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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not understand why people leave litter?

101 replies

HaveringWavering · 03/04/2021 08:56

Pretty much every toddler is taught to put rubbish in the bin and that it is bad to drop it. They usually love doing it and are the first to tell off adults who don’t.

So where does it all go wrong? At what point in life do people forget or decide to ignore this and become the sort of disgusting pigs who leave their litter in parks, on road verges and on beaches?

If you have left your litter behind in the park, why? What goes through your head? If a bin is full, why do you dump your shit in the floor instead of taking it home?

(The only exception is festivals which have paid litter picking included in the ticket price).

OP posts:
ForestYeti · 03/04/2021 13:53

My exh thought it was ok to throw rubbish out of the car window til I stopped him, absolutely no excuse for it. I think it’s passed down from parents sometimes as he said his always did!

Notanotherhun · 03/04/2021 13:55

@TooYoungToNotice

We live on the edge of a town on a road that leads out to the countryside. I regularly see groups of young men in little cars racing up and down at high speed (it's a 30 zone). They chuck their MacDonalds and KFC litter out of the windows as they go and all the householders along here have to clear it up.

We regularly get bags of dog poo chucked under our garden hedge too. Why bag it in a non biodegradable bag and then leave it!? Our local canalside has trees with bag after bag after bag of dog poo hung in them.

The worst I've seen is a group of four young men sat outside McDonald's with their car windows down dropping all their detritus around their car as they ate. The pile was huge. This was in full view of everyone. They just did not care.

It's just laziness and entitlement I'm afraid.

And so who went up to the car to ask them to pick up the rubbish? It's all very well observing and watching but it does require people to actually 'down something.
amusedbush · 03/04/2021 13:58

@Notanotherhun

If you said anything to groups of teens around here you'd get an earful of abuse. There's no way I would approach them and ask them to bin their litter by myself.

Notanotherhun · 03/04/2021 14:04

[quote amusedbush]@Notanotherhun

If you said anything to groups of teens around here you'd get an earful of abuse. There's no way I would approach them and ask them to bin their litter by myself.[/quote]
Thereby reinforcing their silly behaviour. They are all somebody's children and were once young.

Original poster
HaveringWavering · 03/04/2021 14:06

@LovelyLovelyWarmCoffee

I know the issue about foxes etc ripping the bags open, we were in central London so not much of an issue fortunately.

You’re kidding, right? I live in Zone 2 and I see a fox probably once a week and hear them pretty much every night. Foxes are rampant in central London.

OP posts:
poppycat10 · 03/04/2021 14:08

I don't understand why people throw litter out of car windows or dump it before they leave a layby etc. Or fly tip.

However, I have a certain amount of sympathy for people who take their stuff to the recycling centre, find eg the book bin is full, and leave the books on top, rather than continuing to drive around with them for weeks.

It would help a great deal if bins and recycling containers were emptied more often. And tips open longer hours and not having silly restrictions on who can use them.

But general waste like dropping masks all over the place or defecating in public. Just why? Ugh. Really nasty behaviour.

CheerfulBunny · 03/04/2021 14:20

I think, when you challenge a lot of these people, they will reply they are 'keeping someone in a job, ain't I?' This seems to be the general justification for it. The street where the building I work in is is just shocking - mattresses, broken furniture, dirty nappies and food waste strewn across the road, a genuine health hazard, reported to the council many times. It reminds me of medieval times.

Steptoeshorse1965 · 03/04/2021 14:23

Lack of any sort of social responsibility, pig ignorance, a could not give a shit attitude, and laws which don't really cut the mustard in dealing with such issues. if laws for such matters were more sever, as per the New York mayor, Rudi Guiliani and his "Broken Windows" Policy, we would see a much cleaner country. This will just go on until one day someone in power treats it for the scourge it is.

Emmacb82 · 03/04/2021 14:29

It’s disgusting and I don’t understand it. It’s the same with spitting on the pavement. Why do it? You wouldn’t do it in your own home so what gives you the right to do it in public. Most are just ignorant and don’t think it’s their problem. They use the excuse of no bins/bins full up. In that case, bag it up and take it home with you!! In the last year we have really grown to appreciate our green spaces more than ever, it’s a shame that their beauty is ruined by a load of uneducated idiots.

LovelyLovelyWarmCoffee · 03/04/2021 14:33

@HaveringWavering I’m talking central as in Zone 1. Nighttime wasn’t really quiet, even during the week.
I saw a fox once in the 2y I lived there.
I’m in Zone 2 now, definitely more «rural» in terms of wildlife.

DynamoKev · 03/04/2021 14:41

(The only exception is festivals which have paid litter picking included in the ticket price).
Why are festival goers so special they can't use a fucking bin?

HamFisted · 03/04/2021 15:23

It’s disgusting and I don’t understand it. It’s the same with spitting on the pavement. Why do it?

I know this one! Scientific illiteracy- they believe that if they swallow phlegm it'll go back down onto their lungs so they have to spit it out in order to clear it.

Member869894 · 03/04/2021 15:35

I remember a thread on here where people thought it was ok to bag dog poos and leave it on a walk to be collected later. i was amazed at the amount of people who thought that was ok. That's littering too.

Lovebug06 · 03/04/2021 15:41

There was loads in the woods near me this morning. The cans had been cut open and were so sharp. I couldn't leave it all there. I cut my hand on one. But I couldn't leave it all and some animal hurt themselves. I couldn't get it all though as some was floating in a huge puddle but I did three trips to the bin. Majorly pissed me off!

Snugglepiggy · 03/04/2021 15:47

I bag up at least one bag a day just out walking my dogs from woods and grass verges.Drives me insane.Anyone in a car presumably will have a bin at their destination be it home,work or shopping centre.So why lob it out ?Time we got roughly tough on littered.And I will say something if I see its Can't help myself.

LegoPirateMonkey · 03/04/2021 15:53

When I was a secondary school teacher, some kids would drop litter in the classroom eg scrap paper and when asked to put it in the bin would say ‘that’s the cleaner’s job’. I very swiftly disabused them of this notion but then they just thought I was an uptight nag. Some people are just incredibly arrogant and think the world exists to serve them, also they think it shows their status to be chucking their rubbish in their wake for someone more lowly to clean up after them.

LegoPirateMonkey · 03/04/2021 15:55

And people who live round my area bag up their dog poo and leave it on the pavement. So it gets trodden on and the poo squishes out of the torn bag. That’s really inexplicable to me! There are no dog poo bins around here due to two councils disagreeing on who’s responsible for them. But to bag it up and leave it out is just bizarre!

Somanysocks · 03/04/2021 16:08

@LovelyLovelyWarmCoffee

Street bins are not for your household rubbish bags so no wonder they are always overflowing, they are for using for litter while you are out and about.

Your bags of household rubbish should be collected from outside the residence.

Original poster
HaveringWavering · 03/04/2021 16:23

@DynamoKev

(The only exception is festivals which have paid litter picking included in the ticket price). Why are festival goers so special they can't use a fucking bin?
I explained up thread what I meant.
OP posts:
Original poster
HaveringWavering · 03/04/2021 16:25

@LegoPirateMonkey

When I was a secondary school teacher, some kids would drop litter in the classroom eg scrap paper and when asked to put it in the bin would say ‘that’s the cleaner’s job’. I very swiftly disabused them of this notion but then they just thought I was an uptight nag. Some people are just incredibly arrogant and think the world exists to serve them, also they think it shows their status to be chucking their rubbish in their wake for someone more lowly to clean up after them.
That’s shocking. Out of interest, were these particularly well off kids?
OP posts:
MarinPrime · 03/04/2021 16:34

It's not hard to understand.
It's easier to just discard stuff and leave it than pick up and put in bin or take home.

catfeets · 03/04/2021 16:34

I've just moved house and we're not far from a motorway. The whole lead up to it is covered in litter, it's disgusting. We find a lot of McDonald's and KFC rubbish thrown on the road we live on (dead end) and we're at least 20 mins away from those places. Absolutely no idea why people are driving so far to come and sit there and eat.

A previous neighbour used to throw her fast food rubbish in her own garden or the street. The second it was finished with it just got dumped on the floor, even if that was the path past the bin. Ridiculous behaviour which her scratty friends and all their kids also copied.

At primary school there were always huge campaigns to stop kids dropping litter when I was little. Does this still happen? Or is it just that people don't give a shit anymore as it's someone else's job to clean up after them Angry

murbblurb · 03/04/2021 16:40

Litter picking may be costed in at Glastonbury but attendees are still expected to bin rubbish or take it away. The mess left indicates a high level of skank among the attendees. And rich skanks too given the ticket price.

Many kids are also brought up to be skanks, as is visible on school routes.

murasaki · 03/04/2021 16:49

We had a birthday picnic with 4 of us for my sister's 40th on Monday , in a local park. In addition to the snacks and fizz we brought, each of us had brought a plastic bag for rubbish in our handbags. Late 30s -early 40s. The ground was scoured like we were on Time Team at the end, and all rubbish in the bags, including my fag ends and the green bits from the top of strawberries. And then to the bin. It's not hard. leave it like you would like to find it.

woodhill · 03/04/2021 17:00

@Snugglepiggy

I bag up at least one bag a day just out walking my dogs from woods and grass verges.Drives me insane.Anyone in a car presumably will have a bin at their destination be it home,work or shopping centre.So why lob it out ?Time we got roughly tough on littered.And I will say something if I see its Can't help myself.
Yes, I wish we could. The cameras pick up speeders so why not litterers.

I think they don't care and seem to have no idea about re using or recycling e.g. plastic bottle - drives me nuts