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?

lack of bins??? The alternative is take your rubbish home, rather than throw it on the ground

I honestly don't understand why caring about litter is being seen as a middle class thing. It costs nothing to use a bin or take your rubbish home with you. What is it exactly about not wanting to be surrounded by rubbish that's seen as middle class? I really don't get it.

If I had my way, anyone caught littering would be fined on the spot £1000. It would soon stop.

Some people are just lazy bs.

I blame parents who never taught their children to tidy their bedroom, put their dirty clothes in the laundry basket, put their lolly wrapper in a bin etc.

Laziness, stupidity, entitlement. Absolutely.

You see this all the time with dog poo bins. They can be overflowing but still people will continue to bump it on top of the bin, or on the ground underneath or round the bin.

Some poor sod has got to stand by that stinking bin and pick up all those bags full of dog shit. God forbid it should be the owners of the dogs that see to it's disposal.

If a bin is full or there isn't a bin just take it home with you and dispose of it in your own bin, it will still be taken away for you.

My dog is my responsibility and it's my responsibility to see that her waste is disposed of in a way that doesn't make life unpleasant for others; likewise with my rubbish.

There's a very strong attitude of entitlement and 'someone else will deal with it' in our society.

It is disgusting but it's been like this for a long time. I was in services this week and saw an excellent advertising campaign;

A montage of three bits of litter on the ground.. each one said a word, Lazy, Disgusting, Slob.... and then the strapline of "Yes, this is what people think of you".

It was definitely frowned on when I was young and I've never done it. It's not a hardship to put your litter in a bag and take it with you till you get to a bin or get home.

People who litter are scum, no exceptions.

People are very scummy. Some of them it doesn’t matter how much money they have they will still live in filth.

British liter ring??? I suggest going to Athens, Greece if you want to see what real littering looks like.... Driving down the street when car in front of you rolls window open and chucks their takeaway coffee out? Chexk. Overflowing rubbish bins? Check rubbish collectors often on strike resulting rubbish not collected for days or weeks? Check. Gazillion of stray animals pooping everywhere? Check...

Lived in Greece for over 10 years, so speaking from personal experience here.

In the past there was no McDonalds, one of the biggest litter sources, takeaway coffee etc. So far less litter to throw out of the car window.

This also ties in with the obesity epidemic, went to local city today, the number of obese women in 20s is awful. You never saw this 30 years ago.

Why, Cloudfrost, is it a competition to see who is worse? Some sort of beauty pageant in reverse. How odd.

We are bad, I grant you, but not really compared to other countries (with the exception of Japan and of course as ever Scandinavia). I spent two months cleaning beaches as a volunteer in Italy and they were another level, believe me. Maybe you’d get a lot of litter after a hot crowded day in the uk, but in Sicily most people would litter, not just a few bad uns. Similarly if you’ve ever travelled in the developing world, you’ll know it’s commonplace to throw litter out of a car/train/bus window or into a river. Of course that is partly due to lack of public services so people don’t have much incentive to take it home or find a bin, but it is also a habit too.

I just don’t understand it in the UK, with everyone being so aware of the environment and climate - where do people think it will go? The house behind us has a playing field which has groups of people there all day having a nice time, having picnics and playing football, but most mornings there’s a pile of litter from the teenagers/young people who’ve stayed up late - despite the fact I’d bet everyone of them would claim to care loads about the environment.

I remember reading probably 30 years ago that Londoners didn't litter any more than parisians but that Paris spent 3 times more on street cleaning.

Lack of bins is no excuse. Take your litter home.

Sadly the same people scream bloody blue murder if Travellers rock up to their nearby park and leave THEIR rubbish.

No different in my opinion.

I was in Singapore harbour on New Year's Eve. We woke at 8am on New Year's Day and there was not even a plastic glass in sight. Like it had never happened.
It's lack of bins, lack of emptying bins and lazy people who don't care.

You're right, Walkingtohealth. There are also countries that are very much cleaner. You don't hear or see reports of littering in Singapore, nor in Austria/Switzerland either. I doubt they're comparing themselves either, they just have set their standards and people comply.

We should do the same, zero tolerance to littering with big penalties for those who do.

I blame Margaret Thatcher - I usually do and I'm usually right to.
But seriously - it's as people said up thread - a lot of the UK has the "I'm alright and no social consequences" attitude and there's no one to pull them up on it. My DH is a very large intimidating body and has been known to cheerfully pick up teen drivers' fast food rubbish and dump it right back in their car seconds after they've had a clear out. I cringe and quietly applaud at the same time.

My DH is a very large intimidating body and has been known to cheerfully pick up teen drivers' fast food rubbish and dump it right back in their car seconds after they've had a clear out.

that could get you stabbed in london.

I know bluefox! We are in the country though & I've got good life insurance on him.

Not littering is middle class now, is it?
Gradually, throughout my lifetime, more and more things have been dubbed middle class whereas, when I was little, in a working class family and area, it was just normal.

Things like not littering, cooking meals from scratch, having children do homework, READING, having the most basic level of general knowledge. There have always been people, of all socioeconomic backgrounds, who are prepared to go through life doing as little as possible for themselves or for others but now it seems that you cannot do anything but watch TV and practice anti social behaviour without being dismissed as middle class, over privileged and out of touch.

Not the point of the thread, I know, but this sort of thing infuriates me.

Menaimum what has Margaret Thatcher got to do with it? Was she an inveterate litter dropper who managed to inveigle that into her policies?

I blame the scummy people who drop litter. It is their fault. Nobody else's.

In some cases it may be a lack of bins, but I've seen a person walk past a bin a few steps and drop litter.
Are people that lazy they can't walk back a few steps to put their rubbish in it?

I don’t think we are as a nation are we

We are and by some way. Bill Bryson commented on it in his last book I think. We have rubbish councils who don't think it's their job to sort out rubbish (eg reducing opening hours of tips ad restricting access in other ways and then wondering why they get fly-tipping) but that doesn't explain all the litter alongside roads etc, which comes out of cars. Why can't people take it home with them, it's really not hard.

I'm not from here and when I meet other American emigrants it's often something we remark on when talking about life here versus there. It's shocking. The UK is naturally so beautiful and yet there's litter all over. I don't know why it is.

This happens everywhere, but in the UK we are so densely packed and there is very little unused space anywhere so it's far more noticeable.

I have been on numerous community litter picks and 95% of the rubbish is takeaway food containers (inc crisp packets and chocolate wrappers), and drinks bottles/cans.

Although I did find a wooden leg once, in a hedge!

I just can’t understand people throwing rubbish out of their car windows; the verges of the nearby A road are absolutely covered.

I agree that fast food and snacks are a contributory factor. When I was young (70s) it was considered Not Nice to eat in the street. Sweets or an ice cream, maybe, but cramming in food on the hoof? You’d have been considered disgusting. Actually it makes me heave now if I see (and smell) someone scoffing a smelly burger on the train.