Litter in the parks

A tv ad campaign showing a clean street and a clean park, people walking through dropping litter and day by day it builds until people are up to their knees in it and rats are running alongside the children.
The same for beach scenes showing the tide coming in and out and the beaches filling with dead sea life and the plastic rubbish washing up again.

'Take only photographs, leave only footprints' this needs to be put on large banners all over parks and beaches!

No litter, no barbeques, no fires. Too cold today, and hopefully at the weekend.

A 'Blackthorn winter!!

It was really shocking to see all the litter left behind by people enjoying the good weather. Have they no pride in their country? All they need to do is pop it into a bag and take it home for disposal.
As for all the crowds and no social distancing - words fail me!

sorry, mistype "shouting" not shoulding...

I once asked a little girl (pre-school but able to understand) not to drop her sweet wrappers on the ground. Her mother stopped chatting with others and came over and started shoulding at me for telling her child what to do, obviously it would never have occurred to her to ask the child not to do it.
I have a season ticket to a local private park and every day I pick up the cardboard ring that is the holder for a coffee cup, always around the same area. I'm guessing that it belongs to one of the gardeners or a regular visitor and can't believe how little they appreciate the lovely space.

I think it starts from home. You only have to look at the rubbish in some people's gardens.
We visit Florida regularly and always notice how clean the roadsides are. The 'truck' drivers nearly all take a pride in their vehicle and one told me he keeps a box in his cab for rubbish which he empties into a bin when he stops. Coming home we immediately notice all the rubbish along the roadside.

I tend to the 'leave it there for a month' way of thinking, though it would be very unfair on the people who live locally and those who don't leave litter. Not to mention the adverse effect on the wildlife.

But would it actually sink into the minds of the litterers that they're making the mess and they need to do something about it?

When I lived in Dawlish 20 years ago I used to go out on the beach in the morning and pick up litter. A lot of it was plastic bottles. If the tide takes them out, whales and other marine life think they are jellyfish and eat them. I haven't been back to Dawlish for a long time, so I don't know what state the beach is in now. Like most beaches it is probably full of rubbish thrown away by louts who would complain if they found it like that when they next want a day at the beach.

This drives me nuts, lazy, inconsiderate bloomin people! Put the litter in the bags they brought their snacks in, not hard. I walked behind young boys eating sweets & they were dropping every wrapper as they went along. I was scared to say anything cos you now get a mouthful of abuse from them. Don't get me started on dog poo and I've a dog, but I always have bags with me to pick it up.

We live by the river and there has been litter floating by for the past couple of days which doesn't happen that often.

Crossed posts Georgia, thinking along the same lines.

I wonder what would happen if we left all the litter in place for a month. Where would the litter louts go to play? Would they sit in the middle of it and add to it? Would they wade knee deep through it complaining that the council hadn’t done the job?
Would they learn a lesson from it?
Something has gone badly wrong in our society when people no longer respect each other or their environment.

I find it really upsetting that people are getting so selfish. We seem to have become a nation of 'entitled'. I'm very glad that I'm as old as I am and don't have much longer on this planet. Some people have very good values and are lovely, but sadly I think they're outnumbered. We can't complain about anyone for fear of being called racist or sexist or anything else-ist so no-one is called to account. I'd like to see the litter left in the parks for a few days, as no-one will then want to visit them for a picnic when they see what they themselves have allowed to happen.

Litter picking during the school day was a form of punishment for pupils at my previous school when they were given a detention but were unable to stay after school finished due to the school buses. This applied to all years from first formers to the upper sixth with no exceptions. Of course, that was 50 years ago, enforce a similar regime now and parents would soon be complaining on the grounds of human rights!
It seems we are overcome in society by inconsiderate, ill mannered, disrespectful snowflakes!

It's hard to find the words to say how disgusted I feel about this.
It's impossible to understand these people. I feel ashamed of them.

I know someone whose garden backs onto the canal. She was off work one day and saw her neighbour go to the top of their garden and tip all her rubbish into the canal. This despite having four wheelie bins for waste.

Spot on Gingster,and the amount of face masks left on the ground is unbelievable.
And it`s not good for the wildlife either.
Those that leave rubbish of any sort should be ashamed of themselves.
But they are too thick and ignorant to see that.

It's horrible and saddens me too.

Just a word of warning, a friend who like us on here hates litter in the street, bent down to pick up a crisp packet. She lost her balance, toppled over and smashed her face. It could have been very nasty poor thing.

Sure it's a lot to do with the takeaway society we have nowadays. After a mobile phone the must have accessory is a takeaway drinks cup. When out in a park folk would need to walk to a bin and goodness we all know a lot cant walk the length of themself. Someone else will sort it out mentality!

My neighbour & I,both in our 70's,are volunteer litter pickers for our Town Council and go collecting rubbish in a lovely country lane which is, sadly, used as a rat run to avoid the busy main road. We have stopped being disappointed with the type of people who think it is fine to chuck things out of car windows because there will always be those who litter. I don't know the answer to what appears to be a growing problem. In a few weeks time when the weather is warmer the beaches will be left in the same sort of sorry state.

Someone on our local Facebook group posted pictures of litter in our park yesterday. Apparently she had seen teenagers dropping it and then moving on. She hadn’t felt brave enough to confront them. It was suggested that she posted photos of them. The outcry was amazing! It is NOT appropriate to shame children on social media! Well, I’ve thought about it and I think a bit of shaming would probably work! What is so wrong with making people embarrassed about their lack of social conscience?

It's so depressing.I now have latex gloves and a carrier bag in my picket along with poo bags when Iwalk my dogs and frequently fill a whole bag just from one woodland walk.
Those scenes from parks made me absolutely furious.If people can carry full cans and packages of food why on earth can't they take them away to the nearest bin when they've finished ?!

One of the things I really dislike about this green and pleasant land is fly tipping and litter, and don’t get me started on chewing gum.

Our area is terrible for littering, and so much of it is visible now that snow has melted, and leaves not yet unfurled. Sometimes even 20 feet from a garbage can. I don't know how to knock it into peoples heads.

I live in a small cul de sac and beside my house, there are 4 car park spaces but they are taken by folk who live in another street. Last week I collected 2 carrier bags of litter thrown out of their cars on to my grass when they parked.

It was free for 24 hours but is collecting again. Naturally, I have never seen anybody dump any and I do not have security cameras on that side.

I have a feeling it is thought "the council" will pick it up although it is all private land.