Dear Dropper-Stoppers,
Just a swift, but very sincere note to thank all of you who have supported the launch of the Stop the Drop campaign. Your words of advice and encouragement are more valued than you can imagine.
Please keep writing – and please don’t stop writing to your local and county councils, MPs and others who could be doing more to help us solve the problem of litter. Letters of complaint count for a lot, especially when there are a lot of them to count.
I would be very pleased to hear from you if you have got examples (and pictures too) of litter blight in places where it really, really shouldn’t happen – in beauty spots, school grounds, supermarket car parks and other places where somebody should be taking responsibility for it and isn’t. If you have complained to someone in authority about litter and received no response or an unhelpful answer, let us know. We’re collecting data!
Finally may I add personal congratulations to Brighter Wymondham Group in Norfolk for a heroically successful litter pick last week. More than 130 volunteers collected over three quarters of a tonne of litter. I am sorry I wasn’t able to join them, but I had a prior commitment at the other end of the country.
Thanks again and keep litter picking!
Bill Bryson
To stop fly tipping you need to sort out the municiple waste disposal sites ie.council tips….experience from my local tip…only one piece of D I Y waste allowed at any one visit or pay !
Only one door allowed per visit, come back tomorrow with the other one !!I could go on, but something needs to be done about the situation, if a person was allowed to leave all rubbish at any time then there would be no need to fly tip !
Also, why doesn’t the government put a tax on plastic ? I am sure some of these big companies would then think twice about using so much unneccessary packaging !!
And of course we need to start in schools and educate children to pick up their rubbish !!
I recycle, re-use and compost as much as I can and good luck to all who do the same !!
regards Dawn Ward
THANK YOU BILL BRYSON,
FOR KEPPING SUCH KEEN TABS ON BRITAINS BEAUTY. I LIVE IN RICHMOND, CALIFORNIA WHERE MANY DO NOT SEEM TO HAVE “PRIDE OR PURPOSE” (THE CITY MOTTO). HOW DID THIS ORGANIZATION START OUT? BOY, WOULD I LOVE TO BE A PART OF SOMETHING AS BENIFICENT HERE…
Dear Bill Bryson,
Well done for taking the initiative on litter!
I work in a Comprehensive School in a large town. Litter is a major problem and it is not getting any better. Although it is unfair to say that all the children drop litter, a great many do – judging by the amount of new rubbish that appears every single day. The school has given up trying to stop the children littering and now they just employ a man to go round all day picking it up! This defeatist policy probably makes the situation worse, because many of those who normally would not drop litter now consider it acceptable.
Various attempts to get the children to pick up their own litter have failed. Apparently, it is “demeaning” to expect them to do it – yes, even as a punishment for those in detention.
(But wait a minute… what about the man employed to do it? Is it not then demeaning for him too?)
Today’s children are tomorrow’s citizens. They must be taught dropping litter is unacceptable behaviour. It must be part of their wider education.
I recently visited another school in the same town. There was NO LITTER to be seen. None. So it can be done. But the children at this school were different. They held the door open for you and I did not hear them swearing in the corridors. Their ties were not at “half-mast”, their shirts were not hanging out and they appeared proud to wear their uniform. Yes, you’ve guessed, it was indeed a grammar school.
All this tells me that dropping litter is just part of a wider problem in today’s society. But education is the key. On the Andrew Marr program this morning you suggested drivers should be awarded three points for dropping litter. Come on Bill, get real! It has not worked with mobile phones. I believe “White Van Man”, whoever he is, might be slightly less inclined to toss his Macdonalds wrapper into my front garden if he’d had a better (and probably more disciplined) education.
Dear Sir,
With reference to Mr Brysons appearance on television this weekend I wish to comment that his remark on “White Van Man” being responsible for dropping litter would be comparable to me stating that all authors are egostistical and narssistic.
Dear Sir,
Being a van driver my self I take it as an insult that we All litter as we please, may I suggest this is not the way forward, please advise where to send photo’s of litter louts in action.
Dear Bill, Thank you for this initiative, I was beginning to think that my personal litter picking crusade around our local village was the result of a grumpy old man entering his “salad day’s”, rather than from my upbringing, where even on one of the country’s worst housing estates
we were taught to respect others.
Not to right off the young, a little while ago my teenage son informed me that he stopped his car and asked a rather embarrassed friend to go back and collect the litter the lad had just thrown out the window.
If we can connect with this age group through normal communication , by advertising in teenage magazines and through social networking sites,I’m sure your campaign will help tremendously to address the the problem which blights Blighty!
I used to live in kent, in a village called Staplehurst, and to fill my time and to make the countryside a better and safer place for wildlife,I began to litter pick on a lane between my village and a village called headcorn.. I did it in my own time, used my own bags and gloves and of course my own car.. I used to take the filled bags and car parts, old TV’s, tyres, bathroom basin! car batteries, paint cans etc to Maidstone waste disposal site at Tovil.. I was on my third trip asked where I was getting the waste from, and when I told them it was from the lane and hedgerows, I was told that it was classed as “industrial” waste, and if I didn’t work for the council I would need a permit to dispose of it there.. I was then told that I would have to apply to KCC in order to obtain them.
The following day I applied, and was promptly refused.. I was basically told by the lady that I was not eligible, and that they would not accept me. I was undeterred and took my collections to Ashford, and Sandwich sites, whilst I decided what to do.. I then decided that this was completely unreasonable on their part.. I was not asking for anything except a place to dispose of my pickings, so I contacted “The Kent Messenger” paper, and the Journalist I spoke to was really supportive and thought the whole attitude of KCC was terrible, so she spoke to their press office, and within a really short space of time, the lady I had originally spoken to had to call me back to say that they had had a change of heart and how many permits would I like!, this though was not the end of the saga, she still took 3 weeks to send me 5.. and each time I went to the Tip, it was a major inconvenience for the workers, as they had to make a note of my registration number, and fill in the permit.. the workers would also not help me with any bulky items. If it hadn’t been for the lady at the paper helping me, I would have not been able to continue..and that would have been dreadful.
I do have to say now that I am really disheartened by the amount of litter that has reaccumalated in “my lane” since I left for shropshire 16 months ago. It really looks like it had never been “picked”.
I have to say I was really glad to see your campaign, and also to see you on BBC South East news, litter picking in Wye, I’m sure Ashford Council were more accommodating than Maidstone.
I still litter pick but not to the level that I did in Kent.. I do though do all the recycling for the place that I work in, and have reduced their domestic waste by 2/3rds since February.
With kind regards
Mrs Bridget Counsell
Dear Bill,
I read your articles in the Dorset evening Echo and feel very angry sometimes, about the issue of litter in this country.Not just the litter but the whole arrogant and selfish attitude from your average Brit.Here at Portland Bill(no pun,honest)we live in one of the most fabulous places in the World, a joy and a privilege to be here.What do we have a lot of!!Yes litter,In the guise of disposable nappies and plastic,in all shapes and forms.People pick up the dog poo and then hang it off a tree….duhh, whats that all about?I would also like to ask you to take a look at the proposed Quarrying of Portland Coastal Strip.the web site is very good and the moral issues go further than litter.they are proposing to vandalize a whole stretch of coast towards Portland Bill.there is an abundance of wildlife here and visiting migratory birds.Can you help?visit the website!!Save the Portland Coastal Strip.
http://www.saveportlandcoastalstrip.org.uk/
Thanks,
Heather Woolley
At last! An organised assault on the disgraceful amounts of litter. I have been disgusted by the increase in recent years, spoiling our beautiful countryside. I am already a member of CPRE and would be interested in helping clean up locally,
Julie Brady
What about illegal outdoor advertisement? Any sign whether an advert trailer, rigid placard, fabric banner or permanent sign is ‘flyposting’ if it is there without planning consent and without the landowners consent. These criteria can be breached in nearly every sign seen at the road side to teh rate of several hundred in an hours walk around most towns or teh most cursory drive around any roads.
This gets talked about from time to time but action is scarce and excuses are legendary (I have the first hand evidence). I deem it to be the single most unenforced UK statute carrying risk of a criminal record. I.e. a level 4 fine at the magistrates court of maximum £2,500 PER SIGN and £250 PER DAY. I knwo one orgainsation that puts a hundred sign in one village and several thousand throughout Britain with utter immunity it seems.
Dear Mr Bryson,
Thank you so much for highlighting the ever rising problem of litter and fly tipping in this country. My husband and I despair at the amount of litter dropped onto the streets of our market town and along our pretty river.
We live in a Victorian Terrace alongside a busy road running into the town and find our front garden inundated with piles of rubbish every time we get a windy day. Somebody is dropping these vast sums of rubbish in the first place. Added to that people seem to find our garden handy as a bin for their take away cartons and chip papers as they walk past the garden late at night. My heart sinks as I look out of my front door in the morning. What on earth is happening to our social conscience these days?
I note with interest from Panorama, the government’s reluctance to re-introduce a deposit system on bottle returns again. Surely the money raised by bottle deposits can be used to fund the scheme! I don’t understand the argument that its too expensive to initiate.
Dear Bill,
I’ve been following your crusade closely and I’m all for it but there are real problems of lawfully getting rid of waste.
Black and Green bin laws, if I put a piece of cardboard in my black bin I might get fined up to X If my bin is over-weight I might be fined or my rubbish left to rot outside my house.. If…. point here is the stupid laws and the council finding more ways to fleece money out of you by using recycling as its key.
I visit the recycling centre frequently with my animal waste from my rabbits and guinea-pigs, they will not take it… I have to sneak it into the garden waste when nobody there is watching! Failing that I’m supposed to pay out vast amounts of cash to get it incinerated or have it removed under some high business rate or clinical waste – fly tipping is the only option there.
What about other items the recycling centre won’t take?? It has to go somewhere and if it costs then people will always take the easy option of fly tipping.
Our recycling centre sells rubbish, surely if they can make money from it then they should be paying us for it and that would be a great way to g’tee people take there. An example, I see sofa’s and wardrobes and such sell there for £50 at the recycling centres, if they paid you a fiver for one you would probably take it there rather then fly tip it. Would certainly create some jobs for people with vans to actively collect certain waste.
Anyway, we should remove the waste from the local goverments and recycling them into something worthwhile! I believe this is down to them mostly.
Dear Bill,
Around the corner from where I live there is a fast food restaurant part of a multi billion international chain (M). Opposite the restaurant there is a loading bay/lorry parking turning area belonging to another national company who shall we say not P olitically
C orrect in the World.
Every time I pass, there are groups of youngsters who park their souped up cars in the bay. On many occasions you can see them depositing their fast food rubbish all over the lorry parking area. Additionally these car drivers speed up and down the road and are never caught by the police. Additionally, on the restaurant premises you can see customers with all types of cars, businessmen, 4×4 owners and even my girlfriend noticed a Mercedes coupe owner drop litter out of their car windows onto the floor. What are you views, should the fast food retailer (M) pay for cameras to catch out and fine these disgusting people and should the owner of the parking area opposite, close it off at night. Finally, I love all of your books and discovered that I write in the same fashion and have many tales to tell. Any advice, perhaps this letter wont go on your messages board but at least I have done my little bit!
I fully support Bill and the CPRE to try and clean up Britain. Does anyone have any ideas how to get communities involved in cleaning up their local areas as it is done in the Southern USA states where I come from? There it is called “Adopt a Highway”, an it works.
Best Regards
Bob Shields
Hi Bob
I would suggest taking a look at the LitterAction website (www.litteraction.org.uk) to find out if there are any local groups near you that you could join for a local clean-up.
Best Wishes
Will
hi, bill,
i have time for your writings and your efforts in the cpre,but does the cpre have the wisdome to realise that the countryside ,which the cpre hopes keep in a time warp ,has developed over generations, mainly due smallholders making a meger living for their famillies, today we are being driven out of the country side by people who have not made their living in the countryside ,these people are infact destroying the very countryside the cpre claim to be protecting, yet they are totally blind to these facts, how do you think the countryside evolved to the state you would like to maintain, this obviously happened without your interference
i prejudge the cpre,response to be nill, and i suppose my email will be equill to (peeing in the sea ),
i look around in my area to see the cpre activities, we are now to frightened to break wind else a cpre member would be out with a instrument to measure the data ,what a bunch of bankers
Dear Mr. Bryson,
I and we here at Green Up Vermont would like very much to be in touch with you. I emailed a week ago to the general information at CPRE and quickly received the auto reply that my message was received, yet no word since.
Please confirm if you receive this note and how best I should convey my next note. As reported in my last message, our office is not far from the Gosh Recording Studio in Brookfield, Vermont.
We in Vermont share your concerns about litter, though thanks to our long standing tradition our litter levels are much reduced from years past. I believe it is important for folks like us and you and the fine fellow in Australia and any others so inclined to link energies toward the global problem of litter.
We would also like to extend an invitation to you, thus wanting to know if you indeed receive this message.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Melinda Vieux
President
Green Up Vermont
There are simple solutions to the problem of litter. They are contained in the letter I have written to my MP:
Ann Cryer MP
Bob Cryer House
35 Devonshire Street
Keighley BD21 2BH
6th October 2009
Dear Ann Cryer,
Every day, my wife and I, as we walk our dog in the Riverside Gardens, pick up litter. We claim no especial virtue for this; plenty of other people do likewise. But each day it is borne in on me that there are two or three simple solutions to the problem of the litter that disfigures our streets, our parks and our countryside. They are solutions that have been tried in other countries and have proven efficacy.
A good third of all litter is discarded drinks containers (cans, plastic and glass bottles and paper cups). If all take-away drinks containers had a 50p returnable deposit this element of the problem would be solved overnight. Even if a can or bottle or Starbucks cup was thrown down, someone else would have a strong incentive to pick it up. This proposal would also reduce teenage drunkenness since it would increase the initial amount of cash needed to get drunk; every six pack would cost an additional £3. This idea is not new. It was a commonplace when we grew up, and has recently been reinstated by several countries. Doubtless retailers would complain, but much of the litter that makes our cities look so unpleasant would instantly disappear.
The next proposal would get rid of another quarter of all litter, and that is the Irish idea of a tax on plastic bags. It is horrible, at this time of year, as leaves fall, seeing the plastic bags that disfigure our trees and hedgerows. Again, retailers will object, but no longer would we be killing the wildlife that eats shreds of plastic.
The third, and final solution would be to make the proprietors of take-aways responsible for cleaning up the litter within 50 metres of their establishments. I am fed up with picking up the plastic and cardboard chip trays and paper cups that have come from the Riverside Inn, and that they take no responsibility for clearing away. Picking up discarded food containers is quite one of the more distasteful tasks. If they profit from the sale of food in disposable containers, then they should be responsible for clearing them up.
Recently, with the Countryside Service volunteers, we did a litter pick around the Cow and Calf Rocks. We gave up after we had filled 25 large plastic sacks with rubbish. Virtually all came into the three categories above. I get fed up with people going on about the moral failings of young people when they see us picking up litter. Criminal sanctions against people who drop litter are of proven inutility. Instead of concentrating on criminalising those who drop litter the government should be imposing costs on those who profit from litter; the retailers of drinks, the vendors of take-away food, the supermarkets who give away plastic bags. Instead of railing against human nature, the government could introduce these three simple proposals and cure 90% of the problem immediately.
Yours sincerely,
Owen Wells