Hands up: do you chuck rubbish out of your car window?

[Beebopwasthebest]

My city is having its annual big litter picking weekend. Hundred of volunteers clearing their local areas and placing full bags near bins for the council to collect. It's fabulous😊.

My "picking" area tends to be heavy traffic and it's clear most of the litter is food and drink related and thrown from car windows when drivers are waiting at traffic lights.

I am quite interested to know who does this and why (someone must!). It's not dropped by accident and there will surely be an easy to use bin when you leave your car? Posted for traffic and the mix of opinions.

I tend to have a positive mind set when volunteering..no point getting too angry about litterers - I just hope one day, someone spots a windswept middle aged woman clearing the roads and decides to change their behaviour!

Yep, me too. The bastard threw it right back out at me as he drove away. Unfortunately some people are just filth.

It's disgusting.

I was once sat at the side of the road on the motorway with my cousin and her young son; we were waiting for breakdown.

A car pulled up in front of us. They were only there for a few moments but they threw a bag of rubbish out of their window. My cousin ran over and threw it back into their car.

It's not just the verges and roads full of rubbish , but any wasteland / car parks are drowning in the stuff where we live
There is an area for cars close to three shops and I think the locals must have parties there every weekend as it's full of bottles and wrappers etc. it's cleared away and then reappears a week later
Why can't people take their litter home ?

Never. If I can carry it with me to the point of consumption I can carry the empties home.

They're all clearly from the same family who like to hang poo bags from trees and bushes

https://issuu.com/hubbubuk/docs/big_boys_don_t_litter_report_2021_#:~:text=demographic that is known to,likely to litter as women.
Came across this report which identified young men as most likely to litter and suggests the type of messaging that might get through to them.

Never.

I do litter picking in my local area sometimes, the first time I did it I was really shocked by the amount of rubbish near roads but then one day, when it was quite windy, I was driving behind the recycling bin lorry and rubbish was being whipped out by the wind and redistributed by the road, there was all sorts of rubbish flying around like confetti.

We have kerbside sorting here, the lorries have different sections for different types of recycling, the sections are accessed via doors along the side of the lorry, of the doors are left open the wind lifts the rubbish out.

No.

Near to DS’s primary school there was a long straight road, I was sitting in the car waiting for him to be “ a grown up” Yr6 Doncha know.😂

Anyway, I saw someone drop an A4 envelope out of his car and drive off, I went and picked it up, it was full to the brim with the contents of a geometry tin and then right there in the middle of all of this, a piece of paper. It was in the time of tax discs and there was an address on it. The next day I was in work and the MD said what are you going to do with it, I said when I get a chance I am going to go to the local post office.

He said, use the company postage take the logo off and underpay it, just before I sealed the even bigger envelope, the MD put a stinking note re litter in and also said that if the perpetrators name ever came across he would not be getting a job with us.

I would have given my eye teeth to see his reaction when he opened it. 😂

Never. Was utterly mortified when I had my windows open last year and a packet flew out from on the passenger seat.

I don’t, never have and never would, but it’s not unusual to be following a car that suddenly has a window opened and rubbish thrown out. Sometimes a cigarette butt. Potentially dangerous too.

So some people don't like litter/mess in "their" space but can tolerate it in the environment..that's quite strange?

I had a boyfriend years ago who was very house-pround, to the point where he didn't like it if I put my bag on the floor when I went to his flat. But he would merrily chuck rubbish in the street.

Only apple cores and only on the side where the verge is.
Although I haven't driven anywhere in years so it doesn't really count.
I dislike seeing fag butt's outside my local pub. Fortunately we have a street sweeper man.

No. Obviously. I put it in the bin when i get home.

What did you do?

Never. Disgusting people.
There was a litter pick in our town this morning which I missed, unfortunately, but I often pick up "clean" rubbish and stick it in the nearest bin. I also thank a couple of litter pickers I sometimes see when I'm out and about.
Our Waitrose car park which is shared with Barnados Charity Shop/ donations drop off site is disgusting. Think I'll speak to the Manager next time I go and find out who is responsible for cleaning it.

Once reported a waste collection truck to the council when the driver threw his rubbish out the window. Outrageous.

Nothing at the time.

He was a nutter and we were on the motorway, I wasn't going to start a row with him.

Didn't tip. Remembered his driver number and refused to use him again.

I don't even like it when people don't clear their tables in fast food restaurants

Her only justification is 'other people do it' which I can't fathom out as any sort of justification!

It seems to be a fairly common element of human behaviour, unfortunately.

Theres a grassy corner with a bench and a verge on the B road near us which was accumulating a lot of rubbish. The day after that 'clean for the queen' thing it occurred to me to clear it up - it's stayed a lot clearer thereafter, which is pleasing. I assume that once an area is bestrewn with litter, the lazy slobs are more likely to think 'other people do it too'.

So well done, OP - hopefully your efforts will have some effect beyond the immediate cleaning.

Absolutely not. It makes me so angry, whenever I look at the roadside. Who are these people???

I've witnessed this many times. The culprits (in my experience anyway) are usually groups of young males having consumed a McDonalds or older men in vans/lorries.

What sort of a chimpanzee would buck rubbish out of a car window?

Saw a girl of about 13 open a box(vape I think)and just drop the box where she stood. Me and dh glared at her through the car window. She caught my eye but just looked blankly back at me.

I chucked an apple core out once - does that count as litter? I figured it would either rot or get scavenged.