Litter . Keep Britain Tidy ?

No, not going too far lovebeigecardigans

I was brought up to take my litter home and wouldn't dream of dropping/leaving my rubbish behind.

It seems to be a lot worse since lockdown. I wonder why?

What about the police barricading them in until they have picked up every past bit of litter and taken it home?
Of course, there are those who will then throw it all out of the car windows on the way home.

They could make them pick it up and deposit it in the appropriate bin until they are allowed to leave.

But of course the police don't have the resources.

Now this is controversial and I am only saying it tongue in cheek. I remember something about subliminal advertising which is not allowed on TV for obvious reasons.

How about something like public service broadcasting where they could put a message on every day, “Take your litter home”, so it could be subconsciously absorbed into the memory .

Particularly disgusting are bottles of ‘yellow lemonade’ discarded at traffic lights.

How about chain gangs like in the US where prisoners might prefer a day out to sitting in a cell.
“This stretch of motorway is being cared for by Her Majesty’s Inmates ? “

Any other ideas ?

After viewing the mess left behind at beauty spots last weekend, hearing about the cows driven out of their field by day trippers wanting to get to the river who then left broken bottles behind as well as other litter, I despair.

The country seems to be divided sharply between those who care and are responsible and the feral who care for nothing or no-one except themselves.

I was brought up to put any rubbish like sweet wrappers in a bin and if one couldn't be found, to put it in my pocket and take it home with me. I still do that to this day.
These messy gits should be put in the village stocks and pelted with their own rubbish - or is that going too far?

Kids buy their sandwiches, cans of juice and sweets, and the litter is thrown on the walk back to the school

Of course, years ago, you either went home for lunch, brought sandwiches, or ate school dinners.
No wandering about buying stuff in town, and dropping the rubbish.

We are farmers in the Lake District and it is a nightmare, but for some reason it's increased drastically since Corona invaded us. Last weekend was the worst so far.
Not just wrappers and bottles but single-use barbecues, some still smouldering, human faeces complete with toilet paper, and of course old sofas, mattresses, fridges and such just dumped in hedges.
Then there's the damage - why destroy drystone walls. cut down young trees, tear up fences for bonfires?
It doesn't make sense. Is there a way of posting photos on here - I've got a really shocking one to share!
(I remember litter picks at grammar school too, I suppose now we recognise the health and safety aspect).

I agree, the amount of litter around where I live is shocking. I was brought up to 'Take Your Litter Home', and have brainwashed my kids and now my DGS and will do same with my 1yr DGD. Our local ASDA is next door to the High School and the litter dropped the short distance between the two is shocking. Kids buy their sandwiches, cans of juice and sweets and the litter is thrown on the walk back to the school. Neither the School, ASDA or the local council are interested in stopping or helping it. All the back roads around here (we live in the country) have mountains of fly tipping dumped from cars or left in lay-bys or picnic areas. The local farmers are at their wits end.

Why don't people just take it home with them if there are no bins handy? We have always taken a bag with us to shove all the rubbish in after we've had a picnic etc., it's not difficult. I was left speechless years ago when the son of someone, who was a cleaning and tidying fanatic, just dropped his sweet wrappers as he walked along. I made a point of picking them up, which made the penny drop! But why??!!

We also had ‘litter duty’ rotas at Grammar school. Think it was mainly the first formers who had to do it, grudgingly.

When did Keep Britain Tidy start? In the 60’s?

We have so much more stuff that is littered which wasn’t around back then. Plastic bottles, beer and soft drink cans, take away containers, plastic carrier bags...... the list goes on.

If people aren’t bothered and simply don’t care, nothing will change. The attitude is ‘someone else will pick it up, it’s the councils job, I can’t be bothered to walk ten yards to that bin.....’