to not understand why people leave litter?

[HaveringWavering]

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).

@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.

Yes and I often say would you do this in your own home as you would not in mine

I saw 3 boys all walking home from school (5/6/7/8 kind of age) with a bag of star burst each, dropping every single wrapper at they went. None of their mums said a word, so they haven't been taught to put their rubbish in the bin & therefore just don't give a shit.

Littering infuriates me, there is no excuse whatsoever

DH and I are volunteer litter pickers for our area. We were bored in lockdown so just started doing it. It's been great for mental health and also for a sense of purpose. Thoroughly recommend. We've also had chocolates, wine, biscuits from people locally to say thank you which was lovely and we always get a few beeps from cars as we do it which puts a smile on your face. Really enjoyed it :)

I've run across the attitude many times that if you start picking up your litter, whether it be in a park or at McDonalds, that you're somehow taking away the work of someone who is paid to tidy it up. Bonkers attitude, if you ask me.

Full litter bins are no excuse either. You brought the food items or whatever with you in some sort of bag or carrier. It can be placed back inside and carried with you until you find a suitable place to throw it away (or take it home)

Yes, OP, well off middle class kids with polite and responsible parents were in my experience the most likely to litter the classroom and leave it for the cleaner.

Dh and I were just saying yesterday that we neither of us have ever intentionally left a piece of non organic litter. Ever. Maybe a paper cup blew away and we couldn't catch it or we dropped an apple core in bushes, but never anything more offensive than this. I thought every one was like this, but no it seems not at all.

There’s no excuse! I went walking in a beautiful ancient bluebell wood earlier full of birdsong. What did I find? A used sanitary towel with a full human turd on it, right in the middle of the path. Some people are grim beyond belief.

Many reasons I suspect including:-

Someone else will clean it up (who? Councils are overstretched and why should they? It's your rubbish. Put it in the bin or take it with you. Its not hard)

Not enough bins

Overflowing bins

Poorly designed bins so rubbish just blows back out.

Lack of understanding of the effect of littering on the environment. I don't believe many truly have any understanding of this.

I honestly think we need another national anti litter campaign focusing on the environmental effect of dropping rubbish. It won't cure everything but if it educates some, that would be a start.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/566467

I also usually pickup litter when I walk but I wasn’t going to pick that up!

what hope do we have with the litter bugs?

You know it’s a long time since I’ve heard that expression “litter bug”. It sounds sort of charmingly 1970s doesn’t it? It really has become less common to stigmatise littering hasn’t it?

[quote LovingKent]Many reasons I suspect including:-

Someone else will clean it up (who? Councils are overstretched and why should they? It's your rubbish. Put it in the bin or take it with you. Its not hard)

Not enough bins

Overflowing bins

Poorly designed bins so rubbish just blows back out.

Lack of understanding of the effect of littering on the environment. I don't believe many truly have any understanding of this.

I honestly think we need another national anti litter campaign focusing on the environmental effect of dropping rubbish. It won't cure everything but if it educates some, that would be a start.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/566467[/quote]
Signed! Did you start that @lovingKent?

We were in the car a few months ago and this vile woman threw the remnants of her takeaway out the car windows into the road. It was her and two children and we could see chips, half eaten burgers and drinks cartons. Anyway, we pulled up next to her at the lights and I told her that she had dropped something and she screamed at me that I was a fucking cunt and to keep my nose out of her business This is why it happens, because parents do it in front of their kids so they think it’s fine.

@Sparrowfeeder

There’s no excuse! I went walking in a beautiful ancient bluebell wood earlier full of birdsong. What did I find? A used sanitary towel with a full human turd on it, right in the middle of the path. Some people are grim beyond belief.

We found 3 catheter bags yesterday.... nice

@haveringwavering not my petition no but I feel really strongly about the need for this. The recent media about mess everywhere after any kind of gathering makes me think people just don't understand the effect of their littering. Thanks for signing. I have also written to my MP

This really does seem to be worse since lockdown, in this area at least. Can't even just be that there are fewer people about, when the weather was decent in lockdown last summer I've never seen so many folk out and about.

Like many dog walkers, I regularly pick up litter in the mornings. It is just rage inducing. I can only hope that the teens that are the worst culprits in our local park eventually get some self-respect and start to pick up after themselves.

(Also agree that there is some theory to the parenting and running around after kids theory, along with the concept that if you pointed out to a child in a park that they needed to pick their litter up and put it in the bin, the parent would be offended that you'd pulled their child up, rather than teaching their child decent behaviour.)

I've been musing on this in recent days too. Locally to us, there are 3 main sources.

a) Take-away packaging, thrown into the hedge from car windows around 3 miles from McDonald's drive-thru.
b) Alcohol cans and bottles left by the riverside.
c) Silver canisters - I think nitrous oxide - piled up in the village car park.

B & C are mainly young people meeting up with friends and is frequently linked to other anti-social behaviour.
A - I really have no idea, but it is not unusual for nappies to be thrown away at the same time so cannot all be blamed on teenagers. I wish car registrations could be printed on the packaging.

I hate this in restaurants too. Families leaving their table overflowing with mess. I could never leave a restaurant like that. What's it teaching their children? I'm mostly talking about places like McDonalds. There are bins everywhere for people to put their rubbish. I don't understand it at all. I remember once seeing a family leaving not just all the food wrappers, sticky sauces, chips on the table and floor but also a load of used wet wipes strewn in amongst it. Why would someone want someone else to pick that up?

If I'm in the right mood and don't have anywhere else to be in a hurry I have been known to follow people home (from a safe distance), and deposit their litter and/or dogpoo in their front garden, very satisfying.

I did get caught once with a dogpoo return, we had a lovely argument where he said 'I' was disgusting, oh the irony.

I work with teenagers. They are wonderful, idealistic creatures, full of passion for rescuing the environment, yet many seem incapable of making the direct link between their desire to save the world and the necessity to put their Twix wrapper in a bin.

@Somanysocks

That is brilliant

I pick up litter in my area and you get a lot of lovely thank yous from passers by. I find it a good form of stress release/quite therapeutic. People are lazy and just don't care. I also think some people just don't 'see' it.

I think it is just bone-idleness. And I don't think it is mainly middle aged. Teens are notorious for littering. All ages do it. It is kind of an out of sight out of mind thing.

I have seen people throw litter, including cans, out of the car window. Really lazy and disgusting habit. We have a small green space across from us and it is constantly occupied by smokers (both cigarettes and weed). They are not allowed to smoke on balconies or on common property, so they go to the little park. They throw the butts on the ground. A real mess.

I don't know the solution but it is a big problem. I have to be careful to avoid where the smokers sit when walking the dog.

I hate it so so much. There really is no excuse. My little boy and I go litter picking around once a week and we always fill at least one big black bag. It's mostly takeaway waste, alcohol cans and sweet wrappers but we do find some interesting things.

Some litter pickers on our local FB page posted a photo of their full bags of litter, and their haul included about 15 Lucozade bottles full of piss. Wt actual f?

What pissed me off the other day was a group of teenagers having their full Subway on the beach and leaving every single cup and wrapper on the ground. This was after they had watched me and my 4yo clean the beach of other people's rubbish. It's just depressing.

It is beyond me. Last year the recreation ground behind the house was subjected to rubbish just left where people had been sitting on the grass. Drink tins, food debris left in circles as if groups just got up and wandered off. The bins were overflowing. What kind of mentality do some people have?