Do you ever drop litter?

[SwanOfThoseThings]

Inspired by the thread about the UK being in terminal decline.

It's true that there is litter everywhere, and this is by no means a new problem, litter has been a problem in the UK for as long as I can remember, and I'm in my 50s.

But - who is dropping it? It's the sort of thing no one admits to.

Are you a reformed litterer? Have you ever been forced to leave litter behind in an emergency situation? Have you ever been out and about with someone who dropped litter?

@SomethingMorethanthis Yeah, there's definitely issues near us with flats who have large communal bin that aren't always big enough and so we get stuff escaping. It does get cleared up in the end, to be fair to the council, but it's grim in the meantime. And there's always more.

I always challenge people that drop litter or don't pick up after their dogs, I can't help myself, even if most of the time I just get a mouthful of abuse.

I hate all the smoking related crap, from fag butts, to fag packets with those awful pics, and bloody vapes everywhere

No I don't. There is a lack of bins in my city and during an event there is more litter around. In my old neighbourhood after an event we all collected the litter left outside our homes. But there is far more fly tipping. Some people have no pride.

I take my litter home as do my two. When my DS was small I seemed to be forever carrying litter.

Ashamed to say I did when I was in my early teens.

Never would now, haven’t for about 15 years. I couldn't imagine just dropping litter on the floor, it’s disgusting and I can’t believe I once did that.

Summer of 2020 when we came out of first lockdown and the weather was warm, a lot of people were meeting up in a small local park - young people, family groups etc - sitting on the grass, talking, having picnics. It was very nice to see. The council brought in some of those big bins you see outside blocks of flats and tethered them next to the regular bins around the park.

And guess what happened? People still went away leaving all their rubbish on the ground where they had been sitting, rather than walk a few yards to one of the bins.

When I smoked, I left fag ends around when waiting for the train and I cringe at that now.
I live rurally - a village outside a town - and several times I have seen unmarked work vans litter coffee cups and food wrappers as they drive down a country road. I also see it at our local park, people not tidying up after themselves leaving food wrappers etc.

We do live in a throwaway society where people don’t tend to repair but rather replace. I get why (consumerism). The overall message though is we as a country don’t value what we have.

Never. I live in a rural village and walk quite a lot. Much of the litter is clearly thrown out of car/van windows - particularly takeaway containers. A year or so ago, some barns on a farm near us, were being converted into houses. The once quiet country lane with the odd bit of litter suddenly became strewn with litter along it's length. There was only one explanation and that was the sudden increase in vans/trucks of tradesmen and delivery vehicles for building materials. DH took a walk down to the site and read them all the riot act not only about the impact of their litter on the local environment but asked them how they expected the houses to sell once prospective purchasers saw the state of the lane. Seemed to do the trick! I think they were a bit taken aback really. (DH is a parish councillor by the way).
I can never understand why people chuck rubbish out of vehicles. It's surely the easiest thing to keep it in the car/van until yet get to a bin/home.

As for not celebrating St George’s day and waving the England flag - the local town have a parade to celebrate and the town hall has the English flag hanging outside. And when the World Cup is on there’s English pride everywhere with bunting etc.

The dumping close to my rural community is ridiculous. People regularly dump large furniture items in the middle of our lane, despite the ‘no dumping’ warning signs. It’s disgusting.

DH did see some teens chuck their litter in the river, a cup and other litter

Absolutely never. Not even as a child. My mother would have killed me!
I live in rural Ireland and there’s a massive increase in litter all around our lanes. Bottles, cans and takeaway food wrappers. It’s disgusting. These are being fired out of car windows every day. I just picked up a Super Macs bag from outside our gate and put it in our bin. What sort of upbringing did people have to think it’s ok to do that?

A lot is from car windows because of where it is

Never ever. Not even once..disgusting.

As a litter womble member of the wombling group, we have raised the issue of we shouldn’t be seeing food and drink packaging on roadsides.

If finished that can of Red Bull, tub of chewing gum, please keep it in your vehicle until you get to your destination, NOT chuck it whilst driving through an open window. Besides, one empty can etc isn’t going to affect your driving. Plus some people drive in vehicles resembling a tip!

The outside isn’t one great big bin!

The thing I don't get about littering is that it surely only avoids the most miniscule inconvenience for the litterer?

Like, I obviously think dog owners should pick up dog mess, and it's antisocial not to. But I do understand why they wouldn't because it's a bit grim!

But I don't get why you'd drop your crisp packet rather than put in your bag or pocket to throw away when you get home. Or why you'd leave boxes and wrappers where you ate them in the park rather than walking 2 feet to the bin.

I think a very high % of it is thrown from cars. No idea why people do that.

I live l opposite a primary school and clear litter from my front garden daily. A lot of it is the school's letter or homework sheets. Also loads of sweet wrappers. I'd like to think it's mostly accidental!

Then there's the inadequate recyling bags we're forced to use. There 's litter everywhere the morning the bins go out.

I've never dropped litter and I chase after it if I drop eg a tissue accidentally. We were in town once and we saw a classmate (c.6yo) of DC1's coming out of the bakery with her mum. Child took the snack out of the bag and dropped it. DC1 pounced on it and handed it back. Not to make a point, but becuase he believed she must have dropped it by mistake. Mum took it off him and put it back on the floor. It's a minority, but I think some people just don't see it as wrong.

its not helium, but nitrous oxide. They use those massive ones now which weigh about 3kg. They chuck them out from cars. One was dropped out from a car in front of me and hit the roundabout kerb. It could have done serious damage to car if went under the car.

Last week, I saw one on a mini roundabout and stopped to move it. Got beeped at. Shouted at the idiot, do you want your car to sustain massive damage? (He was in an electric car - dread to think how much that repair would cost).

I have never dropped litter. I find it incredibly disgusting and selfish.
The main offenders always appear to be smokers, vapers, outside booze or energy drink drinkers, and fast food consumers.
I draw my own conclusions from the association of these behaviours.
Dog poo is another issue of course. Can’t tell who those culprits are although perhaps dna poo analysis might be interesting.

We can never do a pick without picking up Red Bull cans or McDs crap. Must have ingredients that makes the ignorant more ignorant

I live l opposite a primary school and clear litter from my front garden daily.

Primary school round the corner from me. Empty crisp packets on my front after they've gone past in the afternoon.

The school was my polling station up to last year. I liked to look at the displays in the hall when I went in there to vote. One poster listed all the things 'We don't do'. One was 'We don't drop litter'. That message obviously wasn't reaching all the children.

trashing their bodies, and the environment

I am interested in these semi-hidden people. You'd think you'd be able to hear from them online in anonymous or pseudonymous fora, but you rarely do (I know I could go to cesspits like 8chan or kiwi farms and find them, but that's a bit too rich for me).

I wonder about the people who:

• drop litter
• play their phones out loud
• poo on toilet seats or stuff toilet paper in toilets etc
• smear food on seats

And so on. It seems like they are not completely the same people as violent criminals, who are basically mental. But they are still engaged in this permanent war of enshittifying the world. What drives them? How conscious are they of their own essential shittiness, and is this part of it? Are they sort of embodying and enacting this on the environment? I wonder about this!

Oh and the dogpoo people! Them too! What is it about?

Thank you, don't know why I thought it would be helium (unless some people get high on speaking with a squeaky voice).