Litter’s making UK look like Third World country says supermarket boss

A RISE in litter is making Britain look ‘like an impoverished Third World country’, according to the boss of Iceland supermarkets.

Sir Malcolm Walker said parts of the UK resemble ‘one long continuous rubbish dump’.

He said thoughtless drivers who toss litter out of car windows were among the worst culprits. The 75-year-old spoke to the Daily Mail in the run-up to the Great British Spring Clean, the litter picking event organised by Keep Britain Tidy, which this year starts on May 28.

He urged the public to put pressure on elected officials to clean up roadsides, and backed tough action against countryside litterers.

Sir Malcolm, who built the frozen food giant from a single shop in Oswestry, Shropshire, in 1970 to more than 1,000 stores, said he particularly noticed the mess in Cheshire, where his Iceland HQ is based.

He said: ‘Roadside litter and potholes make driving through Cheshire West and Chester a nightmare, and create the image of an impoverished Third World country. ‘Years of inaction mean that the verges and central reservation on the A55 in Cheshire resemble one long continuous rubbish dump, covered in bottles, cans, car tyres, cones and windblown plastic. You can really notice the magical difference that occurs when you pass the sign that says “Welcome to Wales”.’

On a recent drive to London, he said ‘virtually every roadside in every village’ was filled with litter. ‘I’m actually embarrassed about the state of Britain,’ he added.

Sir Malcolm said he was considering serving a litter abatement order on his council. He said the failure to clear rubbish led to plastic bottles and other litter being shredded by council mowers. ‘I write to the

‘Verges covered in bottles’

CEO of Cheshire West and Chester Council about this every year, but nothing is ever done, so I am now asking all residents to contact their local councillors and the authority to urge them to take action,’ he said.

Sir Malcolm urged the public to report not only fly-tippers but drivers who litter, and said councils should ‘step up’ the number of penalty charge notices for litterers.

Chewing gum was also a problem, he said, turning some pavements into ‘vinyl floors’.

One solution backed by Sir Malcolm is a bottle return scheme, where consumers pay an extra fee that is given back when a bottle is returned.