To think that the litter on our roads has got to ridiculous levels?

[inigomontoyahwillcox]

Maybe it's just where I live (NW Essex - M11, A11 are my usual major roads) but the amount of litter on the motorways, dual carriageways, and A roads is just crazy! It feels like we're living in a country with minimal infrastructure. It became very clear yesterday during the high winds not only how bloody awful it looks, but also dangerous it is in high winds (we had some litter hit our windshield).

I understand it's hard to collect litter from verges and central reservations due to the traffic, but we seemed to manage in the past (and other countries seem to deal with it) - or has littering/dumping gotten out of control? Where does it all come from anyway? Are people just throwing it out of their windows?!

People who weren't already are turning into slobs.

Fly-tipping is rising because no-one does anything about it.

People are more than happy to open their car windows and throw all their crap out. It's only ever by chance the Police see it happen and respond.

Britain is broken. The problem is, almost nobody will admit it. Litter is just one symptom. My friend’s child is disabled because 2 doctors repeatedly dismissed her mother’s concerns. If they had taken her seriously, the child would have needed a little operation with a 2 week recovery.

I'm so sorry - that is horrific.

I agree - it does seem to be indicative of how broken Britain is.

It’s awful , drove A34 , A43 recently and both awful.

really noticeable as trees bare and grass short but the country feels grubby.

www.foodservicepackaging.org.uk/news/youngmenlitter/

I’m sure it’s partly down to the lack of accountability or responsibility in some of the population. But it’s also down to the Highways Agency having their budget severely cut. They take care of the main roads and motorways and used to have a much more comprehensive litter picking /clearing regime than they do now. It’s sad that such a thing was needed in the first place, but there you are.

Where I live it’s clear to see when you move from a more minor road (council cleaned) to a Highways Agency road - not cleaned for a good while.

A countryside business I know found McDonald's litter in their car park. There was a timestamped receipt so he tried to get the car registration from their CCTV. They said they couldn't because of data protection. These fast food companies need to take more responsibility.

There is also more since lockdown I think - people took a carrier bag with bottles, cans and packets of snacks to enjoy outside but couldn't be bothered to carry the same bag back.

These fast food companies need to take more responsibility.

I completely agree, plenty of the rubbish I see has the familiar McDonalds logo on it.

I noticed it got worse in the first lockdown in 2020, and its never got better .

I recently visited the UK for a funeral and could not believe the rubbish on the motorways, desperate levels of rubbish

It’s grim. I noticed it driving down into Kent. The sides of the roads are covered in litter. I wonder if local authorities have decided not to pick it up anymore?

I think they have to close a lane on motorways now to litter pick for safety, so it’s quite expensive and inconvenient. Also, the more litter people see in the road, the more they feel it’s acceptable to add to it.

I think it's partly due to buildup of non-decomposing waste. People have always dropped litter, and if it finds its way to areas that can't be cleaned up, it will never go away, so the area just gets worse and worse. I was thinking this yesterday, walking near a bypass that was built 15 years ago. Between the bypass and the fenced-off path where I was is a bank of prickly bushes. Under and in the bushes are bottles, cans, plastic bags. Even if someone had the will and the resources to clear it up, it would be an impossible job.

I spent part of my walk daydreaming about rubbish-eating microbes, that would self-destruct when they'd done their job!

It's not just you. I'm in west Essex. Transport just don't have litter picking teams out regularly anymore. It's shameful the amount of litter at roadsides. It was never this bad before. I litter pick around the edge of Epping Forest regularly and it's the pits. I don't understand the mentality that you just throw your litter on the floor without a thought. In the 1970s we had Keep Britain Tidy drummed into us at school and we're embarrassed to drop litter. Now there is no shame whatsoever. It's mindless.

We’re in South East and commented on this only the other day - most of it is lazy fuckers chucking their rubbish out of windows (I litter pick regularly in my local area) but I think it must be massive budget cuts that have made it so bad on motorways and A roads. We’re not allowed to pick those unfortunately 😢.

I do wonder if it really is litter or stuff that has actually been whisked away and out of bins and skips...we've just had loads of wind...and I've seen this happen 🤔.... I think it's council's not emptying overfilling that's the problem.

This. There used to be no litter at all where I lived. I think it's delivery drivers a lot of the time.

Erm no bins on our rural B roads and yet the familiar trim of litter...

@OhDeeryMe sadly that’s a very charitable explanation for the appalling twatishness of far too many motorists 😢

It's mostly truckers. Stop at any lay-by in the UK and see how grim it really is.

Driving up the M5 recently I was following an open top truck that had small
pieces of plastic litter billowing out of the top, to the degree that it looked like snow and felt quite dangerous. I’m assuming that regulations or checks have become more lax or companies are taking the piss and using this as a way to avoid some of the costs involved in getting rid of waste.

I wish there was an effective way to deal with the fucking scum who do this.

I agree, I use the A1 regularly and the litter is awful. they have been closing lanes and whole stretches of the A1 recently to replace the barriers in the middle. You would have thought they could take the opportunity to gather the litter at that time, but no, they have re-opened and the litter is still there.
Apparently there is a large vacuum machine in existence which could go along the verges and suck most of the litter up, with large items obviously needing to be done by hand (tyres, etc)

I mentioned this to DH recently (we were also on the M11) and he complains that he can't unsee the litter now. It definitely got a lot worse over the last couple of year. I presume it's because there's no money for litter picking any more.

I can't understand why people do this. Children must still be learning not to litter in school aren't they?

Not an issue in the likes of France, Spain & Germany when I've been over there.

I think it is down to more takeaway outlets on main roads, get a coffee drink it, chuck it out of the window. Many of us pick litter in our village but is too dangerous to do this on busy roads. I also blame delivery drivers, far more now than in the past

Not just where you live. It's like that where we are (midlands) and recently we were driving from St Albans to Cambridge and there were horrendous amounts of litter along the verges there too. And yes people do just open their cat windows and chuck it out.