Why are Brits so prone to littering ?

[Salida]

I'm not asking for your litter horror stories - we all have them. I'm asking for your thoughts on something that perplexes me. Just why is it that Britons are so prone to littering (and the oldies on here will confirm, that we have become much more so) - why we seem to litter so much more than countries?

@Chwaraeteg

Lack of bins.

That's no excuse. Take it home.

There was some study I read that said we weren't, we just spend massively less on street cleaning than France or other 'cleaner' places.

If you want people to not litter, give them pleasant, clean places to live.

I live in the countryside in Britain and it's very clean here. Rare actually to see much littering in the villages or in the towns.

Our village has a particularly high proportion of youngsters and there was a small issue last year with kids leaving their food rubbish in the woods when they gathered there but actually that's been stamped out by a good old fashioned name and shame campaign on our local face book page!

'Other countries' haven't struck me as much cleaner than here tbh.

Slack parenting? My parents would never allow me to drop litter and if I ever did I had to pick it up straight away. I'm still the same. I also have a massive respect for nature and our environment but I guess not everyone feels the same way. The rubbish that's been left on our beautiful beaches the last few weeks is very depressing.

This made me laugh

I think that there's a lack of bins because of cost and in London's case stemming from the time where bins were seen as good places to place bombs so there aren't any in tube stations.

When I lived in Germany supermarkets had bins where you could dispose food packaging before you drove your shopping home. So you could take toothpaste out of the outer box, dispose plastic if you had to buy a bag of veg rather than loose etc. I don't know if this is accurate but there seems to be so much unnecessary packaging.

I'm not sure if other countries have as many drive through and other packaged convenience food choices like supermarket sandwich meal deals. Perhaps other countries have more bins with kids? I Awaya find it strange that a windy place like a UK night have "open" bins.

Lack of bins.

I don't get this. People have carried their food to the beach, why is it suddenly too much effort to carry the empty wrappers home?

@corythatwas

Lack of bins.

I don't get this. People have carried their food to the beach, why is it suddenly too much effort to carry the empty wrappers home?

Because an apple or banana is easy and clean to carry and peel and cores are sticky, smelly and inconvenient.

Put a selection of bins where people are. Make it easy.

Laiste i live in the countryside too. We went for a walk this morning, 90 minutes slow potter. Saw 2 cars and a tractor. Maybe 10 houses. We saw 5 used face masks and 7 gloves. We didn't pick them up. Not sure who will, so they will be there for some time.

Ime (totally unscientific) people are horrified or selfish when it comes to litter. I really haven't seen it as a class thing. Some of the most entitled people I know are the wealthiest.

I blame the parents

I can't think of any solution, either. Litter police? Cameras? Better biodegradables?

In Norway they pay people for recycling! Food shops have these reverse vending machines where you put in your bottles and cans, and the machine gives you a voucher to spend in the shop. That's why you often get homeless people walking around parks picking up rubbish, then they can recycle them and buy something to eat, and it keeps parks clean.

Mind you, if we did that here, we'd probably see people going through our recycling bins and nicking stuff.

I hope that if there were more bins we'd see less dog shit bags tied to trees and bushes vomit 🤢

There's a disposable glove problem here too. My local supermarket car park is awash with people who use them in store then don't dispose of them properly. They end up being blown by the wind then probably harming wildlife

One thing I loved about lockdown was the almost total absence of litter and I agree if there isn’t any it seems to be catching
On our neighbourhood page a while back someone posted a picture of a hand out of a car window throwing what looked like fish and chip papers just awful.
Unfortunately I think people who litter don’t care about seeing it and it doesn’t bother them I sometimes wish I was one of them. I also agree with pp that it’s almost all from take out food hence nothing during lock down

I think the littering issue has become a lot worse, obviously linked to more eating and drinking on the move. What really depresses me is driving along a country road and seeing litter all along the verges. Maybe a big public campaign would help.

I hate this. I’ve travelled the world and the only place worse than the uk was India and honestly they have all sorts of sanitation issues that we don’t have.
There’s a shop on my street and there is litter everywhere despite there being 3 bins. I mean what the fuck!?? Put it in the fucking bin. And if there isn’t a bin take it home. I watched a grown middle aged man throw a Carling can on the floor.
But don’t get be started on the UK drink problem or we’ll be here all day 🤣

I have thought of this too! I have had to stop taking my dogs for walks along the river now as there is just litter everywhere and they will find it and try to eat it. I don’t feel like it was like this just a few years ago.

Where I’m from (Sweden) is incredibly clean in comparison but people there are also a lot more concerned about the environment so would never dream of littering. It’s ingrained in us from childhood.

The other day I saw a dad with his 4 kids throwing empty cans down a stream to see which one reached the bridge first. After that there is nowhere to pick them up from as it’s so overgrown. He was just teaching his kids that cans belong in nature. I had to tell him he was being an irresponsible idiot. Couldn’t help myself.

No deposit scheme - if you collect cans and bottles you can make money in Germany (many Homeless people do).
A lot more packaging to start with - so much stuff comes in layers of plastic

Nanny state - a lot of people seem to think government/councils/someone else should deal with whatever they cant be bothered to take responsibility for.

Because an apple or banana is easy and clean to carry and peel and cores are sticky, smelly and inconvenient.

Wrap it up in a tissue or something. What a pathetic excuse.

Because people have no consideration or haven’t been taught properly.

I always take my litter home and empty my table when I leave a fast food shop as does my daughter. I end up with pockets full of sweet wrappers and plastic bits if we can’t find a bin.

My mom was the same, I just knew it was bad manners to throw rubbish on the floor. (:

Whilst out cycling in the last week or so I have seen a resurgence of McDonalds and Take away coffee litter down country lanes at least 5 miles from where they could possibly have been purchased. The people who put them there must have been in a vehicle and could easily have carried their rubbish home with them. I'll never understand why people feel inclined to throw rubbish out of a vehicle.

I don't think the UK is significantly worse than anywhere else.

Litter breeds litter, so once its left, others feel less inhibited by dropping rubbish too.

The worst place I went to was in Asia and it was pure entitlement that some pleb would come along and tidy up after them to scrape a little money together. Even in restaurants, people would just dump things like used napkins on the floor around their seat. There is little connection with nature encouragedthere.

As mentioned, being dragged up. Also being lazy, self centred and entitled.

A lot of excuses being made on here. But generally it’s because a lot of the people in this country are utterly entitled, selfish pricks. Absolutely zero ZERO valid excuses for littering. And people who do it are absolute total c*nts.

Even in restaurants, people would just dump things like used napkins on the floor around their seat.
That's horrible and people would ve surprised how many people do that in the UK. I don't know if it's for the same reason, or just being a filthy bastard, but god. The mess families can make!

@hopeishere

Because an apple or banana is easy and clean to carry and peel and cores are sticky, smelly and inconvenient.

Wrap it up in a tissue or something. What a pathetic excuse.

ODFOD.

For the record I clean up after myself. But seeing as I'm not a complete idiot, I also understand human nature.

People will do what is EAST; easy, attractive, social and timely. If you make recycling difficult, only people with a strong social reason to do it will. Hence all the MC wankers on here going on about carrying litter around for miles.

Make it easy by putting bins places, do the rest and people will normally do it. Some still won't but they will be in a minority. Make it difficult and all the people on here can pat themselves on the back for what martyrs they are but the streets will be dirty.

It depends if you like the moral high ground more than clean streets.