Litter / Littering

I must commend my local council as we get a street cleaner around on a weekly basis (never known that in other places I've lived in UK). But, the local inhabitants seem to have the same habits that have been described here. And a friend who, despite being turned 70, still cycles to Blackburn and Burnley tells me he often gets cans half full of drink thrown at him from car windows. That being said, a former boyfriend of my granddaughter got a shock one day. He was driving me home along the M65 and texting while he was driving at almost 70mph. I lowered the window on my side and asked if I could borrow his phone. He obliged. A brand new iPhone got slung out the window. When he complained I told him "I've reached my late 60s. I don't want my life and two other generations of my family ended by a fool like you!"

Oh dear, whilst I totally agree with you but I wouldn't have enjoyed going and having to buy him a new one! They are still out there doing it despite all the warnings. It's when you see the drink cans left under the cars in the car parks that anger me, along with the takeaway litter, they are too lazy to walk just a few steps to dispose of it the bin provided. Please don't let anyone mention the shopping trolleys, that really sets me off.

I`m glad I`m not the only one who picks up litter. I pick up loads of litter at Wyken Slough and it amazes me that people will carry bags of food to feed the birds and (despite a nearby litter bin) they walk off and either drop the empty bags or stuff them into the hedges. An ex mayor of New York expressed this sort of behaviour as `the broken window syndrome` meaning that if a derelict building had a broken window which wasn`t repaired quickly, vandals would quickly break all the other windows. In the same way if you leave litter lying around, people quickly add to it until you are knee deep in it.

These days we seem to have a Council who go after and fine people who fail to pick up dog mess or discard cigarette butts (and rightly so I might add) but almost ignore the large scale dumping that goes on.

Hi Dreamtime, here in dear old blighty you have to put a £1 coin in a mechanism on the trolley handle to release it. You get your money back when you return the trolley to the trolley park and lock it into another trolley. Blimey I'm almost off my trolley after all that - I hope it gives you a TROLLEY good laugh though.

We had a litter bin outside the newsagents on Hipswell Highway, and I think that there was a bin outside the chip shop too. Did the chip papers ever make it into a bin? No. They were always swirling around every morning in front of the newsagents. Anyway, one day, a bunch of kids came in and bought a few packs of bubble gum cards, went outside with them, and dropped every wrapper onto the pavement area. So I went outside and told them not to do that or I would take the cards off sale. Next day, same thing, and I took them off sale. Third day, they complained because I wouldn't sell them the packs of bubblegum cards. Fourth day, two parents pay me a visit and rip me a new one for telling their kids off. Yikes

Morning Artful, Same here only its a $2 coin. The coin operated trolleys are not so big and you do get the coin back when returning the trolley in the right bay. But some folk are so lazy they leave them anywhere anyway. I am a stickler for 'everything in its rightful place' and will go out of my way to return my trolley to the trolley bay although I do use the larger trolleys. I notice too a lot of them are left with children's litter in also empty drink cans. There must be a few lazy mums out there who are too idle even to get their $2 back.

Come to Canada. Shopping carts are either free or cost 25 cents. Canadians don't leave their money in them. They take the carts home (not me because I have a vehicle)

Mike H is definitely onto something here; specifically, consequences. The children who threw down on the ground the wrappers from their bubble-gum, instead of using the available waste bin, knew nothing of "consequences", because - in their lives - there were no "consequences". Here, I cite Mike's references to the response to his refusal to sell bubble-gum to litter offenders, the anger of the parents: how dare you hold our children accountable for their behaviour? Sadly, litter is not a new problem to Coventry. I recall a young teacher, a young woman, who declared during her first class at my junior school (late 40s/early 50s) that Coventry's beauty was seriously impaired by its problem with litter. I knew then in my schoolboy's heart, in my schoolboy's mind, that her description of Coventry people - understanding now that these people were surrounded by the awful relics of war - was entirely accurate, for even in that short journey from home to school, even in that time when (one would think) nothing would be forever discarded, a lad/lass would be ankle-deep in litter before arriving at school. I recall quite well the "Keep Britain Tidy" efforts, but I recall - just as well - those people that could not be bothered. I cannot believe that this problem was peculiar to Coventry of the time, but I do believe that Coventry's people saw nothing particularly wrong in scattering rubbish in their wake.

Longford, you could go to any city or large town in the UK and see it, and the response if you said anything? "It's the councils job" or "who do you think you are? A copper?" Coming out of London on the M1, people would stop for fish and chips, cartons of milk etc in Finchley or Hendon and eject the paper out of the car windows once past the built up areas. The wind will blow it away..

The inappropriate disposal of litter is not just a feature of our own time either. Henry Mayhew in his social enquiry of 'London Labour and London Poor' (1861) noted that gentlemen leaving their 'Clubs' discarded their cigars in the gutter outside. It provided a living for a number of people who collected the stubs and sold them on to cigar manufacturers who would use them to 'bulk out' when rolling a fresh batch for sale. The book can be read online here.

Hi all members. I haven't been on this site for a while, as I'm often on a game site called Just Words & chat a lot to our American friends (been there twice now on the strength of it) Anyway, as a born & bred Coventry kid (born in King Edward Road, & went to Frederick Bird School), having worked at the Bishop Street sorting office for 31 years till it closed in 2010, I think it is such a crying shame this fine building was closed & left empty for 5 years, doing nothing. Now it will be just another supermarket/shopping complex. Haven't we got enough shops? I don't know about you others, but I rarely shop in Coventry centre anyway as the parking is too expensive & hard to get into. The only reason I go there is to go to my bank. While we are on the subject of changes; & perhaps start a new topic. Does anyone feel like I do & view Coventry streets & roads as dirty & litter strewn? When was the last time you saw a street cleaner in Hillfields or Wyken or Stoke? Litter pickers working for the Council are now as rare as hen's teeth. Frankly, I would be embarrassed now to show a foreign visitor around Coventry. Take a look at streets in Foleshill & Hillfields & Stoke sometime. They are mostly covered in litter that has been there for ages, stuck to the pavements or gutter. We must be one of the dirtiest cities in England. I know that sounds harsh criticism. I wish to God it were wrong believe me. But the truth is that Coventry is no longer a clean city. I have a few American friends who I would like to invite here, but no way! I'd rather take them to a cleaner place like Stratford on Avon or Leamington Spa or Kenilworth, certainly not here. Coventry Council has done very little to make Coventry a nice place to visit.

My dad used to complain about litter years ago (not in Coventry) and I remember Maggie T having a go at litter. It seems to be a UK wide problem in some places.

Just watched midday news. Coventry children being taken out of school to pick up litter. Perhaps the school think that its educational. We all pay council tax and I would have thought that picking up litter is the responsibility of the city council. Of course with all the cut backs I expect the council is strapped for cash so it's cheaper to use school children. Try keeping your children away from school and you could expect a chat with a magistrate.