The Litter Problem

This week I am going to talk about litter and why it is an issue we should all be thinking about.

According to statistics approx. 2 million pieces of litter are dropped in the UK (23 items PER SECOND), a lot of which will take years to degrade, which can cause to danger to wildlife and damage the natural habitat. The RSPCA have said they get on average 14 calls a day regarding animals which have been harmed due to litter. This could be animals becoming entangled on plastic can holders or choking on discarded balloons. The RSPCA website has suggestions on things you can do to help prevent this -?https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/litter?

Even dropping food is harmful to the environment. I used to think throwing food into bushes was OK because it would be food for birds and wildlife, however on researching for this article I have read it is actually a harmful thing to do, due to the fact that the dropped food is actually more likely to attract vermin! That's me told and rightly corrected!!!?

In order to attempt to keep the streets clean it costs the UK over ￡1 billion a year, approx ￡20 per tax payer. The most commonly dropped items of litter are fast food packaging, drinks bottles (made from plastic, glass or tin) and confectionary wrappers.?Dropping litter is a criminal offence and has been since 1990. If you are caught dropping litter you will be hit with a Fixed Penalty Notice and you will receive a fine of ￡80 (including not picking up your dog's business and dropping cigarette butts and chewing gum too). Fact: around 244 million cigarette butts are dropped as litter each year. A piece of chewing gum costs about 3p, but to clean it up is about 10p. The removal of chewing gum from the streets uses harsh and toxic chemicals which have an even worse impact on the environment. If you look online and Google you will see these FPN fines are issued on a regular basis. The issue is that a police officer has to see you dropping litter in order to give you the fine and outside of busy high streets, you wouldn't necessarily see police walking around residential areas, which is where the problem is rife.

For me, litter on our streets is a social issue I care deeply about. In my opinion there is nothing worse than driving around an area where it is littered with other people's discarded rubbish.?It really upsets me that people have such a disregard for the environment and don't care about the lasting issues it has. A lot of my posts have been about the environment and what we can do to protect it, but how can we do that, if people can't do the simpliest of things and put their litter in a bin??My council have put numerous public litter bins around the area (4,000 in total in the Wirral area) and they also commit to 4 weekly street cleans, however this doesn't do anything to collect the litter which is on the pavement and grass verges. Some areas have an employee of the council, who's responsibility it is to collect litter, but my area does not have one of these and these tend to focus on the main high street areas also.

There is a lot we can do. My Council will supply litter picking equipment if you want to get involved in keeping your local area tidy (bags, litter pickers, high vis jackets and these circular hoops which keep the bags open). There is a local group, called The Wirral Wombles. They arrange litter picking volunteer groups in different areas and keep regular tabs on what is being collected and in what area. They have their own group on Facebook, which has over 2,700 members. Each week members give in stats of how many bags they have collected, the average weight and in what area and one guy collates all this data and posts the final figures for the week. The Wirral Wombles have even been nominated for a national award 'Keep Britain Tidy' #LitterHeroes. The awards recognise and celebrate local authorities and community groups that are committed to making significant improvements to the environment on people’s doorsteps, from community engagement work to waste enforcement work.

But surely the solution to the problem shouldn't be the continuation of individuals, organised groups and employees to continue to collect litter. It all boils down to education and enlightening future generations on the problem. The Keep Britain Tidy scheme runs environmental education programmes and so far more than 2.3 million children and young people are currently engaged in the scheme. Keep Britain Tidy's mission is to ensure every child has the chance to learn about the environment and the role they can play in improving it. They believe the key to keeping Britain tidy is by inspiring the next generation today. Wirral is part of this and schools can sign up to be an Eco School, which helps make environmental issues become part of the school's curriculum. Hopefully education is the key to engaging the next generation in the problem and perhaps in the future maybe even more can be done.

?So in summary - what can be done? It is hard to change behaviours and habits. The introduction of the cost for a plastic bag did wonders for the environment, but what else can the government do? Sweden already has a return deposit scheme, where consumers are refunded for returning their bottles. Surely this would help with the amount of plastic and glass bottles and can littered. What about what you can do? Not drop litter and encourage friends, family and children to not drop litter; if you have spare time join the Wirral Wombles or go on your own litter picking excursion to tidy your local area; or if you are going on a walk why not take a bag with you to collect any litter you may see on the way. Ask your council for supplies. If your council won't give you supplies you can buy a litter picker from eBay for less than ￡20. Spread the word of what you are doing. Even if one person is inspired to either pick litter or not drop litter you have made a difference.?If you have children ensure their school is signed up to the Eco School programme with Wirral Council and if not, challenge the school as to why not. If you are reading this from a different area, see what your local council has in place to support keeping you area tidy and litter free!