Flying into litter Britain
TV’s Green Goddess reveals the shameful sights of rubbish that greet millions when they arrive ... as thousands join Mail’s clean-up
Here’S the depressing truth: we used to be a much tidier, cleaner nation.
I’m 80 now but I remember the days, back in the Sixties, when I’d visit countries like Spain and Portugal and find them rather scruffy, with litter all over the place.
I even remember thinking: “Gosh how awful. Thank goodness Britain is nothing like that.” But I’m sorry to say that these days, they’re the ones that have cleaned up their act and we are the country with all the rubbish.
A few weeks ago, I was in Madeira, an island that has a lot of people in a small space. And yet it was as clean as a whistle.
I came back to the UK, and, on my journey from the airport, all I could see was rubbish in the hedges and on the sliproads. I felt disgusted.
As can be seen in the pictures on this page, litter lines the verges of many of our airports. Garbage is strewn across our towns and cities too, from Dover to edinburgh.
everywhere I go now, I see the growing problem. Coffee cups, drink cans, plastic water bottles, crisp wrappers, paper, chewing gum, you name it. And it seems to me that everybody these days thinks that it’s someone else’s job to pick all this rubbish up.
People here just don’t seem to care any more. I find it appalling.
On a recent drive to the West Country, each time I turned off a motorway on to another road, I was confronted with more mess. People don’t even bother to throw their litter near a bin.
I tell you what seems to be happening. Before these drivers get on the motorway or maybe when they are coming off, they find a layby or a convenient spot to stop and clear out their cars.
I am sure they just look around and think: ‘ Throw, throw, throw.’ Then they set off on their journey again.
It’s so disrespectful – not to mention a bad example to younger generations. I have always encouraged my family – just as I was taught as child – to have a bag in the car that’s for rubbish. Then, when you get home, you put all the waste in your own bin. That way you keep your car clean and don’t harm the environment.
Thankfully, there are communities fighting back. I live in Shepperton in Surrey, a proud, pretty town.
We even won the 2017 Campaign for Courtesy Top
Town Award – Shepperton is very tidy and everybody takes responsibility for their own rubbish. But when I catch the train into London, it’s depressing to see the scale of the problem. People should take pride in where they live – and not leave picking up litter to somebody else.
There is so much fast food and it appals me to watch people just dropping the wrappers. I live on the Thames and people tip supermarket trolleys and old bicycles into the river. They cut down foliage and heave it into the water – this presents a problem for small boats and can disturb the nests of birds.
That’s why I applaud the Daily Mail campaign calling for a Great British Spring Clean. Never has one been more needed. We can’t blame others for the fact we live in a mess.
We need to take collective pride in our country again – we have to do our bit and stamp out this dirty habit that blights Britain.