Forum Topic

Our Dirty Nation

Did anyone watch Panorama on the topic of dirty filthy streets?  It was very interesting to see the result of an experiment carried out in Camden, one side of the street was swept clean whilst the opposite side was left with all the usual rubbish. Next day the side which was swept remained quite clean but across the same street rubbish was piled high with overflowing bins!Rubbish attracts rubbish obviously. Clean up costs the Council and residents end up paying more Council Tax.Rubbish fly tipped in the countryside  costs farmers hundreds of pounds to remove because it is deposited on private land and the Council would not pay for removal. It is therefore important to ensure that residents are careful about who is taking their rubbish away because if it is dumped somewhere they may end up paying a fine if the rubbish can be traced back to their address.I liked Brentwood's slogan to tackle the litter lout problem which reads 'Don't  be a tosser!'More instant fines should be handed out to try and keep out streets clean. As a Streetwatcher I sometimes think I am fighting a losing battle. If other countries can have clean streets why can"t we? Don't people have any sense of pride in their environment?

Jean F Fernandez ● 4568d11 Comments

Easy solution to that Gerry, most of the coverings are quite light and when you scrunch them up they are really small and don't take up much room in a bin bag, if you leave that outside, these blokes come along and take it away, job done!

Bernadette Clover ● 4565d

"...we should be attempting to make less(waste) and making the best use of the Council's facilities to recycle as much as possible..."How should we attempt to make less waste?  Just about everything we buy seems to be wrapped, or boxed, or have lots of coverings.

Gerry Tan ● 4565d

Every so often the Council does target fly tippers like the ones you mention.  They should do it more and advertise the fact more.  There was a Press Release not so long ago.I remember them tackling the fly tipping at Tesco. They should be working WITH the supermarkets to make sure that this abuse of the facilities doesn't happen.Unfortunately it tends to involve cooperation between more than one person - that means two or more - and they seem to have more of a problem doing this. However they CAN do it and we should be requesting that they do do this instead of just clearing away and giving us the bill to pay in our Council Tax.It also helps if everyone has a better idea of what should be happening to waste ie we should be attempting to make less and making the best use of the Council's facilities to recycle as much as possible but even better than that reusing or upcycling as much as possible.

Philippa Bond ● 4565d

Oh Ben, you are so brave.

Bernadette Clover ● 4566d

Hi Jean,Just this Sunday, I had the misfortune to have to be in Greenford Broadway. I was walking by the main bus stops where in front of me was a father with 4 young (I'd say 5 to 12 years age range) kids. One of the kids throws a tissue into a puddle - he didn't drop it, it was thrown away to discard. The conversation went as such (verbatim):Me - excuse me, you just dropped that tissueKid - so ?Me - there's a bin over there (it is no more than 10 feet away)Kid - it's wet (referring to the tissue in the piddle)The father, a rather tall Rastafarian gentleman glowers at me like I've three heads. Wound up, I ask him if he's willing to let his son get away with this and is that a good example to set - he kisses his teeth and then tells me where to get off (I won't repeat what he says on here) and walks off.This is the country we have now folks - enjoy!Another one - I'm a member at Ealing Golf Club and Perivale Lane which leads up to our entrance is constantly targeted by fly tippers, all of which the Council Waste Team have to deal with (rather rapidly and effectively I have to say!) at your expense. Question to you all - why do Ealing Council not have a proactive team whose aim it is to catch these "tossers" ? In the long run, it will surely pay for itself.Blood pressure raised, I'm stopping work early today and going for a nice pint of Guinness!

Bud Richards ● 4566d

Sometimes I think you ladies are in a better position to challenge on this as the worst you are likely to get in return is some foul language whereas there is always the danger that, as a bloke, you might get a punch in the teeth.There is also something particularly shaming about being challenged on such matters by a woman.  Not quite "what would your mother think if she could see you doing this" but close.  :-)

Tony Colliver ● 4566d

Oh well done sir!It can be so difficult to get the timing right on this though.I have only ever managed to do this once when some (quite respectable looking) type dumped his used chicken & chips box out of his car onto the street outside our house.I swiftly picked it up and before he could drive off opened his car door and dropped it into his lap saying "you seem to have forgotten something" as I did so.He was very meek and apologetic.Thing is, whilst one sees this kind of thing going on all over, the opportunity to "retaliate" in this manner rarely presents itself.

Tony Colliver ● 4566d

Yes of course Ben, I do remember reading about the taxi driver and it made me laugh at what you did! Serves him right.I guess not many people would be brave enough though!

Jean F Fernandez ● 4568d

I can claim to have tackled a litter lout. You may remember reading a while back a post I wrote about seeing a cab driver at Haven Green chucking a white carrier bag out of his cab window whilst waiting on the rank. I ran over from the E1 bus stop picked up the bag and threw it as hard as I could back at him with enough accuracy that it caught him full in the face. He meekly apologised and told me in future that he would use the litter bins provided. I did report the matter to TfL but since it wasn't a driving offence they were not going to follow it up other than the complaint would remain on his file.

Ben Owen ● 4568d

There is an interesting article in The Mail today by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown entitled 'Why we should all shame litterbugs in the street like Jeremy Paxman'How many of us would really be brave enough to tackle a litter lout I wonder?

Jean F Fernandez ● 4568d

Agree Jean, we're an untidy nation.I get so ashamed as I return from abroad when I get to Heathrow and I begin our journey home, to see the dirty streets and roads - so different from say Switzerland or Singapore!

Gerry Tan ● 4568d