the situation of rubbish is getting so bad these days. It is the same when people use a 'drive through' then drive their car to a car park, sit, eat their meal then dump the rubbish out of the window. It is a shame in a way they can't include the car registration details on the receipt, so at least they can trace (within reason) who dumped the rubbish as most people will dump the receipt too.

Councils always seem to find money for vanity projects such as temporary sculptures, e-scooters etc and yet the litter problem seems to be an afterthought.

I’ll start by saying that I never ever litter.

However I have come to understand why some people do.

You have the hardcore selfish shits who care about nothing and no one other than themselves.

However, for the rest of the litterers, I think there’s reason for the behaviour. Councils are picking up non recyclable waste every 2 weeks or even more infrequently. For a large busy family with pets, that’s not enough. Our computer came in enough polystyrene to fill 2/3 of the bin for example. Recycling pickup is also hit and miss - last week they left all our cardboard. Probably because the lorries were full - but still, that’s no good to me - I needed the litter taking as I’ve paid ££££ council tax for. Yesterday our collectors left around 10 pieces of recycling strewn in our road. Tips are operating vastly reduced hours (even before Covid), charging for lots of types of waste and you have to queue for ages to get in. Our tip is only open 4 days, very short hours (10-4). It’s a bloody mission to dispose of waste and that’s why many people litter. The councils need to open the tips 7 days per week, long hours 7am til 10pm. Three shifts worth of people, not one. They’ve cut too many costs and the system is not fit for purpose. People can’t quickly and easily visit tips so they dump the litter. People haven’t got room in their bins for their litter that they might bring home from the park/beach/wherever. So they don’t bring it home.

Councils need to pickup all types of litter every single week. Issue 2 bins to those needing them.
Open the tips so they are convenient and can be used easily. Don’t charge people to tip stuff.
...or continue to watch the UK being wrecked by litter and animals killed by it.

There’s not enough litter bins.
The few that are available are overflowing with rubbish.

Heavy on-the-spot fines, and if you can't pay the fine, 25 hours unpaid litter-picking. Lazy, selfish bastards.

I agree there aren’t enough litter bins. If there are 20 dog poo bags in a bush, that place needs a litter bin. I don’t leave mine in a bush, but I can see why people do. My dog is small so small amount of not that smelly shit to carry. No problem for me. But imagine carting around shits from 2 large dogs!

The bins in our high street are always full to the top. The council need to make it easy and convenient to dispose of litter correctly or people won’t do it, as is currently being demonstrated. I was out yesterday and the littering was the worst I had ever seen by far. Every time the council makes cuts to these services, the problem gets worse. People even litter pick round here. However what I’m interested in is where they put that litter once it’s picked. As litter is hard to dispose of!

@ekidmxcl round here local volunteers bag the litter they collect, put a sticker on it which says it has been collected by volunteers, leave it on or near a bin then report it to the Council for collection. Some take it home and put it in their own bins.

@goingtotown lack of bins is certainly part of it. As is bins that aren't emptied often enough. However in that case just take your rubbish home!! Are people generating so much they really cannot carry it all!!!

@raysofsunlight. Litter may not be directly harmful to you but does affect wildlife and the environment which we depend on.

rays litter can block the drains too. Just because it doesn't hurt you personally doesn't mean it won't affect you.

.

I think a campaign is a great idea, people do need to be shamed and think that others are judging them harshly - a campaign will help. I also thing we just need massive roller bins at park exits - our park bins are full up by noon and people mostly put their rubbish on/around the bin but it blows away and there is nowhere else to put it. Not sure if local councils have invested in more frequent bin emptying with everyone having no social option except picnics, but if not they should also do that.

@beginningoftheend yes the government has cut council budgets but why should councils be solely responsible? It's great there is not much litter on your street other than after bin collection. Not the case for many streets round here. What happened to personal responsibility? If a bin is full, take it home. People do need educating about the effect of litter on the environment.

If you've bought the item you also bought the packaging. you therefore signed up to store the packaging until you can dispose of it properly. Buy only the essentials. Don't buy from Amazon or Wilkinson online who grossly overpackage.

Sorry, but that's how it is. Elections coming if your council is not good enough.

I take my litter home... it can be recycled then.

Bin capacity is an issue. By Monday morning, the locsl woods have over flowing bins at the entrance points with piles of dog poo bags and Co-op carrier bags from the youths that go in to socialise. While the correct answer us to take it home, there clearly is an inadequately met demand for waste disposal at that point.

Too many bins undermines a take it home approach and can trigger more points that litter spreads from.
So bigger bins at strategic points is more effective.

I remember a coastal management case study at Chesil Beach from my A-level days. By removing bins and concentrating them at the car park, and using a more natural style if infrastructure, behaviour was changed.

People who'll chuck drive-thru remains out of a car window are pretty much beyond hope.

Found a petition petition.parliament.uk/petitions/566467