Litter . Keep Britain Tidy ?

Someone earlier mentioned fining takeaways if their rubbish is thrown down. That might be a fair point for some, but I will say that we have a McDonalds fairly close and they do regularly clear up the pavements within a good distance from their premises - I often see their staff out when I’m walking past. They also have the only waste bins on that very busy two mile stretch. On the other hand I’ve picked up their bags and cups three miles away, thrown out of cars.

BRING ON NEW AND UPDATED 'KEEP BRITAIN TIDY'

When I was about 10 I went on a school trip, we stopped on a village green and had a packed lunch. When we went back to the coach my friend and I left our rubbish on the green. The teacher picked it up and once on the coach asked everyone to hold up the remains of their packed lunch, of course my friend and I couldn't and received the tongue lashing I have never forgotten. Since that day if having a picnic I always check the area before leaving to ensure nothing is left behind and if I accidentally drop something I always pick it up. Unfortunately these days a teacher would not be allowed to "shame" a child in that way - although with us it worked!

I find this so depressing - not only are people going to beautiful places and trashing them but they don't seem to think there is any harm in it. We need a Keep Britain Tidy Campaign, and both parents and teachers need to make sure the children understand. Kids need to educate their parents a lot of the time. And we need on the spot fines, with litter police if necessary. Or we just close some beaches - there is already enough crap being washed up on shores anyway. I really feel for those who live in areas which attract this disgusting kind of human.

I live in a small village between 2 towns, and it’s quite disheartening how many plastic sandwich boxes, crisp packets, drinks bottles etc are flung out of car windows here as people drive through.

Obviously people eating a ‘working lunch’ in their cars, because it didn’t happen when lockdown first started, but now more are back at work it’s happening again.

A friend lives near a canal, and says the amount of litter, and, unbelievably, human waste is vile.

Very interesting, Blondie and your last remark opens up a can of worms. ?
Thing is we have to start somewhere. And we have to work with what we’ve got. In an ideal world everybody would take their litter home. But how do they know to do this ?
When we grow up we assume everyone does what we do and then we visit more people and see different homes.

Some ideas :
Lead by example
Explain why it’s necessary
Messages on tv, motorways, school
Change packaging
Pay for cleanup
Punish

Form a Gn army. We have all the wisdom of years on here .
??????????????

The litter I have seen on footage of beach revellers in the last couple of weeks is appalling but what else can you expect - everyone who has been to a beach has flouted the public health advice about social distancing and that betrays a particular type of personality that sticks two fingers up to authority so picking up their litter and taking it home is the last thing in their mind a - this is living in a democracy as opposed to a dictatorship - in countries where people are being told what to do on a daily basis and where tourism matters to the economy there are stiff and enforced penalties for littering and indeed for breaking any other rule. It’s all a question of the personal freedoms people think they have and sometimes that extends to leaving an eyesore - I still see people throwing litter out of cars!

I used to work in a JMI school and all children from Reception to Year 6 were expected to keep the classroom and school tidy.
It was not expected that teacher would do it.
The classroom was tidied and clean in rapid speed as the children competed with each other but the hallways were a different matter. This is where they hung their coats and changed their shoes. Shoes were just either left where they changed them or chucked in the vague directed of where they should be in their hurry to get back into the classroom. Not all children but it was obvious which children were used to putting their shoes away !
In my daughters case her secondary school followed this through and hopefully many will still be using this habit. Unfortunately my daughter would never drop or leave rubbish around outside but she is now in her 20's and her room is a real mess. Where did I go wrong?

I've noticed the lack of litter in our street since the schools were closed so that points at major culprits. There is always litter left in the street on bin collection day and I try and pick up anything in the immediate vicinity, even if it's not escapees from my bins. What doesn't help is that we have to put our recycling out the evening before collection to avoid getting up at silly o'clock in the morning, and because the bins are open, litter gets blown out of the bins if it's windy weather. Quite agree that lazy litter louts should be put into stocks and pelted with their rubbish, and then made to clear it up afterwards.

@ExD Hi, I too live in the Lake District well Whitehaven, there is a way you can post pictures, below where you are typing now there should be 3 boxes with `Choose File` in them just click there and add your pic
As regards, folk leaving waste behind my biggest gripe is folks that leave their `dog mess` then Blind folk like myself who rely on a `White Cane` come along, it isn't funny I have to beware I don't drag dog crap into my own house, cafes, shops buses and all because of selfish mindless lazy folk

I've stopped walking in the field opposite my home because it was bad for my blood pressure! The amount of people walking through the crop is unbelievable, and when I've said something I got blank or astonished stares as though they can't believe they've done anything wrong. People throw things into the crop for their dogs to retrieve too. That's our food that they're destroying. If I were a farmer I'd be so disheartened and annoyed. The footpath has been over-walked so much that it's now about 12 feet wide so it's perfectly possible to throw things for the dogs without it going into the crop. And why do they pick up the poo and then leave the bag hanging from the bushes? What sort of mentality thinks that's ok or even logical. I despair of the selfishness of people post-virus. I thought it was going to change people for the better but they seem to have become more selfish. A beauty spot near here has closed again as the rubbish left behind was disgusting, not to mention the fact of people using the bushes as toilets. If they don't want to pick up after themselves, what makes them think that other people want to do it for them. Sorry - rant over.

Is it any wonder when you see the detritus left at festival sites, disgusting filth and appalling waste. Generations now have become used to leaving it for someone else to deal with. What surprises me is people who are old enough to know better have started to leave their rubbish behind, obviously the behaviour is catching. The prevailing attitude is if no one else is bothering why should I ? It should be made as socially unacceptable as smoking was, that seemed to work.
Road junctions are always disgusting as people take the opportunity to empty their cars at these points.
It is just plain laziness and disrespect for our surroundings and and countryside.
We should start educating people better, stating the cost of cleaning up the tons of rubbish and what this money could be better spent on. Far higher fines for fly tipping and littering and all venues reminding people to pick up their rubbish and place it in recepticles at the exit, instead of sending in low paid workers with black bin bags afterwards.
I have been extremely grateful for the refuse collectors during lockdown as I know how quickly society can descend into chaos if these services are stopped. However the surge in fly tipping and waste left around post lockdown shows most people do not recognise this as essential.
Just as we helped the NHS by stopping in during lockdown we could help the country rebuild by stopping this selfish behaviour and the councils spending the millions saved on social care/ nurseries instead
I am ashamed at the state of this country, it is beginning to look like a third world rubbish dump.

I lived in Tokyo, Japan for three years a number of years ago and yes it's very very very clean! Japanese culture is very very different to Western culture. I found it a bit extreme to be honest! but yes here in the UK I think people dropping litter has got a lot worse over the last few years.

Whenever either of my kids or I go for a walk, we take a bag for rubbish. It used to be quite competitive when they were both at home
The WI also organises mass litter picks for the rubbish from the A12. Possibly not this year

I'm not sure some of the younger generation actually 'see' litter - i.e. the occupant of the flat above mine has bins in the paved front garden, and goes out to them every day, picking her way through the weeds and all the litter.

Maybe they all think of it as 'not my problem'. Maybe they're too used to parents clearing up behind them all their lives. All I know is that my fingers itch to go out there, clear up and do some weeding but it will have to wait until lockdown eases.

My sister has a house in Northern France and I have never seen any litter in her village or in the local towns - the streets are pristine; the people there care for where they live. That doesn't seem to be the case in Britain. It's not just beauty spots, it's anywhere; people just drop their waste on the ground, even though there are rubbish bins withing easy reach of them. I despair of litter louts, I really do and get depressed seeing all the rubbish around the streets. I am a litter picker and do what I can. I get people seeing me pick up the litter and tell me that it's the council's job to pick up the litter but the council didn't throw it down, it's people like you and me that's doing it.

Durdle Door is a private beach so they could just shut it which would be sad and a pity for all those responsible visitors who leave no trace.

It’s a culture/parenting/teacher approach, we never would have dropped litter when we were growing up. My daughter lived in Japan for 16 years and kids went to Japanese schools. No bins in school ( or anywhere that I went in the country) you take litter home. Kids are not allowed out to shops for lunch/snacks from Primary school. From age of 4 - 6 ( when they enter primary ) they are taught to clean , tidy and serve lunches and be respectful and look after younger ones who start, so by time they go to primary it’s ingrained. They even have rotas in primary for cleaning toilets ? Their food malls in shopping centres are a wonder to behold, so clean, sinks for washing hands, everything fresh, you could even leave your bag on table, go to toilet ( again sparkling ) and come back to find it still there !!!! If you want a downside to this it could be that you would find it’s a Nation that definitely does what it’s told.

We seem to be a lazy country, I visit USA and Australia and Europe but people take a pride in their surroundings there. In USA where my son lives there are many bins on the beaches and free litter bags to bag up picnics after eating. I say fine the take away shops if their litter is dropped, they would soon warn Their customers if that happened. We have pizza boxes dumped at bus stop. Schools should be telling the children from a young age as many nearby drop everything . Finally fines should be used regularly for offenders

I really despair about people’s attitude to litter. Why do people expect others to clear up after them? I was always taught, as was my daughter, to bring our rubbish home. I also don’t understand why people don’t keep the outside of their homes, including the pavement, clear of litter.
I was watching a film the other day when a mother was taking her daughter to high school in USA. The daughter dropped a wrapper on the ground and the mother called after her ‘pick that up, you’re not British’ - how embarrassing that that is how we are thought of.

You have a good point, Calli but maybe they could be given the option ?
Catching people is well nigh impossible isn’t it ?
When I saw the photos of Durdle Door I wondered if not clearing it up would deter visitors. Of course that spoils the beach for other more considerate users.
Soon we will have to charge people to use beaches which will include the fees for the clean up . ?

I’m a sporadic member of a local litter picking group (sporadic because it’s not too well publicised and we keep missing it!). It’s quite therapeutic actually and you do go home with that smug sense of having made a difference.

We find round here that a lot of what we pick up is stuff that’s either blown or been dropped from the recycling boxes left outside. Why people wouldn’t just then stoop to pick it up when they bring their boxes in is beyond me. It’s also obvious that there aren’t enough litter bins, but that’s no excuse.

The horrible photos of the state that beauty spots have been left in lately are so depressing. If you can take food, drink, clean nappies there, why on earth can’t you take the detritus home?

I don't see why prisoners should have to clear up other people's filth, MissTree
Perhaps the feral litter louts should be chained together and made to do it.

Waiting at our bus stop, there was a lot of litter around me. A council worker came up and started to clear it so I said "It wasn't me".
"I know" he said. "they're filthy animals." And he has to clean up their mess. What a degrading job.

I've just seen pictures of all the litter at Durdle Door including bottles of urine. Seems some people cannot respect the environment or others even when we are in the middle of this crisis. Shameful.