Top of the Litter Pops......

[T Hectares]

 

[JohnGalway]

I did a lot of thinking while hooking bottles out of the ditches as to what could incentivise people to stop littering, and after I'd fantasized about knee-capping the culprits, my conclusion was penalties don't work, as you need evidence to fine people and catching people in the act in country lanes is very difficult too. There's no point having draconian laws if they can't be enforced. I favour the method of taxing the cans and bottles and plastic wrappers highly at point of purchase, and then giving some of that money back when the item is recycled or disposed of correctly. Thus meaning a van cab full of cans and wrappers actually represents money, so is less likely to be thrown out the window, and indeed if it is and I pick it up, I can get the refund money. Thus meaning picking up litter would be a source of income for kids etc. Its a win/win, less incentive for the purchaser to throw litter away, and more incentive for everyone else to pick it up if it is.

That's far too intelligent a thought to be adopted. It'd work too.

 

[Norfolk Hill Farmer]

At the last World Cup the Japanese football supporters would tidy up any rubbish from their part of the stadium before they left. What would it take to change our moronic culture to something like theirs ?

 

[beefandsleep]

My lad asked Santa for one of those litter picking grabs. Turns out he’s been a good boy this year as he got one, as I found out when I came in from feeding and was asked if we could walk down the lane picking litter.
Filled a grass seed bag full, not too bad really considering our proximity to town and the number of walkers we get but it’s still quite annoying. I just can’t understand the mentality that thinks it’s acceptable to just sling your empty can or bottle into the hedge.

 

[Yale]

We found a 12 in pink dildo outside the local riding school one year!

Bet that was satisfying.......

 

[Gong Farmer]

Seeing more discarded face masks in verges, but that's to be expected I suppose.

 

[bluebell]

sunday morning just up from my farm drive on the main road noticed thousands of glittery slilver things over the road, on closer inspection these are small silver capsules ? gas canisters ? who or what would dump use them out onto a public hyway?

 

[Ffermer Bach]

My team were out today so the roadsides round here will now be spic and span for a day!
I think all fast food wrapping should be bar coded to tie up to the card that bought it and they could then be charged if it picked up as litter.

or, the supplier should be charged to clear it up, maybe it would mean less fast food was purchased (which would be good for the nations health) and good for our environment. I used to live in Denmark, and I remember how clean it was there (and conversely when I came back to the UK, what a ****tip it was here)

 

[Neddy flanders]

Spent a couple of hours on Boxing day clearing this out of a blocked culvert. Very wealthy urbanite on other side of culvert believes my ditch cleaning and his non-cleaning causes his tennis court to flood. In reality, water flows into culvert but can get out his side as is blocked, backs up and flows across road. In addition all this crap has washed off the verges. Bin bags of old clothes make great ditch blockers.

 

[traineefarmer]

sunday morning just up from my farm drive on the main road noticed thousands of glittery slilver things over the road, on closer inspection these are small silver capsules ? gas canisters ? who or what would dump use them out onto a public hyway?

Nitrous canisters mean't for those posh squirty cream dispenser things. Now popular among certain types for sniffing the gas.

 

[Neddy flanders]

Forgot photo

 

[puppet]

We cut 300m of verge like a lawn but it still gets cans and wrappers thrown out. Just a nice distance to finish takeaways from 6 miles away.

 

[Scholsey]

Should be done as part of community service where ever there are traffic lights without actual works taking place, I imagine the people most
likely to be doing community service are also likely to be the ones chucking crap out of windows whilst driving.

 

[Kidds]

Worst culprit around here is the bin men.

Do you ever look at the verges on motorways/dual carriageways, especially near junctions? Obscene amount of litter.

 

[roscoe erf]

Today I finally summoned the will to start something I've been meaning to do for ages, have a clean up along the verges that border the farm. And after managing to clear just under a mile of verge, and collecting 8 bags of rubbish plus a pile of larger items, I thought I'd compile a Top of the Pops for litter.

In traditional reverse order, straight in at No 5 it's Builders Waste. Some kind tradesman has taken it upon himself to use the verges here to dispose of all manner of waste from his jobs, mainly it seems unwanted cans of paint thrown into the hedges and ditches. A broken bathroom basin was also found, plus one lone engineering brick (unused). Also a 10 foot long steel pipe, 4" in diameter. This will actually be useful

At No 4 we have General Plastic Wrappings. Mostly crisps, but all types of 'on the go' foods were well represented. Oddly enough the poster boys for litter, the fast food outlets were surprisingly low in number, possibly as they mainly use cardboard and paper in their wrappings, which rots quite nicely., especially when chewed up by the verge flails.

Rising up to No 3 we have Glass Bottles. All alcoholic as well, ranging from beer to wine to spirits. As everyone knows, driving is hard work and requires a constant input of alcohol to maintain concentration.

The top 2 were very close, it was nip and tuck all the way, but the final count put Drinks Cans at No 2. A mixed bag of everything from cheap beers and lagers to soft drinks, and a surprising number of 'energy' drinks. Which is not surprising, throwing all this rubbish out of your car or van does take it out of you.

And the Number 1 in the Litter Hit parade is Plastic Bottles. The previous No 1 manages to maintain its pole position with an impressive display of littering range and quantity.

Special mention must go to the remains of a satellite dish, and a car battery (which will get me £5 from the scrappy).

Just another mile or so of verge to cover......................

your lucky no used sex toys or condoms t.v or settee's must have a higher quality dumpee in your area

 

[traineefarmer]

There always has been and there always will be people who have no respect for their community, other people's property and their own actions. But some of what we are seeing here is a consequence of lack adequate facilities from the councils. Round here I can't even think of where the nearest public litter bin is, the dog mess bins are always overflowing, fortnightly bin collections are barely enough for my small household let alone a big family, the local tip has confusing rules that put people off using it and there are no public lavs forcing van and lorry drivers to use hedges or worse.

The pandemic has made this worse as the council uses it as an easy excuse for cutting even more services, and most fuel stations have closed their toilets.

 

[delilah]

Should be done as part of community service where ever there are traffic lights without actual works taking place, I imagine the people most
likely to be doing community service are also likely to be the ones chucking crap out of windows whilst driving.

Get in touch with your local Probation office, they are always looking for placements. It doesn't have to be a minibus full, they will send you a guy on his own who has been assessed as suitable for not needing a probation officer with him, he will come straight to you and you set him on the litter pick for the day.
(would disagree with the generalization re community service and causing littering, you would be surprised at the diversity of people doing community payback. We all walk the line).

 

[Exfarmer]

In Japan , I cycled over 700 miles and walked probably at least another 50 , in that time we saw 1 piece of litter. Such a strange thing there, we remarked on it.
such a sad world here, local bypass probably has 1 piece per inch.

 

[Agri Spec Solicitor]

We cut 300m of verge like a lawn but it still gets cans and wrappers thrown out. Just a nice distance to finish takeaways from 6 miles away.

Having done some ditch clearing work myself over the holidays I was idly thinking about the distance one can drive whilst the fast food is consumed after which it is hurled out of the window. We are 4 miles from the local outlet and given how much rubbish there is, it must be the 4 mile radius for peak disposal!
But seriously, being kind to the takeaway customers eating on the move, I can understand they would not want all the debris in the car for the remainder of the journey. Yes if they were thoughtful they would set out with some carrier bags, and they should not even think about throwing things out of the window, but would it be better if the fast food outlet supplied a sealable bag (as used for parcels) and encourage their use before disposal when they get home? Yes there is a cost but the polluter can pay.

 

[Happy hillbily]

Again, I'm lucky to be living at the top of a hill in the middle of nowhere, nowhere near as much rubbish thrown out of cars etc, maybe the odd can or plastic bottle. Do get a lot of plastic feed sacks, and plastic mineral tubs blown up here in the wind.
The worst culprit is the recycling wagon, the fekers leave the side hatches open between properties and if we get a wind from any direction other than the prevailing wind, the plastic and cardboard gets blown out of the compartments into the roads/fields. The worst place is just at the top of the hill going out of the village, the village is fairly sheltered but at the top of the hill the prevailing wind is at 90 degrees to the road and everything gets blown out of the back, it looks like someone has just dumped the whole contents of the recycling truck in the verge.
When you phone up to complain, oh it not our staff, we have strict protocols to follow to make sure it dosen't happen, and for a couple of weeks after the phone call the shutters are closed between properties, but their soon back to their lazy old ways