Britain is just one big landfill shithole

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Been out visiting relatives....I am actually shocked just how bad the litter is. Its bloody everywhere, frankly it's depressing. Where is our Pride? The motorways and A roads are so bad. Along with the absolutely shocking driving standards.

WTAF?

Well I have just ordered two litter pickers, so dh and I can start picking up when we go out walking!

Good!
Around here, locals get on and litter pick when the need arises - after a good cleanup it seems to stay ok for a good while, there does seem to be a phenomenon whereby if there's already some rubbish, louts will be more likely to chuck theirs too.

Obviously there's many places the public can't safely do anything but in local neighbourhoods quite often rather than complaining 'why don't they do something about it', it's better to get on and be the 'they' who does what's needed.

I was driving down the m1 through Northants, beds and herts.

My small village is fine ish

Sadly, I think you're right. The fantastic local councillor organises them regularly in our village and any rare fly tipping is always reported and dealt with quickly.

I guess this could theoretically create a situation where the worse your original crime, the less likely you would have compulsory community service. Also, you actually couldn't force prisoners to do it, slave labour is not a good thing.

I think it could be used in a more positive way though, like a reduction in prison term length for active community service? That way they would would be more truly working to repay their debt to society.

I wonder what goes through these people's minds when they do this sort of thing. Who do they think's going to clear it up? Such entitlement.

I resent my hard-earned taxes being spent cleaning up after lazy fuckers who should know better, though. I saw a council litter picker as I was driving into work a few weeks ago, doing a great job. He was picking rubbish up out of a huge pile of leaves that was slowly turning to mush on the pavement. It occurred to me that had he not been clearing up the discarded crisp packets and cans, he could have been sweeping the leaves or doing some other work to make the area look as though someone gave a hoot.

We have a very organised volunteer litter picking group in my London suburb. There is support from the council providing litter picking equipment, but there is so much of the stuff, there are over 1200 in the group and we could all go out every day and fill a couple of bags just in our local streets. It is so disheartening, there is a section of the population who really don’t care. As for fly tippers……

Travelling up and down the A1 at the weekend, it makes my heart hurt to see all the rubbish.

I think it's a vicious cycle of the councils no longer doing it, so it gives the impression that no one cares, which leads to people bothering less themselves. It has eroded the pride in local areas and communities.

As an aside, DP oragnises weekly local litter picks. He is constantly bombarded with complaints that his group doesn't visit their area and telling him that they need to do so next time. They never volunteer to get involved or help with it themselves. The fucking entitlement of some people.

It’s foul. Litter, fly tipped junk, spit and dog shit everywhere in my area

We live in a small rural village and there are a few folks who litter-pick regularly (one lady does the main road most mornings). There is a village tidy effort once per month and 6 - 20 people join that. I see lots of people (me included) who would pick up a piece of litter and pop it in the public bin if we saw it. We have little or no litter. Dog poop is a different matter (and I have a dog and often pick up more than just his poop on our walk).

In small rural places it can be kept tidy when everyone takes responsibility for it. In more built up places I'd imagine it is hard to keep on top of the tide of trash.

I never knew British people as bad drivers. However, I suspect this country has also imported a huge number of bad drivers or did the younger generations became bad drivers. This would in stark contrast to what I saw in Italy recently. Younger people driving much better than the previous generation.

Totally agree. It's depressing. The rubbish by the side of the road out of our village (or into, depending on your direction of travel) increased notably when a McDonald's opened about 2 miles away - probably the optimal distance for finishing eating and chucking out of the window. (a lot of the litter is recognisably McDonald's packaging).

And whilst litter collection is the council's responsibility, the growth of litter at the side of the road is not their fault. There is NO EXCUSE for not taking your McD's bag or cup to your home, or your destination, and putting it in the bin.

It's like it all over, so depressing, just back from driving a fair way and it's shocking. Mile after mile of rubbish just lying on the verges, in the hedges, pathways. We're so disgusting and do not deserve to live on this beautiful planet. Makes me angry and sad in equal measure.

It is so depressing and embarrassing.

I was away for Christmas and the outdoor areas and public facilities were spotless

Holiday destination public use bbqs: cleaned after each use by the user, maintained by the council

My local beach public use bbqs: actual faeces smeared on them (worst case), best case: left greasy and grubby, probably because cleaning stuff can’t be left there as it would be stolen in 5 minutes.

YANBU at all.
I cycle and hike a lot and all I see are hedgerows and verges stuffed with litter and fly tipped crap. I live in the Cotswolds and it's terrible! Just today I've seen two loads of fly tipped mattresses, tyres and bags of rubbish. We seem to get a lot here as it's easy to tip because it's so quiet.

Exactly..and yes I can .itter pick in my local area..the M1 is more tricky

I showed a Spanish friend some pics of rubbish fly tipped in Birmingham, Bradford and Jaywick....and asked him to guess the country and location....he suggested the pics were taken in Ferranti...a gypsy slum area of Bucharest !!

Yes, my own village is fine but doesn't take long to get on to a main road and it all goes to hell in a hand cart

The other thing I don't understand is the "shitting on your own doorstep" aspect of it. I mean, I can sort of see how people whizzing up the A43 or whatever probably don't have a connection to the area and might not have a vested interested in keeping it nice, so I can sort of see how they might justify to themselves that it's ok to fling an empty pop bottle out of the car window. But there's an area of the city near me that's like a rubbish dump. Literally piles of stuff abandoned on the pavements - ranging from black bin bags of (presumably) household waste, to broken toys and pushchairs, to broken furniture, all with a healthy dose of litter blowing round the place too. Why do that to your own street? Have they no pride?

Our town is vile (smallish, relatively poor town in West Midlands). The litter is disgusting. The dog poo. Nitrous oxide canisters. Bits of vapes everywhere. Broken glass. All on the main route to the local primary schools. It’s depressing.

Maybe fast food outlets should only be allowed to operate if they fulfil a requirement to litter pick on a regular basis in an area around them.
Then they could do self congratulatory ads like their biodiesel ones.

Well done, OP! Positive action!

@2025NewUserName @ErrolTheDragon

Good points. The McDs nearest us does sometimes send staff out to litter pick but only the immediate area.

We have a group who clear the river bank, litter and overgrowth, but after winter it takes a long time to remove all the plastic brought down from higher up and deposited.

Because of overthinking liberal tossers that worry about the dear little prisoners ‘rights’ and feelings.

I went to visit a grave the other day and someone had slung a broken sink, toilet and tiles over the wall into the graveyard where it had landed on some very old headstones. That was another level of gross for me. What the actual fuck are people thinking?! Fly tipping in the UK has hit another level in the past few years.

I'm not. But it's worth looking at who does this and why. It's one hypothesis