Litter

BigLights

I wasn't brought up in the UK, and I was brought up with strict guidelines about litter. ie, just don't, it's disrespectful.

can anyone explain why it seems entirely natural for people to just drop their rubbish while they walk, or out a car window, or in a tube train? I mean, seriously.

Someone had clearly had a puncture next to where I lock my bike up yesterday. Left an old inner tube, an inner tube box and latex gloves.

This isn't a rant. I'm just genuinely puzzled.

monkimark

Because they are a-holes

rubertoe

in the last 20 or so years people have developed an "I dont care" attitude.

Thats why we have all these social problems, littering being one of them.

spasypaddy

my friend said to me the other day when he threw something out his car window, there are people paid to clear up my rubbish.

i had asked him not to litter and said i'd put it in the bin when i got out the car

mpatts

Some people just litter, and a percentage of litter is by accident.

Simple solution is just to pick what you see up and bin it.

I do a lot of hill walking, and I always return with assorted bits and bobs to bin. I always think that if everyone did this, there wouldn't be a litter problem.

mudcow007

what gets me when out for a ride how many gel packets you see lying around grr really grinds my gears

oh an oh people who empty ashtrays at traffic lights

shadow4532

mudcow007 wrote:

oh an oh people who empty ashtrays at traffic lights

one of the few thing that i agree with jeremy clarkson on. pick it up and at the next set of lights empty it on their lap.

jds_1981

I said 'oi' to a WVM who dropped litter out of his window. His response was a half-hearted drive at me....

BigLights

or adopt the Middle East approach. 'ashtray is full, time to buy a new car'.

spen666

rubertoe wrote:

in the last 20 or so years people have developed an "I dont care" attitude.

Thats why we have all these social problems, littering being one of them.

IMHO this co incides with the growing culture of "I know my rights".

In the past we were taught to be considerate for others - eg kids learned to give their seats up for adults etc.

Now we teach children to know their rights, but do not teach them about their responsibilites.

This develops over time into people only thinking how things affect the. In the example here, person with puncture thinks its quicker to leave their rubbish so leaves it....no thought as to how that affects others.

BigJimmyB

mpatts wrote:

Some people just litter, and a percentage of litter is by accident.

Simple solution is just to pick what you see up and bin it.

I do a lot of hill walking, and I always return with assorted bits and bobs to bin. I always think that if everyone did this, there wouldn't be a litter problem.

Er, no.

If nobody dropped it in the first place, there wouldn't be a litter problem!

I, like you though, pick it up on beahlf of the arrogant ar$eholes who drop it and I put it in a bin for them.

bdave262000

Same mentaility as people who let their dog C**p on the pavement. I recently told one individual to stop letting their dog c**p outside my front gate. Now he drags his dog further along the pavement and lets it c**p outside someone elses front gate, unbelievable.

Also told a guy with diplomatic plates that he dropped something when he emptied his ashtray at a set of lights, he responded by saying I didn't have it on camera so there was nothing I could do about it, WTF.

jamesco

shadow4532 wrote:

one of the few thing that i agree with jeremy clarkson on. pick it up and at the next set of lights empty it on their lap.

This is for you

monkimark wrote:

Because they are a-holes

Not sure it's that simple - we probably all have a mate who, despite being a great guy, drops his fag ends on the ground. What to do?

peat

It is literally the thing i hate most.

I once chased an attractive young lady down the road (bear with me....) and said "Excuse me, you dropped this" and handed her the confectionery wrapper i watched her just discard on the pavement as she walked. Such a shame as she was really pretty. The only way she could have repelled me more was to have a cigarette hanging off her bottom lip.

daniel_b

Does my head in too, can not abide it, but I do think it boils down to the recentish attitude that seems to prevail which appears to be 'it's not my problem' and just a total lack of consideration for other people, or even noticing that they are there or matter in anyway.

Other ways I see this more and more now include:

Very few people indicating at roundabouts, it seems to be the 'cool' thing to do to just go onto the roundabout, and just choose your exit without letting anyone else know = Inconsiderate, means I have to wait as I do not know where they are going, or do I risk being T-boned?
More than one person walking on a foot path towards you side by side, and not dropping into single file until you both have to completely stop or they nearly walk into you, and if they do stop they then look at you in surprise......

It's a slippery slope I would sadly wager.

I always take my litter with me, even when I go to the cinema or what have you, I pick up any cups/packets, and put them in a bin (If there is no bin or it is too full, I take it home) - it doesn't take long, I'm going that way anyway, and it means people do not have to clear up after me.

:evil:

scott-s30

I live close to the Mon/Brecon canal and ride part of it during my commute, also walk the dog along there.
The amount of discarded drinks cans, bottles (plastic and glass), crisp packets, sweet wrappers, carrier bags, cardboard and food wrappers is astounding and depressing.
I did try taking a carrier bag a few times and picking up as much as I could during the morning walk with the dog - took no time at all to fill it. I gave up doing it after a while as, by the time I went for the evening walk, there was just as much crap again dumped along the same stretch.
Also amazing that, walking through empty fields and woodland next to the canal, you'll come across drinks cans/bottles and bags/wrappers that have been dropped; not just one or two but hundreds, no exaggeration.
Sad to think that so many people have no regard for anything outside their little bubble of self importance.
A massive change in our selfish culture is needed but I can't see it will ever happen.

BelgianBeerGeek

My commute is rural and for part of it I use a B-road. This morning I saw a carrier bag full of pop bottles, crisp packets etc on the verge. Someone had filled the bag, tied the handles and then dumped it on the verge. What sort of f***wit goes to this trouble and then cannot be ar*ed to put it in a bin :x

And the number of beer cans discarded is appalling. There are no footpaths, so I can only assume they are discarded from passing cars. Hopefully it's the passengers and not the drivers tossing cans out of the window. And then the farmer "cuts" the verge using a massive rotating blade. The cans are shredded along with everything else, some of which ends up in the road. Grrr

The Rookie

Watched a guy drop a fag end out his window at the lights, threw it back in (still had a nice red tip) for him, he didn't seem very interested in me (too busy trying to find the fag end!).

Watwched a girl throw a pop bottle out of a car, followed the car and had a go at the next junction, they reported me to the Police for Harrasemnet, (clearly 'I know my rights' type) admitting dropping the bottle, the girl got an official caution for littering, me nothing (I'd done nothing wrong).

Come off the M25 at the A13 (Essex - says it all) the amount of rubbish thrown from cars in an outrage, you can't see the grass at all!

Stag on

Dont think it's a new issue, as worse when I was growing up. We have a higher quality of litterer around here, bottles of flavoured water rather than the usual red bull and beer cans and full fat coke (why always full fat, never diet?)

Seems to be worse around bin day which suggests much of the time, it's the bin chaps in a rush to empty the recycling containers and not a scrote being a mong.

People are simply incredibly lazy.

In central london, there is a lack of bins on public transport and at the major hubs due to the security imperative which probably makes it worse than elsewhere.

If I saw someone littering, I'd catch them up and hand it to them back. IIRC it is enforcable with a fixed penalty notice by the plod.

BigJimmyB

The Rookie wrote:

.....(Essex - says it all) the amount of rubbish thrown from cars in an outrage, you can't see the grass at all!

I'm fom Essex and take that remark with offence.

People in Essex are no worse than any one else, including with regard to littering. Did it occur to you that it might be visitors to Essex dropping the litter?

Kieran_Burns

BigJimmyB wrote:

The Rookie wrote:

.....(Essex - says it all) the amount of rubbish thrown from cars in an outrage, you can't see the grass at all!

I'm fom Essex and take that remark with offence.

People in Essex are no worse than any one else, including with regard to littering. Did it occur to you that it might be visitors to Essex dropping the litter?

I thought no one voluntarily visited Essex and outsiders only went there "on Her Majesty's pleasure"

daddy0

BigJimmyB wrote:

The Rookie wrote:

.....(Essex - says it all) the amount of rubbish thrown from cars in an outrage, you can't see the grass at all!

I'm fom Essex and take that remark with offence.

People in Essex are no worse than any one else, including with regard to littering. Did it occur to you that it might be visitors to Essex dropping the litter?

Whenever I visit the in-laws, who live in Essex, I always take some rubbish with me to throw out of my car window because Essex is a $*i+hole

Seriously though, yes there is loads of litter everywhere, including a floating island of rubbish in the Pacific which is twice the size of America. The thing that really brakes my heart on a daily basis is seeing cycling related debris. In particular I notice lots of CO2 bottles everywhere. Shame on you if you don't tidy up after a visitation - if I ever catch anyone leaving their old tube by the side of the road they will suffer years of my pent up anger I tell you!

slowbike

Daddy0 wrote:

The thing that really brakes my heart on a daily basis is seeing cycling related debris. In particular I notice lots of CO2 bottles everywhere. Shame on you if you don't tidy up after a visitation - if I ever catch anyone leaving their old tube by the side of the road they will suffer years of my pent up anger I tell you!

Oo ... don't think I've ever seen a discarded CO2 bottle. Plenty of tubes and obviously the "Pro Team"* discards of gel wrappers during sportives ...

that's Pro Team as in "it's what the Pro's do init ... "

BigJimmyB

Essex jokes aside, I think it's sad that people think it's OK to litter or just perhaps don't even think about it.

I've seen evidence of joggers and bikers leaving crap in rural areas and I just cannot fathom it.

The other fave is the 'responsible' dog owner that clears the poop up into a nappy sack, then flings it into a tree. I'd rather they just left the poop to (eventually) decompose and run the risk of me walking in it or riding through it than look at bags of shoot dangling from trees.

itboffin

this is one of the few things that really annoys me to the point of action, i see people everyday getting off trains having left their rubbish on the table or stuffed it down the side of the seat, or in many cases just dropped on the floor.

I'd ask would these people do this at home but i suspect they do, so i usually tap them on the shoulder and loudly point out they seems to have dropped or left something behind.

First.Aspect

Where was the OP brought up?

The Brits are dirty horrible oiks, I agree. But I've seen a good deal worse in South America and things are somewhat similar in parts of Europe or pretty much anywhere which isn't touristy. So whereas lovely hamlets in Dordogneshire might be nice and clean, or central Vienna, you won't find too much conspicuous litter in the old town of Edinburgh, central Bath or Finchley either, will you? Its very tempting to make unreasonable comparisons.

The problem to me doesn't seem to be the Brits, but human beings. Revolting creatures - the main difference is how many of them are packed into one space, and how many of them are employed to clean up after them.

fat_tail

Agreed with FirstAspect. Britain is by no means the worst for littering. I have seen much, much worse elsewhere. For the most part, people do respect the environment here and take pride in it. Of course, there is littering and I wish there was less of it and I applaud all the effort that other forumers are going to to reduce it. For my own part, I will take back my gel wrappers, mars bar wrappers and banana skins back home after a ride.

the_hundredth_idiot

That's true - Paris is dog doo-doo central. You need wellies for the amount of small-dog turds on the pavement.

I suspect in the UK people sometimes get caught out by the lack of a bin to put the dog poo bag - there's a particular place I walk my dog sometimes (and lots of other people do too) where there are no bins whatsoever - so if you pick up you end up having to take the bag home in the car with you which absolutely reeks. No wonder some people don't bother picking up or through the bag away when they realise there is nowhere to put it.

And I live on the classic London/Brighton route. My street is frequently littered with discarded inner tubes, often just a few yards from a bin.

rick_chasey

Jeez you lot. I come back from NYC and am reminded how clean and litter free london is.

sadlybiggins

The Hundredth Idiot wrote:

My street is frequently littered with discarded inner tubes, often just a few yards from a bin.

This really winds me up in our local park. There are lots of bins but people still drop rubbish even if they're right next to them. Just pure laziness.

bigmat

I left a snapped chain in the undergrowth at the roadside earlier this year. I know it was wrong, but I was kind of pi**ed off at the time and it would have been a really difficult thing to carry. That aside, littering does get on my t*ts, including people who think its perfectly acceptable to just throw a fag end down (which tends to include people who you'd think would know better). I reckon its arrogance, lack of intelligence or a combination of the two.