A rant about people who dump litter in our drive

Taichanin It's due to the increase in takeaways. 50 years ago yes there were fish and chip shops. The odd burger bar did exist but a lot of those were "sit in". Car use has increased hence the drive throughs. Even in the 70s it was rare to see people walking or sitting in a street stuffing their face. Nowadays it's the done thing. No wonder there is an obesity problem.

I think that takeaway packaging should be considered for the same treatment as bottles and cans ie refunds. The prices could be increased massively eg £1.00 per portion and if you take it back you get a refund. The amount of those McD containers and bags appearing in verges since easing of lockdown is awful. People chuck out as they don't want their cars smelling of grease.

We had a skip delivered last night and are expecting to find everyone else's trash in it as well as our remnants of a stone wall! Nothing dumped overnight. Watch this space!!

Annoying, isn't it? I suppose one should be grateful it was actually in a bag instead of strewn all over the driveway, but still, it's not on. I was brought up to take my rubbish home when I was a child and I still do so now.

This was a while back. I'm in a new build and there was a pallet by the drive left by the men who'd delivered cobblestones for my back garden. One morning this pallet had been taken (you can get about £4-5 for them if you know where to go) and had been replaced by that mesh stuff which goes on a wall before plastering an archway, say. Luckily the mesh was soft and could be folded up to go in the bin because what else could I do with it? There are some cheeky people about.

I might have said this before, but my friend's husband saw someone from a car throw rubbish out, only to have to then stop at traffic lights a little further on. He picked up the rubbish opened the car door and threw it back in, saying something like "you dropped this!". Brilliant! ?

"It's only waste land ..... so it doesn't matter" must be the prevalent view judging by the amount of litter dropped, and also fly tipping, Eazybe. Goodness knows what the answer is or how you go about changing that outlook. If young people are not taught to bin their litter by their family, then schools have to step in and do something about it. Why is it such a prevalent problem today when it wasn't, say, 50 years ago? Just a thought though - do country dwellers behave like this, or is it only town/city dwellers? Sorry OP - I can't find any answers to this, and feel just as angry as you. My pet hate is the dog walkers who dutifully bag their dog poo and then just leave the bag lying! Many a Grrrr has been uttered!

We have a river and I notice everyone chucks their rubbish in the undergrowth. There are bins but too far for the poor things to carry it to !! I walk to work and pick up rubbish on way in and way back but I do notice the more rubbish chucked down the more other litter louts add to it.

Someone where we used to live used to use our dustbin to dump cat litter, and nappies, I spent my life washing it. Never did find the guilty party but just stopped one day.

I live in a conservation village that is very small and pretty as a picture. The first week of lockdown the bin by the Church was over flowing with Dog poo bags.
We just constantly litter pick. The people who do this are not going to respond to any pleas as they are utter slobs.. It really distresses me when they litter the river embankment as the plastic can go into the water. We have otters.
We just grit our teeth and clean up. I just image a huge foot coming down on them from above, and squashing them flat. Lol

I never understand people dumping their rubbish. Everywhere I go there's someone elses discarded stuff! It's like it doesn't exist anymore when they can't see it. When I was considerably younger I was in a multi storey car park. I'd just parked my car and was heading for the exit when a car slowed up beside me and chucked a McDonald's bag full of empty boxes and cups out of the window. Without even thinking I picked it up, ran and caught them up at the next level and threw it back into the front passenger's lap. The driver slammed on the brakes, the passenger jumped out calling me names I can't print here and I ran. I've never run so fast in my life and I was a relay runner for my school. I pelted down the stairs, out at street level and into the crowd. I didn't use that far park again for years 'though.

Littering in my neighbourhood makes me think if I got a load of money I might move to a posh neighbouhood. Not however one of these places where raves are held. Is anywhere safe from litter?

The policy of many dustbin collectors is not to empty a bin unless the contents are properly bagged in dustbin bags. If they had seen a small bag of picnic rubbish loose in the bin, they might easily have left the whole bin unemptied.

My son's house is at the end of a public footpath which is very popular with dog walkers. His bins are kept on the drive inside his property but he regularly gets little "presents" left in plastic bags on top of them. The dog walkers don't even bother to lift the lid and drop the bags in. Most annoying is that the council insist bins are left outside the gates on collection day. The footpath runs into the same "kerb drop" as the house so on those days, until they return home, the bins are used by all passing walkers.

At least it was all in a bag and not spread all over your garden ! Maybe someone else had picked it up while dog walking and meant to return with bigger bin bags to do a better job ?

I live on the corner of a cul-de-sac and there is a council bin there. The amount of times I have seen litter just dropped there, thrown out of the car windows after they've enjoyed their takeaways. I normally challenge people if I see them drop litter: it's the way I was brought up and I won't stand by and do or say nothing. One driver told me that he was a stranger in the area and I was able to tell him that he had driven there 3 times that morning already, so hardly a stranger and that the bin was right behind his car, and he had reversed into the space so could hardly not have seen the bin. I'm polite when I approach them as I want to be reasonable with them at first. I know I'm taking risks but if people never say anything about things they see, whether it be litter or crimes, then there's no hope.

I have similar Nortsat. The other day, next to my bins, I found the leftovers of someone's takeaway. There aren't takeaways near us so I don't know how they got here. Also, if you're dumping them next to a bin, why not just put them in?

Romola, this is dreadful.

Our issue is far less annoying but it manages to really irritate me. Our dustbins are near our front garden wall. People walking down our street, put their rubbish in our bins!

My partner thinks it’s unimportant but it incenses me. I realise it’s a lesser problem than you describe Romola, I’d be hopping mad in your situation.

Once someone actually put a huge fur hat in our dustbin, it was like a bl**dy big bearskin !!

Sorry, just realised the stuff was dumped on your drive, next to the bin. They could have put it in there or in someone's bin.

They really should have taken their rubbish home with them, but better to have put it in a dustbin (unfortunately for you it was yours) than leave it on the pavement or somewhere.

If you are prepared to sit and watch and take the car number plate, you can report them to the police, who do follow it up.
I knew someone who watched as litter from a car was dumped outside his garden gate, several times. The car was distinctive and he knew where it lived so he collected all the rubbish and dumped it on the front lawn, to the outrage of the householder. When challenged, he said: 'it is only waste land, (actually a right of way) outside your house so it doesn't matter'.

I suppose there is some logic in leaving a bag of rubbish beside a dustbin. Pity it wasn't done before the bin was emptied.

I would be furious too.Litterbugs disgust me.I constantly come back from my dog walks with a carrier bag of rubbish and recently went back to a local beauty spot with garden bin bags and gloves to clear away 2 huge bags of cans,bottles and food wrappers. I just couldn't bear to leave it .
I really wish there was a way to prosecute and fine those who litter and fly tip heavily and effectively.
I'm probably bonkers but I have challenged people when I see them drop litter and have even posted it back through someone's car window before now.

I sympathise totally with you. I’m the first property in a road about 300 metres and round the corner from a drive through burger joint, and people pull up opposite and drop their rubbish and uneaten food through their car windows. The brown bag and absolutely everything is just chucked out. It’s fascinating to see the back windows open and little hands follow suit. Then during the night the foxes drag the remnants into my back garden. Yuck. But I think your carrier bag takes the award for cheekiest.

Grrrr for you as I feel your despair and frustration! why can't human beings act like humans is beyond me

Oh and by the way, I had to sort through all that and divide it all into our own dustbins. After which I took my litter-picking kit into the sports field at the end of the lane and picked up a load more picnic refuse. Grrrr!