This is rubbish.Literally.

Washerwoman DH and I drove from Portsmouth to the Oxford area, this weekend M27/M3/A34. It a route we drive regularly and we too were commenting on the huge quantities of litter on the verges, even when we drove down a narrow, quiet country lane, the hedges were full of litter.

Far more than we have ever seen before. I agree it is disgusting.

Has Motorway/Dual carriageway litter picking been cancelled as an economy measuree?

It’s awful isn’t it?

If everyone took their litter home litter pickers wouldn’t be necessary…

We have a canal at the back of our house. It's being spoiled by people dumping rubbish in and around the canal. It's a real problem. We have reported it, picked it up ourselves and put it in our bins but there is too much.

It is awful. But it's not just people dropping litter when they could - and should - take it home. A lot of it is windblown, perhaps from overfull litter bins, plastic sheeting (horrible stuff) that has escaped from around silage bales, odd bits dropped from bin lorries etc.

It needs clearing up, but this is difficult and dangerous alongside motorways and busy main roads.

None of which changes the fact that it's ruining our countryside.

Yes I agree not everything is thrown.And wind blown rubbish is a problem.However you only have to look and see the majority is takeaway food and drink containers just casually lobbed out.And tiny bits that get lost in verges,streams and will never be picked up all polluting our countryside.When we went out for the day my mum packed a home picnic and thermos flask and everything came back home .Not so now sadly.

We have contacted the council several times about this.

I'm a member of a voluntary litter picking group in our local area . We cleared a small ancient woodland and were amazed at what we found. Halves of cars, 3 piece suites, multitudes of mattresses, chairs, suitcases, toys, etc. As for the discarded half used tins of paint, brushes, tiles etc. The pile would be about 7' high x 12' and sometimes 25 bags of rubbish and that would be in 3 hours and a small group. Of course when we returned 6 months later we had to start from scratch. No hope when people won't even clean up on their own doorstep. It makes me so angry as I was always brought up to bring every scrap of litter home.

Litter (and fly tipping) makes me so angry. There is no need for it whatsoever. I was brought up never to drop litter, as were my children and now my grandson too. We noticed a considerable increase in litter in this area when a McDonalds drive-thru opened - it's obvious that people just chuck their litter out of their car windows once they've finished eating. Says a lot about their clientele...

people are so thoughtless and selfish. The state of the beach down here in the south has to be seen to be believed when people leave at the end of theday... I wonder how they'll feel as climate change really begins to hit hard..and our precious irreplaceable seaside and countryside is destroyed.. still sleep walking I don't doubt...

It has become a very real problem. We live opposite woodland and quite regularly people dump their rubbish, most recently a large bag full of old clothes, but often sofas, builders’ rubble and other items. Once reported to the local council, with a photo, it is usually collected within a couple of days, but in the meantime it is an ugly site, spoiling the countryside. As well as that there is litter, just discarded by people who have no respect for their surroundings or the community. It is very sad.

sight, not site! 🙄

Our park does have bins, although not quite enough during the picnic season, and many people do leave their rubbish properly in the bins. The council is pretty good at emptying them. However, after a day when lots of people have been in the park, the seagulls and jackdaws manage to take stuff out of the full bins and spread it around. The park then looks awful and of course, the more untidy a place looks, the more people are inclined to drop more litter.

We need more bins and ones designed so that big birds can't get stuff out of them. Also I agree with those who argue for proper enforcement of the litter laws (but who will pay for that?...)

In the meantime, there are some of us who do pick up litter and recycle cans and bottles in our own bins. I am convinced that Red Bull is drunk by people who don't have a recycling bin at home as there are so many empty cans spread around the place.

It does make you feel ashamed of our country doesn’t it….it’s embarrassing.

I live by the sea, and the prom and pier have regularly emptied bins every 20 yards, but still there are fish & chip and pizza boxes left next to seats, cans too.
But what upsets me most is the broken glass from discarded pub/restaurant glasses and alcohol bottles.

We live near the Lake District, drives along the lakes are completely spoiled during and after school holidays. Car parks are made on verges where there never were. Camper vans are everywhere,they all seem to leave behind litter ,plastic water bottles barbeques that blow around when the wind gets up. and use the bushes as toilets.
A chap was taking his life in his hands the other day litter picking up the steep hill into our village. You could see where the food at been bought Macdonalds they must buy in the town and just finish on the hill and throw it away.
The other thing is we do not have bins on wheels for household rubbish but blue plastic bags the birds peck them open, a friend saw a bird with a chicken carcass the other day.
Part of the trouble was holiday cottages ask guests to put bags out when they leave for the Monday collection. As of this week, it has changed to Thursday. The birds will have a field day and all will look like a rubbish dump.

There's no one group of people responsible for this. Although the older generation do tend to be much more responsible in this area.

But just watch people - young, middle aged, men, women... those careless, selfish people who don't give a damn.

I have never understood the mindset of someone who is kind enough to feed the ducks and then throws the bag into the bushes, as happens around here.

Our village has a monthly litter pick, helped out by the scouts and Duke of Edinburgh award people, so very worthy. However, when they post on Facebook that they’ve picked up say 11 bin bags worth the comments are yippee and hooray!
Can people not see they should be celebrating a falling number, not more?

I’m in France for a couple of weeks, there is hardly any litter anywhere I am constantly astonished!
I want to start a tidy up campaign where I live, not just going out with a litter picker as it wouldn’t touch the surface but going directly to the responsible council departments etc. Apparently someone is taking National Highways to court over the litter on the motorways….
I constantly report online if I see litter but nothing gets done, there must be law to be found to get things moving.

Kate1949

We have contacted the council several times about this.

Send the photo to your local paper - I'm sure they will be eager to do something with it!

The trouble is no one seems to take responsibility, there are councillors who report to the waste people, the road litter is meant to be for the council not the waste company, the town council are not allowed to do anything without going to the waste company…drives me mad!

It's bad here too. I wish packaging could be severely reduced. Funny, I never see people littering but the amount they leave, they must just wait until backs are turned and then Bingo!
Does anyone remember the sketch from Beyond the Fringe about the London transport lost property.?
Based on the discovery of loads of pairs of lost trousers, the comedian was imagining how hard it would be to lose them when it's hard enough to get rid of a bag of orange peel.

I taught my DC to bring litter home but was rather horrified to find multiple sweet wrappers in their pockets.

Oh yes. Our council sent residents of our road a letter 'warning' us about fly tipping on the canal bank. Yet when we report it to them they said it's not their responsibility, it's The Canals Trust. So why send the letter then?

Well I'm not helping myself to cheer up because I'm now watching last night's programme by Paul Whitehouse about the state of our rivers!There are some amazing campaigners out there.I will continue to litterpick locally but it is very interesting about someone taking National Highways to court.I feel so strongly that I will start contacting as many agencies and official bodies as I can.Maybe if enough of us say enough is enough something may change.