Although we have responsibility to not drop litter, the onus is also on councils to use tax to provide plenty of litter bins, and serve Litter Abatement Orders on private land, for those who don’t clear it up.
No matter who dropped it, it’s the council’s responsibility to clear litter. You can report eyesores (with photos) to Fix My Street. These public reports are sent to councils, and tend to get sorted pretty quickly, if lots of people complain.
Obviously, dead animals are not ‘litter’. But it’s important to report dead animals to councils for removal. This prevents disease and road scavenging. And gives some closure to people who have lost pets.
Ideas for Councils to Reduce Litter
- Ban balloons & fire lanterns. The former causes belly ulcers in cattle, has choked at least one horse to death and when they land in the sea, kill sea turtles (who think they are jellyfish). Fire lanterns are mistaken for coastal flares (putting lifeboat crew at risk) and cause fires (animals in a German zoo recently died, when one dropped into an enclosure).
- The Gumdrop Bin offers communal and individual gum bins that once full, are sent off freepost to make into industrial items. The main bin takes 500 pieces of gum, to mount on poles. Removing gum litter keeps dogs safe (xylitol sweetener used in gum can be lethal.
- Install textile recycling banks. Synthetic fibres don’t biodegrade. Don’t send these items to Africa – people there are fed up of receiving paint-stained overalls and call these ‘dead white man’s clothing’.
- Install battery-recycling and cork-recycling banks in your town. There are millions of both (choking hazards) so make it easy.
Be a Drop-Off Point for Terracycle.
A few are free (sponsored by industry) but most Terracycle boxes are £100 to £200, the cost pooled by local people, offices or councils. These create one-off amnesties to get rid of hard-to-recycle rubbish in your town (from homes, offices or community clean-ups).
There are boxes to recycle everything: pens, dental waste, contact lenses, cigarette waste, bread packets, hair salon waste, safety equipment, office supplies, art waste, baby items, sports equipment, media waste, PPE, glue sticks, hotel waste, gardening waste, holiday decoration, pet food packaging, medicines, shoes, mobile phone accessories and fitness equipment.
Gradually the amount of waste sent off should reduce, to perhaps having just one all-in-one zero waste box.
Better Bins (and emptied more often!)
Wheelie bins are bulky, difficult to move, fall over in windy weather and designed to use with black bin bags (which can’t be recycled, as machines don’t recognise the colour).
- Instead, consider Weir Gullproof Sacks (made from strong woven material that uses ties to secure). Refuse workers empty the sacks and return to you. Sold with Flexibox (hanging kerbside boxes). Better than boxes with netting (which can trap birds and wildlife).
- Red Gorilla Bins are smaller, lighter and better quality (and easy to secure). Used by the building and equine industries, these are also in bright colours (red, purple, blue) so you could offer different bins for different materials.
- Squosh is a service that can compact bin waste by 50%, to reduce emptying costs.
- Another option is solar bins, which use a panel to compact waste, with optional animal latches (to stop gulls and foxes pulling out the contents, which also helps prevent them getting trapped).
Promote biodegradable white bin bags for household trash (empty frequently, due to liquids). Pop empty bottles/aerosols in recycling bins, but half-full ones (including perfume bottles) should go to hazardous waste. Black bin bags cannot be recycled, as machines don’t recognise the colour.
How to Reduce Fast Food Litter
Campaigners want the government to introduce Extended Producer Responsibility laws, so companies producing non-recyclable packaging have to cover the cost of disposal. At present, the big guns sell plastic-wrapped food (then you have to pay via council tax to dispose of it).
How to Reduce Cigarette Litter
Cigarette butts fall down storm drains sand leach arsenic into the sea, and birds feed them to chicks thinking they are food. Personal ashtrays immediately extinguishe cigarettes, to keep safe until you reach a bin. This also stops forest fires (dropping a butt on dry land, is like a match to paper).
- Promote TakeTray (a fab Swiss invention). These can be sold in your town, paid for by advertisers.
- Ballot Bin encourages smokers to ‘vote’ answers to a fun question by putting their butts in the preferred slot. The bins are then emptied, and questions updated. A bit silly, but apparently reduces cigarette litter by 73%.
- No Butts offers smoking shelters that are designed for butts not to fly away in the wind. Made in Dorset, they provide all-year weather protection, discouraging smoking at building entrances (which can minimise risk of fire, from discarded butts).
