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[rustylandrovers]

I'm normally against the Death Penalty but in some cases I could make an exception...

I hear you, I detest litter.

There's a road near here that's really bad for fly tipping (builders waste etc). The adjacent landowner got *&%^$ off and installed cctv, but apparently the police did sweet hee-haw with the footage. He has now blocked off the entrances to his land, so now all the *&%^$ just gets dumped on the verges right by the road.
Absolute scumbags. For as long as proper disposal costs money, and there is little to no chance of getting caught, it's going to keep happening.

'Domestic' type littering *should* be easier to stop - it just needs the public mood and attitude toward it changed. The majority of people do what the crowd do, if they think it's socially unacceptable most will stop. Think, the changing attitude toward drink driving.

I was sat behind a guy at some traffic lights one day when he chucked a fag packet out the window. I walked round, lobbed it back in his window and said 'think you dropped this mate'. He was so shocked he just sat there open mouthed until the lights changed and he drove off. He may have just lobbed it out the window again once he got round the corner, but I like to think it gave him a moment to reflect on how much of a douche he was being.

I think it's also about what people see as being 'the norm'. I now carry a litter picker and bin bag in my car, if I stop in a layby and there's rubbish lying about I just pick it up and bag it. It might do nothing, but again I like to think that if the layby is tidy to start with, folk will be less likely to chuck more rubbish about.

[Matt Reeves]

This is a regular occurrence here in Snowdonia as well, though strangely this year there hasn't been a single instance of camping detritus in this particular valley, can't think why no doubt it will begin from next week.

Personally I'd like to see littering or dumping from a vehicle being punished by an automatic six month driving ban with a retest at the end for the first offense.

[Peter Holden]

I bet she paid someone to take her rubbish away.  We have had several instances of that locally.

Peter

[w3526602]

Hi,

A few years ago, when we lived in the Swansea Valley, there was a stream running down the hill on the opposite side from our T-junction. But the stram had been culverted to allow access to the old quarry.

We came home one day to find the culvert blocked with LOTS of black sacks. So we phoned the LA.

The LA reported back, a few days later. The sacks were full of "clinical waste" from a local nursing home, and had been traced back to the perp who had dumped them.

602

[Calum]

As Pete says, lots of people whose addressed letters are found dumped have often paid someone to remove the waste, so not always their fault.

I wouldn't agree with blaming the council for fly tipping - most household waste is free to dispose of at HWRCs, and pretty much without limit. Indeed most of the stuff I see tipped on my morning commute is bulky items, old furniture etc which can be taken and disposed of for free at our local tips. Thankfully the waste is usually gone by the time I am driving home from work, if not then by the next day so the council here are doing a good job at cleaning up after these people (in certain areas at least).
Business waste is different but there is absolutely no excuse for tipping anything - the blame lies solely on the person actually tipping the waste.

I don't know what these people actually expect to happen to the stuff they dispose of. Someone else's problem?

The problem is compounded in situations like Gene's though. I really cannot comprehend going out of your way to spend time in a lovely area (presumably because it is lovely) and then leave all manner of *&%^$ behind.
I saw some photos this week of the aftermath of the group of 'people' camping on the south side of Buttermere and was truly shocked at the amount of stuff left behind. Disgusting. Thing is they can't drive to where they camped so everything had to be carried in and boxes of beer cans are a lot lighter to take away when they are empty...

I'm always amazed at the stuff I find on mountain summits as well, empty beer bottles etc. I always end a day on the fells by emptying my collection of rubbish into the bin. Sad really.

[agg221]

I thought we had something called "community service" a sentence for naughty people

I once saw a chain gang in America clearing a ditch out.

Why can't we have similar ?

 

We do, and they do.

At the end of our land is a river with a Dutch ford across it. The rubbish comes down from the local town and because the Environment Agency has raised the water level it now jams up against the ford. Every now and again I see a community service group out there clearing it. If I spot them, I get them to leave the plant material on the edge of my land as I spread the reeds and other small stuff and people generally take away the branches as firewood but all the manmade rubbish goes.

We do get other things dumped directly at/in the ford. Much is just rubbish that is then made more difficult to dispose of but I have found various old oak beams which got used in my house, a safe which sadly contained nothing, a chair which my daughter now has, a shotgun, a kitten (still alive so we rescued her and found her a home where she is now very happy and much loved) and a machine gun (really  ).

Alec

[Worf]

In my youth, you never dreamed of throwing a bottle away, because you could get money for it. I think it got you into a mindset so you didnt litter. We are now in a throwaway age where nothing is really valued. If they put a deposit on the cost of a new tyre for instance, that was redeemed when you scrapped it, there wouldnt be any lying about 
Charging people to tip stuff and then spending millions to catch and clean up after illegally dumped stuff is self defeating.
Round here, all tips are free (even for the transit van with a trailer that was in front of me), so very little illegal dumping.

On second thoughts, the deposit on tyres thing might have unfortunate consequences in Liverpool 

[Calum]

Bottle deposits are still widely used across Europe, both on glass and plastic - fantastic scheme and why we don't do it I will never understand.
Thankfully we still get milk delivered in a glass bottle from the farm half a mile away, and it seems during lockdown milk deliveries have seen a sudden boom from things I have read in the news. I just hope it keep a up momentum and more people now realise how useful these local services are, but also how good they are for our environment.
The last 12 months have seen a shift (locally, at least) to adopting more bring your own container style shopping which again is great to see (certainly two shops in town now). I really cannot stand waste of any form, there is rarely any need! Plastics are wonderful materials, in the right circumstances, but they have a lot to answer for.

Alec, I am jealous of your 'Ford hoard'  that's quite a list.

[Wittsend]

Is a Dutch ford what we call an Irish bridge


 

[Genem]

20p Bottle and Can deposit scheme. The Legislation is working its way through the Scottish Parliament...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/08/scotland-launches-20p-deposit-return-scheme-for-drinks-cans-and-bottles

In the meanwhile I went down and bagged up the trash left yesterday. Kids I suspect, judging by the detritus. Rose wine, Rose Cider and tiny bottles of 1776. They can't even drink properly. 

At 20p a bottle/can I probably collected £4-£5 worth. Enough to persuade them to take it away ?   

[crumbly65]

Ironically, one of the things I've noticed, is that a lot of the people who throw trash out of their vehicles as they slow down for the roundabout near our home, have have the Union Flag, or English Flag, emblazoned on either the vehicle or it's number plates.

So presumably they're proud to be English, or British?  And there's nothing wrong with that. 

But not so proud of their country as to look after it.   

[Mr Ed]

These facts only demonstrate the education you received from your parents.

Those who throw trash, in addition to giving a very bad example, dishonor their parents.

[andrewR]

Cleared two tents, a disposal BBQ and some other stuff from above Campsie Glen yesterday, while on a bike ride. One the tents went in the bin, its poles can get used to make bean/pea frames. One was in good enough nick we kept it as a reserve.

[limestone69]

I've noticed an increase in litter here as well. I don't really understand it, but have to assume people have gotten accustomed to having someone else pick up after them.
Very disappointing.

[Betsy1969]

I've noticed an increase in litter here as well. I don't really understand it, but have to assume people have gotten accustomed to having someone else pick up after them.
Very disappointing.

Maybe they’ve all been to Vegas , a customer of mine went several years ago and couldn’t get over the way rubbish was cleared up as soon as it hit the floor !