Can litter picking help, or should more be done to stop littering?

[MsGreying]

Litterpicking - seems a waste of time.

Oldham has a "don't trash Oldham" thing going on for the last few years. People go and pick litter up, sometimes are part of community groups and sometimes as solo people (often kids) doing good things.

Where does it all come from?
Can we tackle litter dropping somehow? If we don't then we are doomed to keep organising litter picks to clean it up.

I live very close to the sea and it's absolutely disgusting what some people leave on the beach ~ nappies, sanitary products, condoms, needles, food waste etc

We have a lovely team of volunteers that do regular litter picking during the holiday season, but it really shouldn't be necessary. There are bins at regular intervals along the walkway so it shouldn't be a problem for people to dispose of their litter on the way back to their cars

I also live near a park and it's very rare to see litter there, so why people leave litter on the beach but not the park, I've no idea

Litter picking does help as it takes tons of waste out of the environment every week.

Initially the litter comes from big business. 90% of litter comes from a few businesses - McDonalds, Strongbow, Costa, KFC, Coke, Energy firms, Vape firms etc.

It would help if they would make a concerted effort to reduce packaging and educate their customers. If you write to the companies suggesting this they only just stop short at telling you to fuck off.

I think people need constant reminders not to do things, in plain english.

In other countries there are Do Not Litter signs along the roadsides, national litter picking days, and it’s an integrated into children’s education.

Here, not so much.

My kids primary school used to do litter picking sessions where a dozen children at a time would go out on the streets with supervision. I went along a couple of times as a volunteer helper. They’d bag it up, weigh it and sort it into types and made a display in perspex boxes in the playground to show how much they’d collected.

I’d like to think those kids learned an important life lesson, they seemed quite shocked by how much rubbish they found.