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Littering.
(70 Posts)What happened to the 'keep Britain tidy' campaign?
We need it more than ever.
It defeats me how people can drop drinks bottles/cans, sweet wrappers etc. at my local bus stop - when there’s a bin literally 2 paces away! I frequently get ‘looks’ when I pick such things up, not that I give a monkey’s about that.
I driver down a narrow back road every week and feel in the country - except for the amount of rubbish that is distributed along the roadsides. Why are people so lazy???? Do you have to pay to take stuff to council tips - or don't they have bins at home?
It seems to me that some people just don't care about the environment. They would not drop litter at home. But the minute they step outside they can treat the surrounding area like a bin. Shameful really but we are a very littersome nation.
I'm so depressed and disheartened lately every time I make a journey seeing the amount of litter onthe roadsides.However today for a change I saw something positive for a change.Huge signs by the M62 for Cleanup Britain.Please look it up and subscribe. It seems to be a serious campaign to effect change and say its time to get a grip on this surge if littering and fly tipping.Jeremy Paxman is the patron.
Every time I go to our local shops I am amazed at the amount of rubbish! Beer cans & other drinks cans, take out wrappers when the nearest is miles away. Paper, sweet wrappers, plastic bottles. It is amazing what some people will just throw on the ground. I would love to take a large bag & clear it up as I go but holding everything along with my walking stick makes it impossible! Do not dare say anything to anyone littering now as if we do we can be the next in the queue at A&E!
I've just been to Bermuda on holiday. Everyone is so proud of their area. We didn't see a single piece of:- litter - cigarette butt - chewing gum etc.etc. discarded anywhere. We went on a tour of the island and I asked the tour guide about the litter situation and he said:-
"We just don't do it, we are taught from a very young age to be proud of where we live and we all are. It's so easy to find a bin or take your garbage home". The local authority go round every morning before 6am and empty the bins, sweep the gutters etc.
It might be a good idea to be taught that in our beautiful (when it clean & tidy) country. Also in the area where I live there seems to be less bins than there used to be. If there were more I'm sure people would use them.
The simple answer is that children are no longer taught to throw litter tidily away in a bin or waste-paper basket, and if there is not one where they are to pocket their litter until they pass a bin.
Teachers have not had time, or not been concerned with this issue since the late 1960s and parents have ignored it too.
We no longer have police walking their beat, so no one is fined for dropping litter.
Teachers have not had time, or not been concerned with this issue since the late 1960s
Why should Teachers be responsible for teaching children to pick up their rubbish?
Not everything is the Schools fault
I have a 'dram road' (old farmers' route to take animals off the road to the mountain grazing) running alongside my property. It is used by walkers, horse and motorbike riders most of whom do shut the gate and respect the countryside. However, there is always used food and drink containers left at the entrance - which is adjacent to my gate - so I am constantly having to litter pick. The worst is the broken glass left, and mote recently a broken bottle thrown into the field where a horse was grazing!
You can always report it. It's against the Environmental Protection Act 1990 even if it is on private property. Our local town council encourages reporting of littering and provide an online form to actually do it. It absolutely makes my blood boil too.
One of my hates too. Always instilled in our children who have now instilled in theirs that they should take their litter home with them. And don’t get me started on the dog poo bags. Saw a bin overflowing with dog poo bags a couple of years ago on the edge of a popular common near where I live. I posted on the local Nextdoor group saying how unacceptable it was, nearly all the replies were that it’s ‘not their fault that the bins hadn’t been emptied.’Ok, so the bins should be emptied but surely if they are full the bags should be taken home. I can’t understand the mentality of people and this ‘it’s not my fault’.
You get a hefty fine if you litter here. Mostly it seems to work, you don’t get a huge lot. Last time we went to the UK I was horrified by the amount. Maybe lobby the government to dish out fines like speeding fines ? Money could go towards health services.
It doesn’t help that so many people seem to need a drink in their hand most of the time, and food too. I know that they don’t all drop the ‘ packaging ‘ wherever they are, but so many do. It may be illegal, but that’s no good if there’s no one around to uphold the law. I’m sure that most of us can remember a time when just about the only things you’d see being eaten outdoors would be a bag of chips or an ice cream. Of course we had picnics, complete with sandwiches and thermos, but we cleared up before going home.
We had a walk around Levens deer park yesterday. There were dog poo bags tied to fences, even though there were notices asking dog owners to take their poo home. If you own a dog, be responsible for it! (Or make it wear a nappy!!🙄)
We are just too soft. We are also too eager to find excuses for those who misbehave. When I was teaching I wouldn't dismiss my class until they had checked that the floor was clean. Once a boy called out "don't you know we have cleaners?" In other words "somebody else will do it".
When I walk downtown to do my shopping, I try and pick up a piece of litter (at least one).
Nearly always a can, bottle, sweet wrapper…
during the recent stormy weather, neighbors each side had their bins blown over when they were put out to be emptied,with the result the paper and cardboard was blown all over the road, the binmen don't pick it up, and neither do the neighbors,,I can't understand some folk..
I have walked my dog in a small local park, called a playground but with nothing to play on, for many years. I keep her on the lead and always pick up after her. Recently the council put a large No Dogs sign on the gate. Now the park is full of rubbish and dog mess as the responsible owners, who used to pick up dog bags and youth's litter, no longer go in, leaving irresponsible owner's dogs to mess the place and youths/children to leave unpicked up litter! It makes my blood boil!
I don't recall being taught not to drop litter - I just never have done, and neither have my children. Even as a smoker, I never even dropped a finished cigarette end - I carried a tiny tin and put it in there. Whilst still a smoker, I once stayed overnight in a non-smoking motorway hotel and stood outside to have a smoke. There were two enormous bins for litter with special add-ons for cigarette ends and yet the floor below them was covered in used fags. I just can't fathom it at all. And no, I don't have the tidiest house in the world, but I don't have anything on the floor that doesn't belong there.
Have you pointed this out to the council?
This country is not run by a government who cares. We are over populated which makes it worse. The ordinary public are cash cows for greedy corporations. The level of rubbish reflects the ignorance and ennui in the population.
Greta
We are just too soft. We are also too eager to find excuses for those who misbehave. When I was teaching I wouldn't dismiss my class until they had checked that the floor was clean. Once a boy called out "don't you know we have cleaners?" In other words "somebody else will do it".
I've had that from pupils when made to pick up rubbish. I would tell them that the cleaners were there to hoover up tiny bits of debris such as pencil sharpenings - though they should be in the bin - not balls of paper or paper aeroplanes thrown around the room requiring them to bend down. But they often argued with me about it!
In the end I lost my job as a cover supervisor as I kept a class behind at lunch time to restore the room to a satisfactory state.When I was satisfied with their efforts and was letting them go, 2 students (among the worst offenders) barged past me to leave out of the order I'd decided on. I stupidly tried to stop them and ended up being falsely accused of assault! I was suspended and eventually resigned as I didn't have the support of my head teacher. He was the type who wanted to be 'every pupil's best friend' and he wanted me gone as I was 'too strict'. Unfortunately if parents don't teach their kids how to behave, it is difficult for teachers to make up for their failures!
My only consolation is that I went to a better school where I was happier, though I ended up working more hours for less money and had to claim benefits for the last few years until retirement. The school I left is now closed as its reputation became so bad it ceased to be viable! I also know some of what one of the culprits has done since, which has cost his parents dearly! I have zero sympathy!
Has anyone been to Singapore? They have heavy fines for dropping litter and some offenders also have to collect litter for a set amount of hours. Consequently there is no litter. It's not rocket science. We are, as usual, too soft. It's probably against someone's human rights if we tell them off.
As I said, unlike Singapore, we have no one around to hand out fines, so people get away with it.
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