When did we get so dirty?

This is one of my pet hates; the total disregard some people have for their surroundings. I walked one of our local rivers last year to access one of my favourite spots to fish, only to find it littered with beer cans, a vodka bottle, crisp packets, a half eaten chicken leg and a tangle of discarded fishing line. It's so sad. This river was one of the most heavily polluted in the country thirty years ago; now, thanks to the efforts of local people and various agencies, the water is clean and supports many game fish - even salmon have been seen in it - and the banks are awash with wild flowers. Then you get a few ******'s who don't give a toss hoot about any of that and leave their crap all over the place. You just feel that it's an uphill battle that no-one can win.

crun

I'm on the M6 on the way to Scotland and the litter at the side of the road is the worst ]'be seen it. I wonder if the recent storms have had an impact on the amount of rubbish about just now. The number of bins blown over can't have helped.

In the Peak District there are several disused railways that have been turned into foot/cycle paths, with car parks and access points at the old stations. I noticed that you can tell how far the average motorist is willing to walk from the way the litter used to appear half a mile before each station, and then disappear again half a mile beyond.

Climbing Helvellyn via a fellwalkers route over Longside Edge it became apparent when it joined the tourist route from the car park at the top of the Gale road by the sudden appearance of litter.

It seems to me that the countryside is a bit like the contents of a ladies underwear, the easier the access the less respect it commands.

I detest littering. And dog mess. Always told my children to put rubbish in the bin or keep it in their pocket until they found one.

I'm from Germany and when I took DH for the first time to introduce him to my family he threw a small piece of rubbish out of the car window. I read him the riot act for about half an hour.

I once saw a young woman stopped at a red light open her car window and empty a carrier bag full of sweet and crisp papers into the street. I don't know which made me angriest; her total lack of respect for other people or the fact that she was teaching the two young children in the back of her car that it was okay to chuck their litter around.

What a great use of a wish, MaizieD

Now that you've put the idea in my head, I think that one of my three wishes might be for the same thing to happen to deliberately-not-cleared-up dog poo!

...or, like Singapore, should we make it an offence even to possess the stuff?

What a brilliant idea! We had a 'no chewing gum in lessons' rule at the school I worked in; of course the little dears just disposed of their chewing gum by sticking it under the table they were sitting at. Utterly revolting

The area where I live is generally well kept in built up areas but open country is clearly a challenge to the litter droppers. We have a field which borders a longish bit of straight road. About once a year we go and pick up bags and bags and bags of litter which has been hurled over the fence out of passing cars.

A friend of mine declares that if she were given three wishes the first one would be that every piece of litter a person drops ends up in their bed.

Litter is horrible and dog crap is worse but I'm really fed up with the rash of chewing gum all over pavements. It requires specialist equipment to clear it up and why should we, the council tax payers, have to foot the bill for what disgusting teenagers spit out on our streets. Couldn't the manufacturers sponsor a clean-up; or, like Singapore, should we make it an offence even to possess the stuff?

Jingl what a shocking waste! A bag of chocolate raisins! I could have disposed of that very quickly and no residue.

However, it was quite a long time ago, but I think there is a crackdown in some areas on litterbugs.

I do know someone who was prosecuted and fined quite a lot and he was much chastened.

It was a friend of DD, he threw away a crisp packet or something like that and got caught by a policeman.

On my road

I think an increasing number of parents aren't bothering to impress upon their children how important it is not to drop litter, as they obviously do it themselves.

It doesn't help that there seem to be fewer litter bins about these days. On my there is a two mile stretch to the nearest village with just one bin, and that's for dog-poo!

Even out here in the countryside, the verges are littered with rubbish that's clearly been thrown from cars. The majority of it is empty beer cans, followed by fast-food packaging. It makes my blood boil!

When out cycling last year, I cycled past a trail of empty food packaging plus the carrier bag that they had come out of. Then I spotted what looked like a receipt a few yards further on. I stopped to look, and it was definitely the receipt for the now-discarded items (or rather their packaging). They had been paid for by card, so in theory it would have been perfectly possible for the culprit to be found, but can you imagine the reaction I would have got if I'd turned up at the police station suggesting that they follow up on it and prosecute that person? If only there was something that we could do!

Around our streets we do see street cleaners but there are several arterial roads around our area and there is a corridor of rubbish on each of them with no sight of anyone cleaning.

It's just so disheartening . I'm glad it's not just my area but I don't know what the solution is .

Elegran, there have been plenty of stories in the press in recent years about people being fined for dropping litter - usually a cigarette butt or a couple of crisps etc! It's up to individual councils to crack down on littering.

Maybe litter picking would be an option for pensioners to earn their pensions. Oops, sorry, wrong thread.

"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.

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

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!!!

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.

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.

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!