Do they think the fairies have been?

Perhaps a government sponsored advertising campaign is needed to stop people dropping litter? It isn’t so much of a problem in Australia because it is drummed into us all not to. I wouldn’t dare, even if I wanted to ( which I don’t of course). Last time we visited the UK we were horrified at the casual dropping of litter, it seemed to be built into some people. Maybe it is considered a ‘freedom’ but it is pretty disgusting. Lobby your MPs to do something.

It's the seagulls here, leave just a whiff of food and they're in the bags, spreading litter on the road.

They did a few years ago but it's more encouraging recycling and where to dispose of your waste.

My DGD was Recycling Monitor at primary school and she and another pupil had to give presentations to the school on disposal of waste and recycling.

FGT I used to hate going through my daughter's blazer pockets - I never knew what was going to be sticking to the ends of my fingers when I brought my hand out 🤯

The worst days round here are when the recycling's been collected. The recyclers probably think we'll pick up any stray litter when we take the bins in, but it blows down the road & people won't pick up things they know they didn't put out.
I collect as much as I can when I come back in with the dog, after they've been round.
I once did an inadvertent "litter" when I brought a dinner plate back from elderly relative's home, put it on the car roof while I loaded the dog, & forgot it & it slid off & shattered on the pavement.
I had to borrow a broom from someone in his garden to sweep it up & bag it to take home

Do they still teach about litter in junior schools? Best time I think with young, impressionable minds. “Find a bin or take it home”. Our girls used to come home with crisp packets and/or sweetie wrappers in their coat pockets all the time as kids. I can also remember Year7s used to get sent out into the school grounds to all ‘find some litter’ and bring it back to a big bin by the door.

Probably wouldn’t be allowed now but why not?

What’s wrong with fostering a pride in one’s own environment?

I pick litter up , it drives me bonkers. During the Pandemic I regularly picked up those blue plastic masks that floated accidentally, I think ,from the public litter bins that they started off in.
I would never drop litter myself ; always bin it or take it home.

A few years ago my friend was chatting to the council employee who was clearing litter from the beach and commiserated with him. He said he didn't mind - "keeps me in a job.". But really, littering is so bad nowadays and it does seem to be the younger generations who scatter it. Why? When we were young we wouldn't have dreamed of dropping anything! I was looking at a photo of our High Street from the 50s and there was no litter in evidence 🤷

Never in my life have I ever dropped litter, it’s the way I’ve been brought up.
It’s disheartening when I see people drop litter from their car windows, yesterday a huge 4x4 is in front of me, the window slides down & out pops a little hand to drop McDonalds carton (person driving must have opened that window, so obviously the parent knew🙄“love to report them”.
I pick up the school kids litter that blows on to my lawn (odd bit) with one of those grabbers, but I certainly wouldn’t pick up litter anywhere else.
My bug bare is chewing gum, I would ban it. Whats the point of the council putting down beautiful new paving for it to be covered chewing gum😩

It’s frustrating when people ignore litter, especially when you take pride in keeping your area clean. Sadly, some people just don't see it as their responsibility, or they may not even be aware of how their actions affect the community. Often, it’s a matter of habit or indifference, and it’s easy for others to overlook the small things like picking up trash.

It’s clear that you care about your neighborhood, and it's admirable that you take the initiative to clean up. Sadly, not everyone shares that mindset. You’re setting a great example by picking up after others, which can sometimes inspire others to follow suit, even if it’s just a few at a time. In many cases, people who see others cleaning up might feel more motivated to do the same in the future. While it can be disheartening to clean up after others repeatedly, your actions are a reminder that kindness and responsibility can make a difference, even in small ways.

Just back from Spain and barely any litter.Certainly not in the towns and cities.Street sweepers out everywhere early morning.Granted the country is bigger and less populated but a joy to drive down motorways and roads not bordered by filth.Tbh the journey home from Manchester Airport made me angry and sad.Just back from a dog walk and yet again fly tipping in the lovely woods.Where have we gone wrong ?I would love to see a massive countrywide clean up and a zero tolerance policy and massive fines.Surely if cameras can catch speeding,use of mobile phones etc they get some of the idiots litteing from cars Doesn't help on rural roads though.
I don't get the mentality -especially of car drivers as lack of bins is no excuse.Actually there never any excuse. At the end of every journey be it home,work or service station there will be a bin.I litter pick and have been known to hand people rubbish back or call out to them there is a bin nearby.Not wise I know.It just makes me so cross !

Picked up a Stella lager can on my way home from church down a country lane. Put it in our recycling bin at home.

Chucked out of a car window probably.

Just why?

In the Vale of Glamorgan the council is in the process of removing 25% of rubbish bins. Their reasoning is, as well as saving money, that too many people are using them instead of taking rubbish home. Unfortunately they have also instigated the rule that black rubbish bags from homes are now only collected every three weeks. Hence more fly tipping, and rubbish on pavements and hedgerows.

mrsmeldrew, we have street cleaners busy every day in my town, except for Sunday.
In the season, beach cleaners are on the sands every day, including Sunday, very early.
No one would want to come to the bay here if this was not done: the debris is shocking (a nearby beach made national headlines last year with a photograph of the sands just before the cleaners arrived)

I think we do need more draconian laws for littering, but in practice littering is done when nobody is around to stop it.
What to do then? More ads on tv that get the message across especially to young ones as they will then grow up not wanting to drop litter.Show a few hedgehogs with cartons jammed on their heads.Make it a bad thing, which it is, to throw or drop litter as you go.
Neighbours clear up locally in groups for a litter pick. Pick up what lands in your garden or at the front of your house.Make it a good thing to care about your environment.
Needs a big public campaign.

We go to France twice a year and never see any litter.

Just returned from Lanzarote and same there. Mind you we did see street cleaner workers - not seen those in the UK for a long time.

My front garden grows empty drinks cans, which is odd, because I don't plant them..
I do think that it's a (sadly) British phenomena.
On a beach in Sicily a year or two ago, I sat next to a group of teenagers- happily eating, drinking, and flirting .. when they left they took every scrap of rubbish with them. I was not expecting this, as I live beside a beach, which is strewn with rubbish every evening in summer .

I live in a village and do regular litter picks on my own or with the village environment group. In the main it's all stuff chucked from car windows or sweet/crisp wrappers from children.

The worst thing is plastic bottles of urine chucked, no doubt, by delivery drivers.

When I receive a delivery now knowing they are on ridiculous performance targets I always ask them if they want to use the toilet.

I often pick up litter while waiting at my local bus stop - drinks cans, crisp packets, etc…. There is a bin literally three paces away so why on earth people can’t or don’t use it defeats me. I’ve never found it full BTW.
I do get the odd funny look - who is this mad old bag picking up litter??

While I’m at it, IMO there should be an extra litter tax on McDonalds, since so many of their customers seem to think it Ok to drop their packaging anywhere - and as for leaving their greasy, smelly wrappings on the bus, I’d better not get started on that! 🤬

I've just got back from a few wonderful days in the pristine Broadway and Bourton on the Water in the Cotswolds. To get home I had to drive the A1 and A14. Have these roads ever in their existence been cleared of rubbish? It was appalling and depressing and I am ashamed that visitors to England have to travel these roads too. Scots and Welsh roads don't seem this bad. The sides of these roads along much of their length are now in such a bad state I don't think the filth can be cleared and I feel for the farmers who work the adjacent land. It must be a constant problem with plastic jamming their equipment and the worry of animals being poisoned.

I was brought up to take your litter home . I still do. I joined a litter picking group unfortunately I can't litter pick due to o disability but joined so I could join their craft group,they also have a reading group and a tea and chat group. They provide litter pickers,bags,stickers for the bags to say the it was done by this group they have junior kits for children. My daughter and family litter pick on the local beach with others.

Usually people pick up their dogs poo. But some didn't at the end of my drive so I pushed it into the gutter with some card and washed the spot with bleach and boiling water and put it on the poo.

One time down my road I saw some dog poo on a foot high wall. Made me wonder if the dog had good aim or did the owner put it there if so why not bag it and take it home .

'He walked away saying he would not do it as someone was paid to do it! '

This is the problem we have! If people think someone is paid to pick up after them they will continue to make a mess! What they don't realise is WE pay those people through our council tax!

When I was teaching if students left a classroom in a mess I would keep them behind to clear up. They would say "That's the cleaner's job" to which I replied that they were paid to hoover up dust and the odd pencil sharpening but not have to bend down and pick up balls of paper thrown across the room!

Oh, and a cigarette packet as well.

Just returned from a walk down a nearby country lane.

Two McDonald carrier bags in the road, contents strewn all over, cartons, sauce packets, drinks containers, a few fries….

The nearest McDonalds is 20 miles away.

So some yobs have gobbled up their takeaway and chucked the rubbish out of the car on the way home.

I picked it all up and put it in the nearest bin, making my gloves smell delightful.

It so winds me up, take it home or stop the car and bin it.

They just don’t care.

Is it a particularly British thing I wonder? A few years ago we returned on a coach from France and the first thing we noticed in this country was litter - even trees had plastic bags stuck to the branches where the wind had taken them.
Once, after stopping in a lay-by, I looked down the sloping ground to my left and saw a three-piece suite which had been dumped there!