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?

at my school one of the punishments was picking up litter on the grounds!

This is still one of the punishments at my kids’ secondary - they give them litter grabbers and bin bags but some parents have been known to contact the school and attempt to forbid their child from having to do it. It’s a punishment reserved for antisocial behaviour, not like forgetting to do homework etc, so I think there’s some value in it.

@HopeClearwater
This is still one of the punishments at my kids’ secondary - they give them litter grabbers and bin bags but some parents have been known to contact the school and attempt to forbid their child from having to do it

I can't even understand that mindset. If either of mine littered and had to litter pick as a punishment, I'd be like "well, you won't do it again then, will you? Now stop moaning and get picking!" Not fucking set out an example they can do as they like and undermine the teachers to boot

I saw a policeman recently eating his lunch in his car then he opened the door and dropped the sandwich wrapper on the floor in the gutter of the road. Then shut the door.
Then he noticed I was watching and I stared at him. He didn’t flinch.

I wish I had had the courage to march over pick it up and shout through the window I’LL PICK THIS UP FOR YOU THEN SHALL I you lazy arrogant bugger.

But I didn’t.

I don't get the mindset. I live in a housing association building which most of us keep really tidy. We have a communal bin shed with 6 big wheels bins (3 general waste and 2 recycling) the lids on them are always left open but someone always blocks the walkway down the side of them by leaving all their rubbish all over the floor. Once all the bins were empty but they still left everything on the floor so the foxes could rip it all open and drag it all over the communal gardens. I just don't understand the mindset.

I was also in a subways before lockdown and I always make my children clear all their rubbish into the bin and take the tray back. A man on a table next to us asked why we were bothering as it's the staffs job to do that.

I'm working class but was always taught to clear up after ourselves. I don't even think it's a class thing I've seen people from all classes just dumping stuff. It's just a mindset that some people seem to have.

There's been all.sorts of littering in the Lake District over lockdown. Big groups have been wild camping and leaving all their rubbish and also abandoning tents and in one case a big wheely suitcase at the top of a fell. I.dont understand why you'd want to go somewhere beautiful and then leave it disgusting. My DH just showed me a picture of Brighton Beach rubbish. It's horrible. I did think there must not be enough bins but then I thought well we would just bag it up and bring it home, and surely everyone I know would do the same thing. Maybe we need to get the wombles.back on the telly to educate the kids so this generation don't grow up to be so horrible

The fact that some countries are filthier than ours with litter is no consolation.Many are cleaner and that's what we should aspire to. It's getting worse here -fact.And it's totally depressing to see how an increasing number of people from all different backgrounds think their litter is someone else's problem. I'd like to see a huge clean up,serious fines where pisdible,education in schools-even a couple of minutes in assemblies drumming the message home.A zero tolerance attitude.But it starts at home. Shocked recently by some local mum's who thought it was acceptable for their children to leave a myriad of tiny plastic bits in the woods for months as a form of entertainment and justified it by 'some people leave poo bags'.2 wrongs don't make a right.

I think people are taking the “ lack of bins” point the wrong way.

A lack of bins is no excuse..to a decent minded human being. But if you are already an idiot , not being able to find a bin helps you justify throwing your shit on the floor.

And I agree that there is a lack of bins.I live in a city centre and there are surprisingly few. Also I’ve been doing a walk along the canal. The pathway has been deliberately developed to encourage walking and cycling. There’s one bin in four miles. However, I do understand that bins needs emptying and that costs money and council budgets are very tight.

Could it be something to do with lack of bins? I grew up in the 1980s with the IRA threat when bins were removed from train stations, tubes and other places. Maybe a hang up from that?

More bins yes.But the reality is too many people can be minutes away from a bin and still not use it.4 bins at my local reservoir walk so reality is you don't need to leave your rubbish but people do in huge numbers.And what's the excuse for chucking whole bags of rubbish from a car window when you can put it in your bin at home or at your destination.Again individual responsibility. Or lack of it.

We Brits are not prone to litter as a rule. There’s a relatively small number of loutish, disgusting people who punch above their weight in terms of the amount of littering they do and the rubbish they leave behind. It’s absolutely not the vast majority of people.

@ChrissyPlummer I am absolutely amazed that you have never seen anyone drop litter.

I see people all the time dropping crisp packets, chocolate wrappers, cigarette packaging. People throw rubbish out of moving cars fairly often too. May only be a tissue or even a cigarette end but it all adds up.

I'm in my 40s and I think it's better than it was when I was a child. People routinely dropped sweet wrappers in the street and threw them out of car windows and now whilst I do see litter, there is an element of public disapproval so people are more likely to do it when no one is looking.

Nevertheless there is a shocking amount of litter. There is a lack of bins though, and where there are bins they always seem to be overflowing.

There needs to be more enforcement of the existing anti litter laws. I remember years ago several colleagues got £50 fines for smoking outside our office and throwing their cigarette butts on the ground instead of putting them in the cigarette bin provided. They moaned about how unfair it was but they had to pay up and it focused their mind when they were out there next time.

Lack of bins is still no excuse IMO

Yeah, annoyingly in Japan, bins are really hard to find. People actually tuck their trash inside their bags and take it home, really can’t imagine this happening elsewhere.

That said, I imagine the UK is cleaner than a lot of countries .... China and much of SEA is just filled with trash because a lot of people just really don’t care 😓

Denmark is surprisingly littered. Not quite as much as the UK though I think. Lack of bins/bin emptiers would be my personal guess, at least for town and city centre litter. I’m baffled by motorway litter. It’s actually easier to keep the rubbish in the car/van until you get out than haul it out the window at 60mph.

Makes me think of Bill Bryson’s comment that he visited a cityand they were having a “festival of litter”.

Never seen so many problems until this year. People are disgusting! That said other countries are also often filthy (Spains streets are covered in dog poo I found for instance

@flamingochill
And masks here. As nearly exclusively the 60+'s wearing them in Sainsburys it's not youngsters dumping them in the car park

From what I have seen locally on a lovely, well cared for recreation ground invaded by people who need fresh air, it is blind ignorance, selfishness of the most extreme kind and my bp goes up every time I see the evidence.

We were always taught “take your litter home with you”. Then it matters not one jot about rubbish bins. People are loutish. It’s not class either. The middle class on their ultra expensive cycles are responsible for much of the litter in my village. Discarded water bottles etc. Too many people have no consideration for others. It’s awful.

It’s also the mindset that someone else will do it for you. I think the low level depression described above doesn’t make you live like a pig but it does lead to not taking responsibility.

in the countries I have lived in Europe dealing with rubbish and recycling - how to recycle, and why to recycle and how to avoid waste - is thought in schools. in schools kids learn to use different bins for glas paper metal etc. in residential properties councils will refuse to pick up rubbish thats not properly divided onto recycle-able groups. (different bins) this way people grow up with a clear understanding that rubbish is a problem for the environment well as the council, it becomes second nature to avoid, take with you, recycle. it pains people so much when they see rubbish in nature lots of them take it with them. its all in education.

Reading the News about the Beaches down South.
Someone who overlooks Bournemouth Beach say the whole sea front smells of sewage, so much rubbish to see .
Why are people actually ruining the places they go for recreational activities.

No shame, no respect, people think it’s ok to open there car window and throw out there rubbish (God forbid they have It in there own personal space and get rid of it when they get home ). Go to park/beach/county side and leave all there rubbish. I now always have a plastic bag with me when I take my dog for a walk, could nearly always fill it up a few times. It is getting worse not better it’s just shameful no pride in this country.

partly lack of education in this country and partly because people are stupid and don't think through the consequences. The anti-litter message needs to be hammered home into tiny brains from nursery school age with constant campaigns, education, street notices, fines, and PLENTY of public bins which are regularly emptied.

Don't get me started on fly tipping !

I belong to a neighbourhood whatsapp group where somebody recently posted a warning about dog shit on the pavement outside their house. By the time I popped out about 5 mins later to pick it up for them (lazy cunts) somebody had walked through it and smeared it down the pavement.

It will take at least one generation of heavy campaigning to get the message home - basically people here are filthy lazy pigs - check out any music festival clean up or public park after a warm weekend.

People should be given one year in jail for every piece of litter dropped, we need to clamp down