This is rubbish.Literally.

A friend and I frequently walk through Ruislip woods. The Lido has plenty of bins and is kept pretty clean, but there are no bins in the woods. At this time of year (I hope I’m not tempting providence) there’s very little litter, but whenever we have a bank holiday the ubiquitous “they” leave neat little piles of drink cans, nappy bags and poo bags. Few food wrappers, so I can only imagine that they bring food in containers they need for next time. Words (printable words) fail me!

It will only get worse as each council bring in restrictions. Soon I will have to book a 15 min slot to take waste to the dump and if I'm late arriving I will be turned away and have to re-book. I am prepared to do this but how many people just won't bother and just fly tip? Today my local paper reported 15 sacks dumped in the woods on the edge of town. Shocking and that's before the restrictions come into place.

I take a carrier bag with me each day when I walk the dog and I collect and put in nearest bin or bring it home with me. Every little bit helps.

While I agree - there really should be no litter - and so no need for litter picking etc - it is so lovely to hear that it does annoy so many of us. All we can do is not litter and when possible clear any we see - lots of opportunities for this - take a glove and spare bag routinely with you for ad hoc, join your local/neighbourhood groups and pick with them - do something with this www.awarenessdays.com/awareness-days-calendar/the-great-british-spring-clean-2023/#:~:text=When%20is%20The%20Great%20British,the%20environment%20on%20our%20doorstep!

I know we try to improve society but we really do throw the baby out with the bath water. When I was newly married all households cleared the outside of their homes. Regardless if it was a flat or a house we lived in. We cleared the snow and any litter found although litter was seldom found as we didn’t eat or drink outside in those days. Now I see adults and children eating and drinking outside. I’m thinking bad manner and creating litter comes when money is easily come bye.
Of course we don’t want to revert to times when money was so tight but there was something to learn from past times. We’re told money is tight just now - well how come we have so much fast food packaging thrown from cars and by children coming from school?
I don’t know the answers but I do know money is tight for many.

Fine the offenders heavily. That’s the only way they will stop. It is probably the same few doing it over and over again. It’s not so much of a problem here, people ‘dob ‘ offenders in. However, when you go to countries like Singapore which are so very clean you realise that extreme punitive measures do work!

It’s everywhere, we use the A1 regularly, it makes my heart hurt to see all the litter along the verges, and it feels like it has got so much worse in the last few years. What is wrong with people?

Slovenia is the cleanest country we’ve driven through ( and we’ve driven through all of them)
We used to have a little joke about who would be the first person to see something.
Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania put us to shame. These countries don’t have rubbish collections, you take all your rubbish to the nearest skips which are emptied regularly.

Yammy

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.

Yammy we must live in the same area!! 😁

Thing is this problem is not confined to Britain. My son in Beijing recently sent a wonderful photograph of the mountains that encircle the city and then of one of adjacent rubbish, everywhere!

tattygran the last time I visited, Paris was a minefield of dog mess and discarded takeaway cartons. That was depressing enough in a city we love and have visited often. Walking along the Champs -Elysees at night every few yards there were aggressive beggars pushing paper cups in our faces and demanding money . I get quite low at times thinking of the world my children and grandchildren will have to inhabit, possibly up to their necks in rubbish like the campaign of years ago, headed by Ronnie Corbett.

Does anyone know how the French deal with excess rubbish then?
Here, we have to book a half hour slot online to take rubbish to the tip. It used to be simple, fill the car, take it to the council household waste site. I think many people can’t/won’t be regimented in this way

Not that it is any excuse but when we started reducing the amount of rubbish you could have collected, made refuse centres harder to get to, started charging for certain waste, etc, etc, this was an inevitable consequence.

We can all do our bit by taking a bag on our walks and filling it with rubbish. Wear gloves of course. I heard a man on the radio talk about how he keeps the route to his local shop clear by picking up daily.

I'm up for a campaign and willing to do my bit here in Yorkshire. And my heart sank last night watching the news .It's terribly tragic the deaths of the young people who went missing in Wales.My heart goes out to them for their loss .And that is being discussed on a separate thread.
But recently the trend to mark any vigil or outpouring of grief by letting balloons 'fly high' seems to have become the norm.A huge number of people doing this.My family are in no doubt what I think of this should anything happen to me,or anyone close to me.

We certainly need ‘A Keep Britain Tidy’ campaign and it affects all parts of the country. Some of the culprits here are the council contractors who collect our recycling, then drop odd bits of litter when (throwing) returning bins. Unfortunately, not everyone has the same respect for their community. There are volunteer groups locally who go out regularly to collect this debris, but the people who are guilty of this need to be educated. It is an environmental issue which is not being addressed. It is certainly a disgrace and I feel ashamed of this country.

I tried to report the A303 Somerset to National Highways only to be told they aren’t responsible for it but the local council is, far chance of getting south Somerset there.
However I’m busy taking pics of French motorway verges and roads and back next week and will try and make a proper plan to start a campaign, if any seasoned campaigners want to help…..not sure whether to start big, local or what.
I agree with everyone saying it’s such an embarrassment as a country to have our roadsides so blighted (and don’t get me started on unnecessary bollards on roads!)

What happened to ‘Keep Britain Tidy’. We look like a Third World country in Buckinghamshire. It’s a disgrace.

I agree the litter and flytipping problems seem to have got worse recently. There does need to be a campaign-that will reach everyone. We often see rubbish ( deliberately) thrown out of car and van windows. It’s as if the perpetrators don’t care about their environment.

Yesterday we returned to the westcountry by car from London. I can truly say I have NEVER seen so much rubbish in my life. The main roads were lined with litter of all kinds - paper, huge sheets of plastic, broken tyres, workmens' buckets, hi-viz jackets, police tape, paper cups...you name it. Litter was hanging from the trees too. If I had to show a visitor from overseas around I would be utterly ashamed. We do this journey fairly regularly but this is the worst ever. It is disgusting and shameful.

Well much good it will do but I've emailed National Highways to report how bad parts of the M62 are and suggest maybe the overhead signs that warn don't drive tired etc could be used to send out don't litter messages.If it just prompted some to think twice - well every little helps. I've also emailed Greggs to tell them how much of their packaging I pick up and suggest they use some of their huge profits to maybe promote proper disposal.Seems futile but will have a go at all the others KFC ,MCDs etc.

In addition to the litter from fast food outlets, fly-tipping and assorted other trash - I have noticed a horrible new trend. It took me a while to realise that the half-full bottles dumped in lay-bys and verges were actually filled with urine! My guess is that after use they are merrily chucked out of the vehicle window. We are turning into a filthy nation.

Yes Greggs sales have risen by 23 % with profits of £148 despite rising costs.Plus they are opening another 150 stores so expect to see a lot more of their cups and wrappers on your roadside.I think many of the offenders do know it's a problem,they just don't care.I have picked up litter and returned it through car windows before now and picked it up in front of people who have just thrown it and their attitude tells me they have no regard for others.

Put a tax on the worst takeaway offenders and make it clear that users are paying more to fund the clean up . We need a national campaign and realistic punitive laws as the state of all our public spaces is a disgrace . I don’t think it occurs to many that their behaviour is a problem .

I feel sad about the littering too.
There's a sensory garden within the local park, disabled -friendly, and should be an absolute delight. It was created by the Men's Shed and the Rotary club who raised money.
There are benches in the centre with beds of herbs and flowers all labelled even with Braille.
It should be a very special place but alas, it's very near the High School and an area of the town where young people congregate in the evenings. (Chippy, late shop etc)
There is now graffiti on the litter bins and benches and the only colour in the flower beds right now are the plastic bottles and beer cans.

A bigger community garden is proposed for another area in the same park and I have worries about that venture now.

Others are less cynical and think if they can get teenagers on board with the growing then it will be fiercely defended.
I do hope they are right.

Washerwoman, we went from London to Chelmsford - and were horrified at the amount of litter on some parts of the route. Plastic and more plastic, flying about, hanging from trees, plastered over the verges, worse than ever.

My son said 'Just ban it, we've had it for 100 years and now there's vegetable film instead!'

Locally, it's bad. Don't wait for the 'Great British Spring Clean' organised stuff. I've got a back injury, yet still I can easily collect a carrier bag of litter (with the help of my grab stick) on the evening dog walk. A lot is thrown from cars - drink cans and takeaway wrappings. People don't care, they're just passing by and don't live here. How about fining the producers/disributers of anything that's dumped - the takeaways?