We need to stop the culture of "floral tributes"

[MangoMangoMango]

Just watching the news about the horrific murder of the girl in Boston. Woman being interviewed in front of a mass of tributes - flowers, teddies, balloons. At least 30 feet across, filling the pavement.

I totally get that locals who are shocked and upset by the news want to demonstrate that in some way. But flowers wrapped in plastic and helium balloons are just litter. In a few days someone will have the job of clearing it all up and binning it. Such a waste of money and resources.

We need to move the culture away from this - but into what. I'm not sure.

No need for personal insults- you may not agree with that person but we should be able to have an interesting discussion about this topic without getting personal

FGS, people can be sad for tragedies and show support without tributes that normalise excessive waste.

They can but maybe what they need right now is to leave a bunch of flowers.

But it's not your place to decide how people grieve.

If you don't want flowers to be wrapped in plastic, then deal with that, don't complain that grieving families are buying flowers in memory of their dead relatives.

Some of these responses are just painfully insensitive.

Imagine if you were the family of the little girl (I’m not going to use her name as I don’t want to make this thread more “google searchable “) and the tributes are one small piece of comfort in your unbearable anguish and agony…

..and then you see this thread.

Please ask for it to be removed OP.

It’s not grieving families though it’s other people lining the streets with dozens and dozens of flowers and as I said earlier it does more harm than good.

There's an interesting discussion to be had about waste and human mourning.

Yep, but the time to discuss that is not off the back of a news story about a murdered 9 year old.

Discussing plastic waste and the production of 'tat' is valid but there's a time and place for it.

Comment on that or don't, but snide little comments implying the OP is unfeeling and the thread should be deleted are pointless.

But my opinion is that It is unfeeling to complain about "pointless tat" being bought in the aftermath of someone's death.

People are allowed to disagree with the OP and voice that disagreement 🤷🏻‍♀️

It's not grieving families though it’s other people lining the streets with dozens and dozens of flowers

Yep, and if that's what they want to do to show support and respect, then they should be able to do so.

and as I said earlier it does more harm than good.

In your opinion. You don't get to tell people how to show their support to strangers. If you don't agree with it then don't do it. It's not hard to just leave people alone.

I think the answer is for people to only leave biodegradable tributes eg flowers wrapped with twine that will degrade, or a single stem. People are shocked and want to do something, but being ecological is a halfway house

This!

You should be embarrassed by this thread.

Surely it's an emotional, empathetic gesture to show support to the parents?

You could have started this conversation with no reference to that poor child.

Yep this 👆

Agree - such a small element of the bigger question the OP asking, but this has always seemed to be one of the many 'quick wins' we could be taking on the environmental path.

The whole balloon culture that has arisen of everyone feeling the need for balloons for everything is just ridiculous - particularly bloody balloon arches, which now seem 'de rigueur' for even small children's birthday parties round here. 😕Does seem we're going backwards rather than forwards.

When Prince Phillip died there were Wardens at Windsor Castle asking ppl to take the cellophane/any wrapping off of the flowers before leaving them-if that became the norm then that would be a start-

I'm not sure the environment is the first thing on people's minds after a tragic death.

All businesses should be making moves to reduce plastic, move to biodegradable etc, but really until that happens people are going to buy what is there to be bought.

I know I'm certainly not going to be loading up Etsy to find only locally sourced flower petal confetti, wait 2 weeks for delivery all for a memorial.

This thread refers to the hideous murder on a young girl to discuss waste reduction and the environment. It is a very disrespectful thread and would be horrifying for anyone close to the little girl to read.

Many posters on the thread have asked the OP to ask for it to be deleted and/or suggested a thread be started on the environmental issue without using a very recent child murder as a talking point.

I have reported the thread.

To be brutally honest what other people do and how they spend their money is none of your business. You do what you like and stop judging other people for doing what works for them.

Perhaps others don't view tributes as a waste at all? As it's their way of processing their grief and paying tribute to a life ended too soon?

It's awful isn't it. OP you could have made this a thread generally about flower packaging.

I agree OP but the people who would leave teddies, plastic-wrapped flowers and the like, will not change their behaviour. Their grief is all important and nothing else matters no matter what anybody says.

There are other ways of showing a grieving family support - and quite visibly too - JustGiving fundraising for helping with funeral costs as PP suggests, that would be a hugely helpful and outwardly visible demonstration of support.

People do what they want, it's selfish but, we're all selfish in the ways that we choose to be and that includes public littering.

Why should the thread be removed? Because it's distasteful to you? Nobody is saying that this isn't an absolute tragedy, it is. For the family of that little girl. It's a shock for everybody else.

Since when has anybody on MN being sensitive to the likelihood of families (actually the ones affected), reading a thread here?

Stop trying to police what other people can post.

Typical Mumsnet. A child has been murdered and some are bleating on about a bit of cellophane.

I haven't said it should be removed have I.