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?!

That halcyon period lasted, what, 30 or 40 years at most. For most of the last century people didn't have free healthcare, free school uniforms, most people didn't have a hope of going to university, people worked to pay their rent, food and bills with little or nothing left over, benefits were never generous. Housing was certainly cheaper, but as a proportion of wages, most other things were far more expensive.

How old are you out of interest?

It’s like that scene in Mad Men where that 1950s family finishes their roadside picnic and the dad shakes all the rubbish off the picnic blanket onto the ground and chucks the cans into the grass, then they happily pile back into the car and drive away. It was so unexpected when I saw that scene that I gasped! But of course times have changed, and then changed again.

People are lazy and they should never have taken the keep britain tidy adverts off.

You can make this as political as you like,but their is no excuse for throwing rubbish out of a car window,which is the main cause of the litter problem.Drive along any motorway in the UK and the verges are covered in plastic bottles,takeaway cartons,cans and plastic bags to name a few.The only way they got their is via a car or lorry window..

Exactly

There is no need for this type of behaviour

I remember an ex emptying an ash tray out of his car in the street and I was horrified, not how I was brought up. I know my dc wouldn't throw litter either

I lived abroad 10 years ago in a country where litter lines the streets but there is little infrastructure. I used to feel happy coming back home and seeing the tidy roads. Not now.. the A roads are horrific. HGV drivers are some of the worst, they park up in lay bys here and most of the rubbish is there.

@Coxspurplepippin Yes, and before all that the country was covered in litter and shit!

These are full blown adults who are entrusted with driving licences and with responsibility for cars, presumably also houses and families but they're incapable of managing to bag up their rubbish and take it to a bin.
This is also a huge problem in Northern Ireland and I think whole scale enforcement is the only way it can be dealt with.

@Salverus 43. Why?

😭😭😭😭😭😭

@LadyMary50 I'm not excusing it, I am a regular litter picker in my lovely village, I am just trying to look at why countries like ours have so many people that think this is ok. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe there's another reason people treat the country like shit. It is getting worse but so is the standard of living so I'm theorising that in this instance, it is causation AND correlation.

It's so depressing

What I don't understand is why it's such a Bristish thing? I never see litter at the same levels when I drive around Europe? Do they have litter but clean it up? Or do they never have litter?

I think the disgusting people who litter haven't changed, but council budgets are restricted so fewer cleanups. I cannot comprehend why people would throw something out of their car window when they can just put it into their recycle bin at home :-(

This has been upsetting me so much lately. I pick up litter daily whilst out with my dogs.It's bad enough locally but recent journeys on the M62 and M6 left me furious. Whatever the destination be it work,service station,home etc there's a bin.So there's absolutely no excuses.Saying there is less money to clean up - well how about individuals not chucking it out to start with ?
I have contacted National Highways to complain about the state of the verges.Greggs have announced 150 more stores and longer hours and huge increase in profits -so expect even more of their wrappers in your hedgerows.It's time to start a National campaign before we drown in the stuff.

Before all what?

I really don't know why we aren't utilising people in prison to 'chain-gang' as it were to clean the main roads of litter. Saves money (not paying council workers to do it) & helps the community

Both me & my oh noticed the amount of litter blowing about today, it is really is quite awful. It doesn't help that residential bin collections are every 2 weeks, so it often gets piled up, rats etc get to the bags if not securely in the bin, and it gets everywhere. Local recycling centres is by prior appointment only now, so there's a rise in fly tipping too

Agreed.

Yes. I wondered what tourists think after coming off the ferries or tunnel.

@Coxspurplepippin Before the free healthcare, university, etc. Before we had any safety net or decent housing we were literally surrounded by shit, as we are now.

Yanbu

I was on driving on the motorway recently and thinking exactly this.

I hate people.

We really weren't. Apart from anything else, people didn't buy bottles of water and soft drinks on a daily basis. In most of the country, Macdonald's wasn't a thing, tradespeople brought their lunch - a sandwich and a thermos of tea, to work, they didn't go to Gregg's and buy stuff in bags and cartons and bottles. School kids didn't wander round town at lunch time eating and drinking takeaway food and drink then dumping the wrappers all over the spot. There weren't millions of takeaway coffee cups being discarded every day.

They need to start giving people points and fines for throwing litter out of car windows. Use CCTV to do it.

Also start using prisoners in chain gangs to clear the litter.

Deposits on plastic bottles, glass bottles, cans, would be a good start. As a pp said, VAT on takeaways to be specifically used for rubbish removal, and start charging the fast food chains a rubbish tax.

In Australia, aluminium cans can be cashed in (or used to be, I' m going back 20 years). Boy scouts used to fundraise by aluminium can collections and people living on the streets would collect cans to earn some cash. Consequently, never a can to be seen anywhere.

It’s down to parenting. As a child, if I had even a sweet wrapper, my Mam would see - put it in your pocket, until you find a bin. I still do that.