When did we get so dirty?

No, you're not alone, Nanaandgrampy - this is my biggest bugbear! We live in a decent area, but the amount of litter casually thrown around is staggering. Plus the fact that the binmen leave a trail of milk cartons, old tins and cereal packets in their wake and hardly anyone bothers to pick them up from outside their own houses - they'll walk/drive over them till they're flattened into the pavement or roadside. To my DC's embarrassment, I used to take an old carrier bag and pick up other people's dropped crisp packets etc as we walked home from school. I still swoop occasionally, but if I did it every day now I'd need to be trundling a skip behind me

I'd like to see the old public information films resurrected - do you remember litter, litter everywhere, it gets in your feet, it gets in your hair ? - and the Keep Britain Tidy campaign. Rant over - and breathe.....

People must throw it out secretly, as I can only remember one instance of seeing a car in front of me throw out rubbish.

We also live in a descent area but there is always rubbish on causeways when we go walking we walk a lot on cycle ways and we see rubbish there as well when bin men have been there is always. More rubbish about we often see a worker picking up litter with a grabber but have noticed he only does one side of road ,street etc what's that about ! There. Is no civic pride anymore we used to visit Germany and their streets were spotless if they can do it why can't we .

Our village is about the right distance for those finishing their Macdonalds takeaways. So our verges are littered by the detritis. So ...... with CCTV in use at all drive thrus now, why cannot the outlet print the car registration number on the paperbags the burgers etc are put in? Then we can trace the offenders and they can be fined? Seems simple to me.

Well, I may be the lone voice ( so far) but my area looks fine.I think since plastic bags were charged for it has made a big difference.

I once threw half a bag of chocolate covered raisins out of the car window.

Excellent idea Granarchist. Write to the PM and suggest it!

A few days ago someone dumped two full black bin bags at the end of the farm road. Although they were neatly tied the bin men drove straight past them this morning even though they have to slow right down to come up to us.

I know rubbish is supposed to be outside a property but these bags will just sit there now unless WE pick them up and dispose of them

I live in a village that ten years ago won its third 'Best kept village' award. It stands no chance of winning one now. The village is covered in litter. All the approach roads have verges scattered with drink cans and bottles and fast food containers.

I go for a walk every morning along the footpaths that go right up to the downs and out of the village through nothing but agricultural land, but in the last year these two have become strewn with the same type of litter that is scattered by the road side.

I used to pick up odd bits of litter when I was walking and dispose of them in my bin, but now there is so much of it I would need to go outwith several black bin bags and one of those grasps on a stick - and even then I would fail to make a significant inroad into it.

Fly tipping is a nightmare as many councils charge to pick up large items so people just dump sofas, mattresses etc in the street. So the council has to pick it up anyway after about 6 months of sitting there. There is a website called. "Fix my Street" where you can complain about fly tipping, potholes, rubbish etc and they send it to your council who will eventually address the issue. I have found that quite useful. You can post pictures of the problem . It is interesting to see if anyone else in your area has reported the same thing.

thank you rubysong - but is that the right person?

Last February I went by coach to Heathrow and I was appalled to see all the litter discarded down embankments, caught in the vegetation. Being high up in the coach made it more visible. It would need an army of litter pickers and for it to be done this time of year - but I can't see that happening!

Before I got into my car yesterday I had to collect the broken glass from a whisky bottle which had been smashed on my front lawn with many slivers of glass lying on the road. I could not leave it until I returned because I refused to drive my car over the broken glass. I live in a cul de sac so I have no idea who is doing the dumping.

The front gardens are all open plan and somebody has kindly dumped a bright orange carrier bag full of empty beer cans on the garden opposite my house and next to where my car is parked. The house is rented so I doubt it it will ever be moved except by me.

I must be in the minority as our council seems to manage to keep up with 'fly tipping' in our area. They also have one of those small sweeping vehicles which comes along the road after the bin men and clears up anything thats dropped.
On the council website you can report any rubbish that's been dumped and within a day or so they will come and remove it likewise dead animals we seem to get lots of dead foxes.
They clear the verges on main thoroughfares fairly regularly so as I say I must be in the minority. Of course this doesn't mean people aren't dumping their rubbish just that our council seems to be keeping up with clearing it.

Our bin men revel in spilling and spreading rubbish all over our drives, footpaths and roads!

www.fixmystreet.com/

This is the link to the website where you can report issues. It's worth reporting it here as well as your councils website

My council is quite good, though I hate to think what it will be like when they make their £40 million cuts. Last time I came down to England and drove from Birmingham to Nuneaton via the back lanes I was horrified. There were fly tips every where.

You are so lucky, tanith and others whose local authorities still seem to be able to cope. We used to have street sweepers years ago, but I can't remember the last time I saw one, apart from very early every morning in our nearest big town, just in the very centre. As for reporting problems, it took them 6 months to repair two street lights reported by at least three of us. Yet in the neighbouring authority, in the small village where my daughter lives, they have signs up regularly telling people where not to park their cars when the mechanical street sweeper's due, and we see a workman with a litterpicker out every Wednesday grabbing any odd bits of rubbish.

tanith it's like that where I live too. I don't think the main problem is littering though, I think it's mostly the result of the introduction of the recycling service. So much rubbish spills when the bin men tip the recycling rubbish into the vans, too much for pickers to spot.

I also think people are careless about making sure their rubbish is properly in a rubbish bin when they're out and about. Part of that is the bin design though. These big bins that stand on the ground might hold more rubbish, but they look so dirty and in an effort to avoid touching the bin, the rubbish doesn't go in properly. I take mine home. Bring back more of the bins attached to lamp posts and poles!

Tizliz I live near Nuneaton and the country lane at the top of my road is a fly tipping spot. But I think it has got worse since the council decided to turn off the street lights during the night. Also, a lot of rubbish seems to appear at the same time and I reckon it's often a gang getting rid of a lot in one go. The council are good at clearing it quickly though.

I also forgot that we regularly see small gangs of people who are on 'community service' duty picking up litter or cleaning the local park and alleyways with someone overseeing them. They usually wear a yellow tabard.

Obviously never been to Cassino! Since the council removed the communal bins the roadsides have been disgusting! A lot of the people round here can't be bothered with recycling. It's going to take decades to teach them! I can't understand why it's easier to dump rubbish on the roadsde rather than bag it correctly and leave it outside the house for collection!! We have collections every day bar Sunday , each day a different bin, paper, glass, plastic and metal (together) , food waste and a general bin for anything else. It's not difficult!!!

Everything's going to hell in a hand basket! Or is it a bin bag?

"When did we get so dirty?" I can date it almost exactly (but I forget the date) - it was when packaging started to become excessive, and a law was passed making it an offence to drop litter, but no-one was ever prosecuted so no-one paid any attention to it. If a few people had been charged very publicly at that time, litterlouting might have been nipped in the bud straight away.