I told someone to pick up their litter this morning!

[oliveoil]

I was on the bus and a young girl dropped her crisp bag on the floor. And then proceeded to wipe her hands on the seat .

So I told her the floor wasn't a bin and why didn't she put it in the Used Tickets slot at the front instead of littering.

It didn't work and I got a filthy look but I felt v worthy .

I do this too OO

I once walked behind a very respectable looking woman coming out of a tube station. She opened her cigarette packet, saw it was empty and chucked it on the ground, then she opened a new pack and chucked the cellophane and silver paper on the ground. I picked them up and tapped her on the shoulder and said "I'll just pick up your rubbish for you, shall I?". She stood there with her mouth wide open, couldn't believe I had done it! I plonked it in her hand and walked off feeling very proud of myself.

well done both. I try to do this if I see it but we have to be careful these days as the best we could get is a mouthfull of abuse

I was very proud of myself as she was a big unit (lol) and wore about 76 sovereigns which is usually a sign.

oliveoil
Good on you, i hate seeing people drop litter.
Ihave taught my DS all about litter, he knows if there is not a bin in sight, he should give his litter to me or put it in his pocket until we get home.

Oooh, I would love to do that, CD!
I also daydream of actually catching someone red-handed letting their pooch pooh on the pavement and then, with great authority, making them clean it up (WITH THEIR BARE HANDS!!!) - or maybe not the last bit...
Doggy-doo-doo is a blight on my existence (and my pushchair), esp. here in France. I'm even beginning to hate dogs............

i've stopped doing this now because one day i'll get punched but my usual tactic is to call after them 'excuse me i think you dropped this' and then shove the rubbish back in their hand........

I also remember walking along the pavement and a woman in a massive chelsea tractor chucking an empty fag packet out of the window

I chucked it back in

I do another one where if someone is f*k this and f*k that behind me or near me, I turn around and say 'CHARMING' really loudly.

I sound like Mary Whitehouse!

I saw a "hooded youth" on a bicycle chuck a big empty plastic water bottle a few days ago. I thought about saying something, but didn't as he looked as if he wouldn't hesitate to get nasty.

On the other side, I find that it can be very difficult to actually find a public bin to put rubbish in. Don't know if many have been removed for street security purposes, or if London's mayor has reduced rubbish pickups, but often I end up carrying my empty water bottles, used tissues, etc for quite a long way....or even putting them in my handbag until I come across a bin. If I wasn't so anti-litter, it would definitely be easier/quicker to throw it on the ground.

You're brilliant oliveoil.

I used to work with a central London councillor and apparently as soon as the 'alert' status goes higher than 'black special' the first thing they do is take all the litter bins off the street.

I can only put it down to a lack of sleep, this reckless behaviour.

acnebride - I thought that might be it. I know a few years ago even many of the London red postboxes were sealed to prevent dangerous things being put in them.

Regarding litter though, I used to just chuck it into the bottom of the pushchair, but that is no longer an option now that dd is 4 and the pushchair has been retired. It does get tedious carrying rubbish around because there is no place to dispose of it....but that's no excuse for just throwing it on the ground.

I like the system in the Paris Metro of low, open, cardboard boxes for rubbish. No bomb risk as too shallow to hide anything and nothing solid to funnel a blast. Plus very cheap, so there are plenty of them !

My mum once sent chasing after some picnicers with a bag of the rubbish that they had left behind. They were gobsmakced when I told them "you left this behind". I was only about 10 at the time.

I've taught DS1 (4yrs old) about what to do with litter - and now when we're out and about he makes very loud comments when he sees people dropping litter on the floor along the lines of

"look at that naughty man/lady dropping rubbish on the floor"

"look at that rubbish on the floor that's naughty isn't it" LOL

Remids me of ds telling me off for going thorugh a red light . Actually I was turning right and was already in the box waiting for the stream of traffic going the other way to stop - which it only did when the light turned, so of course I had to finish my own manoeuvre - but try explaining that to a 4.5 year old!

I wish I was brave enough to tell people to pick up their rubbish. The one I always remember is a woman on the bus whos son was sick (a bit on ds), she got a nappy out of her bag, wiped up the sick that was on her son, then dropped the nappy on the floor and got off the bus. Everyone was gagging because of the smell and I'm sure that people who got on the bus afterwards thought that it was ds who had been sick, they were all giving me dirty looks.

The front page of the Daily Mail today (I know, I know...it's the Mail) has a headline of "March of The Litter Police". The story tells how there is now a huge crackdown on littering in open spaces (program started yesterday). Traffic wardens, community support officers and environmental staff will have the ability to issue on-the-spot fines for anyone caught dropping litter - including chewing gum and cigarettes.

So ladies, we're about to get some legitimate support for keeping the streets clean. The councils get to keep the cash raised from fines, so there is a real incentive to enforce the law. Let's hope it makes a difference!

good on you oliveoil we need more people like you.

good on you too CD

good on you olive oil

Well done that's really brave - I'm usually too chicken to say anything but do get disgusted by this kind of behaviour. If only everyone could be like mners - the world would be a much better place.