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WE TEAM UP WITH CLEAN UP BRITAIN TO LAUNCH CAMPAIGN TO TACKLE LONDON’S LITTER EPIDEMIC
RUBBISH strewn across beaches, carpets of detritus left behind in the capital, discarded packaging dumped in London parks for someone else to deal with. These are all scenes that have become too familiar during the easing of coronavirus restrictions in the UK but which have their root in a much more long-term problem - the UK’s litter epidemic.
Throughout lockdown, we’ve heard stories and seen pictures of our beautiful parks trashed by visitors, and it led one council to ban alcohol consumption from London Fields.
Locals endured weeks of human poo being left in the park, as well as overflowing bins and bags, bottles and cans along the grass.
Over in South London, Clapham Common was completely trashed after an illegal rave took place.
And in Richmond Park, a haven for wildlife in South West London, saw rubbish weighing as much as three buses dumped there in June.
Today we are standing up to it, and urging you to do the same, with our new campaign Don’t Trash Our Future.
This newspaper, together with local community and information platform InYourArea.co.uk and our nationwide network of sister newspapers and websites, have teamed up with Clean Up Britain to push for changes we believe will leave no choice but for both irresponsible litter louts and the authorities who have the power to enforce the law but so often don’t to take long-lasting action.
Our campaign has two aims:
■ To increase the maximum punishment for littering to a £1,000 fine or 100 hours of supervised community litter picking;
■ To make it compulsory for local authorities to enforce the law on littering. We are urging you to sign our petition (inyourarea.co.uk/ DTOF) to see it – with the aim of reaching 100,000 signatures so we can lobby the Government to change the legislation and shed the country of its long-held reputation as a litter-plagued nation.
We’re also calling on councils to flex their muscles in the fight against rubbish and make far better use of the powers they already have available.
A Freedom of Information request sent by Clean Up Britain to 169 councils in England and Wales found the majority (56%) were issuing less than one fine per week for littering and more than two dozen (16%) don’t issue fines at all.
In a recent survey conducted by InYourArea.co.uk, more than 7,500 respondents overwhelmingly said littering has a negative effect on them and their neighbourhoods and classed it as a big problem.
JB Gill, a former member of superstar pop group JLS who is now a passionate advocate for education and the countryside, has signed up as an ambassador for Don’t Trash Our Future.
He said: “It’s great to see that people recognise that litter is a public health concern and a major problem. The only way to stop the damage being done to our health, nature and wildlife is to sign the Don’t Trash our Future petition, object to local councils not enforcing fines and demand a higher penalty for those dropping litter.”
John Read, founder of Clean Up Britain, said: “Clean Up Britain is very excited to be running the Don’t Trash Our Future campaign with InYourArea.co.uk
“We know from the countless people who contact us that there is a huge desire – from people all over the country – to try and solve the litter epidemic.
“We are all so fortunate to live in a beautiful country, but equally, it’s so depressing to see so many people littering it.
“This has to stop, as it shames Britain. There has to be zero tolerance towards littering.
“Littering is symptomatic of a lack of pride in our local communities, and a lack of respect for other people and the environment generally.
“This campaign is about challenging and reversing these negative sentiments, and saying enough is enough.
“Let’s be grateful for what we have, take care of our country and, above all, ‘Don’t Trash Our Future.’”
Mr Read added: “The Government needs to start getting serious about confronting people who litter.
“It’s a criminal offence to litter and it needs to be treated that way.
“Fines need to be increased to a level which shows the Government – and society generally – will no longer tolerate this antisocial and selfish behaviour.
“In addition, we also need to ensure fines are a credible deterrent, by making it compulsory for councils to enforce the law, which currently it’s not.”
Journalist and television presenter Jeremy Paxman is Clean Up Britain’s patron. He said: “There is only one sustainable and effective solution to littering: changing the behaviour of people who do it. Nothing else will work.
“It pollutes the environment. It’s dangerous to humans and animals.
“It depresses people because mucky surroundings make them feel worthless. It’s expensive – councils across the UK spend over a billion pounds a year trying to clean it up.”
The campaign has also received the backing of broadcaster and animal rights campaigner Clare Balding and her partner Alice Arnold.
Together, they said: “It’s very sad to see so much litter in this country, both in the countryside and in urban areas.
“It has a demoralising effect on all of us and, also, has a very negative impact on animals.
“A shocking reflection of this is that RSPCA vets, last year, treated over 5,000 cases of animals who’ve been injured by, ingested or become trapped by litter.
“We hope the Clean Up Britain and InYourArea national campaign, Don’t Trash Our Future, will change the attitudes and behaviour of people who do litter, and make us all take more care of the naturally beautiful country we are fortunate to share together.”