leaving rubbish

This has brought back a long buried memory of DD (aged 1) in 1976 - a hot summer, in her McLaren buggy in a little playsuit which was little more than a sort of swimsuit over her nappy and as a car passed us the driver threw his cigarette butt out of the open window and it landed on her shoulder and went down her back. I had forgotten this until now! Gosh I would have committed murder if I had had the t***er in front of me.

So very dangerous , don"t people Think

That happened to us GillieB, as we were leaving a services on the M42, I got a burnt t-shirt and the car got a burn in one of the seats, really annoying, as we couldn`t do anything about it, the culprits had gone.

We have always found the US to be a clean country. I particularly like the idea they have where people (families, companies, clubs) adopt a mile or so of highway and are responsible for keeping it clean. I am not sure how the system works: whether you pay and somebody does the cleaning, or whether you actually do the picking up of litter yourself. I just think it seems an excellent idea. And I always think of it when I catch the Metro into Newcastle from the airport and we go past a large Tesco supermarket - the trees and fences near the supermarket are covered in torn plastic bags; I do think Tesco should be responsible for clearing up the mess of their customers.

When my DNephew was a baby he was in his car seat in the back of his parents' car with the window open and someone threw a lighted cigarette end through the window - first my DSister knew about it was when he cried! She was sure it was an accident - amazingly careless.

I have found parts of Italy and Greece pretty bad for litter.
Fly tipping seems rife.

We live in an end terraced house, with a path down the side leading to the street at the back of us. Our back yard is forever littered with folks` rubbish that they chuck in as they walk past, crisp packets, sweet wrappers, empty beer and pop cans, cigarette packets, fag ends, etc. We have to pick up and bin other peoples` rubbish, or folk think we`re the messy ones.
I don`t know about the rest of the USA, but when we were in Florida a few years ago, we were amazed at how clean and litter free it was.

I have just returned home from my French class at the same time that children from two local senior schools are coming out. An ice cream van parks just down the road and is mobbed by the kids who then strew their wrappers all down the street. As I drew up on my drive, I picked up a recently dropped banana skin. I suppose I should at least be thankful that the child concerned had been eating a piece of fruit!

Good for you Charleygirl
A lot of excellent raising awareness work goes on in schools, it always has, but I really does need reinforcing at home or the message is often lost.
I agree with Bags when she calls them 'slobs'

It was a similar experience of MrB's that made him aware of litter. One of his teachers had been on holiday in Germany. She had noticed how clean and tidy everything was compared with Cardiff (where he grew up). She told the class that she was ashamed of her home town because of the litter. He has never forgotten that.

I should think the kids will still remember that assembly, ej.

anno in some cases I expect they come from homes where kids are never expected to clean! Perhaps because parent thinks they do it better so don't bother to involve kids or the cleaner does it! I bet it never occurs to some youngsters that someone wipes out the fridge , cleans under the loo etc etc!
Some may come from homes where there is a 'happy' mess that gets blitzed once in a while but they leave uni before the blitz time!

I once did a school assembly where I came in to the hall where all the kids were (4-7 yrs) and tipped loads of rubbish out behind me. The kids were shocked and we had a good discussion about why it was important not to drop litter! Unfortunately school based learning needs reinforcing at home too!

I was walking in town one day and a car stopped at traffic lights, somebody threw an empty cigarette packet out of the window. It landed almost at my feet and the passenger got a big shock when I threw it back into the car.

Our local McDonalds employs somebody to clear up their boxes etc. a certain distance away from the takeaway so that makes a difference. I do not know if all McDonalds do this or just this branch as there was such a fuss when they first opened.

My GD, who is very fussy about cleaning and tidiness, has frequently been driven to despair by the slobbishness of her student housemates. I'm sure she did more than her fair share of cleaning and nagged them into making an effort too! At the moment she is working for her landlord cleaning and renovating his student properties. She has tales of the most disgusting messes and downright filth. What kind of homes do these young people come from?

The students left last week here and one of the problems is that the landlords don't do enough to provide rubbish disposal. A student house near me was cleared out by the company employed to maintain many of them. The company just dumped seven mattresses into the street. I reported it as fly tipping and it was cleared. I can't see why the company could just as easily taken them to the tip.we have three different sorts of bins and the clearance people just stuffed the lot with anything.

When I brought my children up many years ago I taught them to always respect other people and their property and if you are out take your rubbish home.

One of the problems is that people don't care about others and their affect on them. Some people are very selfish and don't give a toss for others.

Bags I have to admit that I have done most of my travelling in Europe and America. North Africa is different in virtually every way from Europe and definitely leaves something to be desired in terms of cleanliness. New Zealand, on the other hand, seems pretty pristine - or at least the bit where I am living and those that I have visited seem that way.

They are not peculiarly British characteristics, absent. Both were about a hundred times worse in Thailand. I daresay in a few other places too. We do seem to be worse by European standards though.

French people seem less inclined to litter, perhaps because the are large public bins everywhere, but I am afraid dog faeces are another matter.
I think a number of litter bins were removed in London at the height of the IRA bombing campaign - have they been restored?

I really HATE people Who Leave litter in public places, how hard is it to put it in a bin or your bag till u find a bin?....Lazy.

Dropping quantities of litter and leaving the remains of picnics lying around do seem to be peculiarly British habits. Similarly, not clearing up dog mess. Not national characteristics of which to be proud.

I remember having talks at school about dropping litter. When my children were small my pockets were full of their sweetie wrappers etc which I told them to give to me if there was no bin around. None of them drop litter and are teaching their children the same behaviour. I think it is really just a case of reinforcing the message with children who can pass it on to their slobby parents! It would save the local authorities a fortune on street cleaning. When my son had a part-time job at Mcdonalds he was promoted to dining room host and one of his duties was to keep the outside dining area clean and clear up rubbish

Can't see the ads coming back. The government do very little advertising these days. Cuts. Even about things like HIV or vaccination.

gk and B -

I do indeed . MCESR rules OK.

Bags now that's a good idea, if litter picking became part of the jobs of people employed by the businesses who create the litter. It's kind of micro corporate eco-social responsiblity. (what a sentence, but you get my drift)