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?

I never (knowingly) litter. I’m sure something must have fallen out of my pocket at some point over the years, but never on purpose.

I was teaching a young lady to drive once and we were practicing bay parking in a McDonald’s. I mentioned how awful the litter in the car park was and she replied “oh that was me and my mates last night” - I was really shocked! When I questioned why she said that the bins were full and on the suggestion that they should take it home with them she said that some people lived as far away as 10 miles. Now I know McDonald’s isn’t the healthiest of foods, but it isn’t radioactive and won’t harm anyone if it’s in the car for 10 miles!

Then a man came out of McDonald’s with a black bag and litter picker and she piped up “That’s why! That man has a job because of us!”

I sometimes do throw away apple cores. Otherwise no, and I do volunteer for the community litter pick.

I do notice the sad state of the dual carriageway verges.

That’s simply not true and has zero to do with the prevalence of littering.

Several of the receptionists at a GP surgery where I worked would repost prescription forms discarded by inconsiderate oinkers outside a local pharmacy. They would post them back to the patients address with their address as return address so at the least they got them back. Often at an unstamped fine added.

Nope. But I’ve watched people finish a McDonald’s or similar, roll down the car windows and chuck the rubbish out many a time.

it’s like the people who don’t pick up after their dogs.

was in Japan last year, so clean, so tidy.

No, we accidentally taught our dog to litter pick as a puppy, if he picked up a bottle etc we would take it off him and say good boy etc, he now still does it, luckily we live in a low litter area so usually its limited to one poo bag of rubbish. Where we live people would tell you off in the street if they saw you dropping rubbish.

No. It’s slovenly and could cost me £180 if a civil enforcement officer materialises beside me

Anyone upset by the horrendous litter needs to write to their MPs. Councils are not responsible for most roads; the government's highway agency is. The terrible litter is harming wildlife who come near the road to rummage through it and get killed, as well as a danger to traffic as the bodies create obstacles in the roads. The government needs to sort this out through more frequent tidy ups and stop littering campaigns. If you don't write to your MPs it will just get worse and worse

can you remember why you did it?

What a load of bullshit

Absolute bullshit

Also, and I heavenly read the whole thread so apologies if this has already been said, but a lot of the litter probably hasn’t actually been dropped there. With the rise of household recycling not all councils have very secure bins/boxes/bags for recycling so items can get blown away when residents put them out for collection. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m sure it is always more windy on bin day at my house! Plus the lorry has big open doors on it where they tip the boxes into so I’m sure when the lorry is moving stuff flies out of it that way?

It was a long time ago but possibly because there was a lack of bins around, there still aren’t that many bins when you are out and about where I live unless you are in some sort of park (obviously would hold onto my rubbish now).

I didn’t do it all the time, I just remember doing it on a few occasions.

No. I don't.

I don't see how these two things are related.

You can eat in the street without littering and you can litter without eating in the street.

Thank you for being brave and honest enough to explain this!

I used to work as a cleaner at McDonald's 25 plus years ago. The lad who was responsible, among other duties, for clearing the carpark, used to regularly fume about the "lazy bastards" who'd sit in their parked car eating their food, then promptly wind their windows down and drop the packaging out onto the ground. Yes, people like him and me despise people like them and your driving student. Idle, filthy sods the lot of them. Oh, and we had plenty more things to do than just pick up litter dropped by lazy arsed customers. Plenty. Couldn't say to their faces though, obviously!

Of course you can - I'd explain it like this (numbers just for illustrative purposes):

40 years ago - 20% of people who use Anytown Highstreet are inclined to litter; 5% of people are inclined to eat on the street; of a hundred people, 20 are dropping 1 item of general litter a day on Anytown Highstreet and 4 are dropping 1 item of general litter and 1 item of food packaging, so Anytown Highstreet ends the day with 20 items of general litter and 4 items of food packaging.

2025 - 20% of people are inclined to litter, 80% of people are inclined to eat on the street. Therefore Anytown Highstreet will end the day with 36 items of litter, 16 of which are food packaging.

(edit to correct a number)

Conciously, no. I can't vouch that nothing's slipped unnoticed out of pockets/ blown out of the car. I'm the type that will chase anything that I reasonably can if I've noticed it making a bid for freedom.

I'll often hold on to recyclables for my recycling bin rather than ending up in a general bin.

I picked up a bottle the other day for my recycling. I suspect from the brand that it might have escaped from recycling collections the previous day rather than intentionally discarded.

The state of the roadsides in the last 10-15 years is a good reflection of the decline of the UK. It has been a steep downhill slope and it's getting worse.

My DH works in the countryside and had a report from a local to say they'd seen someone walk two wheelie bins full of rubbish up to a fence and tip it into an arable field 🤬.

Another thing I have witnessed though which makes me wonder why any of us bother to pick up litter..... A tenant farmer using council garden waste to spread on arable fields...this waste, as well as what we expect to be in tons of household garden waste included all manner of chopped up crap that people accidentally or deliberately put in their garden waste bins, you name it, I found it - immeasurable plastic, small pieces and large, gardening gloves, plastic food wrapping, penknife blades, scissor blades, broken gardening equipment..all spread across hundreds of acres of farmland.

Yes I reported to environmental health and no, they did absolutely nothing. Don't want to get the council in trouble now do we. How utterly, utterly depressing.

No.

I also pick dog muck.up. I wish everyone did.

Never. I'm a litter picker. There's three of us in our estate. I'll have a wander round later. I've got fly-tipping to photo and report too.

I politely bollock people for dropping litter and cigarette litter. Obviously, after a quick "will they stab or punch me" assessment. The smokers always give me a gobful of bad attitude when I point out they missed the ashtray but they can't out run me anyway with their lungs. I've got the council and community police team onto the office staff who smoke and drop cigarette litter (a £75 fine kids!) and it seems to have massively cut it down.

No. I couldn’t even drop litter as a dare, the thought of it makes me sweat!

When I was a teen and smoked I did used to flick fag butts though which is obviously littering but I never thought of it that way then.

People who throw whole bags of Maccys waste out of the window both annoy and fascinate me. I can’t imagine that level of ‘not giving a shit’.

Ope. If I drop something by accident and the wind makes an appearance u will see my 'running' to retrieve it- not a pretty sight😂

Never. I've actually got a litter picker and a hoop to clear up litter. It's weirdly therapeutic.