Is littering socially acceptable now?

[rwetgd]

Over the last few years, I’ve really noticed how filthy the UK is looking. Litter absolutely everywhere, all over our cities/towns, roadsides, and scattered around residential streets. Our motorways are absolutely disgusting, a national disgrace.

The other day I literally watched a group of teenagers get up and just casually leave their fish and chips paper/cans on the floor in a park. A few weeks ago I saw a van driver chuck his lunch packaging out of the window and onto the road. I also visited Cornwall a couple of weekends ago and saw bottles/cans/plastic left all over the beach. It’s never ending.

It just feels that standards in society are slowing declining. Increasing numbers of people seem to have no pride in their areas, are completely entitled, feel that everything is someone else’s responsibility, and simply don’t care.

Of course there are clean areas, but you even see bottles chucked on the side of roads in nice countryside villages. And yes before anyone mentions it, I litter pick my village frequently and am forever picking up random bits of rubbish wherever I walk.

It's such a big issue, but no politicians ever seem to mention it. Very frustrating!

My son went out every sunday for a year down our quiet lane (single track for half of it, no reason for anyone to come down it who's not resident/working for a resident as there's a normal-sized, quiet road that goes through the village, and this is a longer loop route that pops out in the same place) - every week he came back with 1/3rd of a dustbin sack of cups/cans/whatever.

Same used to happen when I'd litterpick on my 'walk around the block' during lockdown.

TBH it's even more frustrating because we were sold that the 15c deposit on cans and bottles would help deal with this - but in reality, the kind of person who litters doesn't care about getting their deposit back, so it just made more work for those of us who do (and now have to lug un-squashed bottles back to the supermarket rather than squashing them and putting them in with the rest of the recycling).

I saw a woman of about 55 chucking a receipt from her pocket. I picked it up and handed it back to her saying "I think you dropped this" she said "no I don't think so" and walked away.🙄
We need to get them trained when young, as my mum did. My adult dc would not even think of chucking litter away as it's ingrained in them to find a bin, carry or put in pockets until u do.
Quite simple really

I play the Chronophoto game every day, and today the first image, nearly 70 years ago, shows a level of littering I find quite shocking. There have always been people who strew rubbish, and who probably think those of us who pick it up are mugs.

www.chronophoto.app/daily.html

Of course it’s not. But some people are genuinely thick with the emotional range of a spoon.

Tbf much of the litter in my area is because of the wind blowing it out of the open top bin trucks and public bins.

No, I don't think it is socially acceptable. It has always been an issue, when I was a little kid you would see "Keep Britain Tidy" everywhere.

That's interesting. I agree about those who litter carry on because they know some more socially minded will clear it up. There is a family near me who generate a lot of crap. They fly tip it on the pavement outside their house, knowing that one of their neighbours will report it on FixMyStreet and our efficient council will collect it pretty promptly. So irritating.

There were always big advertising campaigns in the 1960's though - 'Don't be a Litterbug', 'Keep Britain Tidy' etc. And the message was re-iterated to us both by parents and in school. I'm not sure that happens so much any more.

I live in a popular coastal town and the amount of mess left on the beaches- including things like broken bottles etc - is heartbreaking. We have dozens of litter bins all around the town centre and at peak season there is a dust cart gonig round emptying them pretty much continually so there's no excuse.

Someone did that to me, "I think you have dropped something!" it was purely accidental and I had no idea as I got something else out of my pocket. I don't mind but don't be a dick about it and go on as if I chucked a burger carton out of the window of my car.

It’s never acceptable to most of us, but unfortunately there are enough mental knuckle draggers who don’t give a shit. There do seem to be more now, though a lot of it is the relentless selling of snacking and fast food meaning that there is infinitely more packaging discarded in the average day.

Another regular litter picker here. Years ago I had a dog and would go to the park with him before work, and our ‘walk’ was mostly me picking up the complete sets of picnic rubbish left by multiple groups the previous night. I was absolutely amazed by it. One morning I did find £35 mixed in with the pizza boxes and beer cans, which I took as a tip.

There is often litter in my gateway (rural road, no pavement) and I strongly suspect it's all dropped by people who live across the road from me getting out of cars they've been given lifts in.

My deeply uncharitable 'comforting thought' is that their extremely unhealthy consumption habits will do for them sooner or later.

I'm in another popular tourist town that gets left in a bad state. This morning, I was walking behind a family whose young son threw a bottle on the floor.

His mother told him off for it - and then they walked off, leaving the bottle there! There was a bin a few feet away! Baffling mentality.

Why would young teens need telling to put their rubbish in the bin?

They should have been doing it without thinking for years.

Happy to clarify,
No she discovered the rubbish in her pocket and literally threw it. I'm not an imbicile. I do know the difference between falling and throwing 🙄
I was not/am not "a dick" I was being polite/passive aggressive, whatever way you want to skew it

Yes I think littering has got worse .I don't know if its that people eat more fast food on the go and just think someone else will pick up their dropped litter.
We do liter picks around our village regularly and I am amazed how much we collect .Really sad as its so easy to just take your litter home ,or stick it in a bin .
Also less council workers cleaning the streets .

I hate it too, someone elderly locally got injured for asking someone to clear up their litter

also disgusting fly tipping seems more prevalent

it has got worse