Make litter louts clear their mess
■ THE amount of litter strewn around our countryside is shocking. We are constantly picking up plastic bottles, cans and food packaging chucked outside our house and surrounding area.
I agree with your Don’t Trash Our Future campaign for punitive fines for those too lazy to clear up after themselves (Mirror, July 28), as we saw on beaches in lockdown.
Young people should also be taught in school not to throw litter in the street or leave it in parks.
The growing number of fast food outlets doesn’t help. They have not only led to more rubbish on our streets but also contributed to the obesity crisis.
In my view, anyone caught flytipping should be fined £1,000 and have their vehicle crushed and licence taken away.
C Campbell
Chichester, West Sussex
■ I totally support your campaign for tougher penalties for fly-tippers and litterbugs, including fines of up to £1,000 and tasking them with clearing away their rubbish.
It’s abhorrent anyone should mar the environment with refuse when there are facilities to manage waste.
Society should take a less tolerant approach to these mindless people.
Mike Smith, Chatham, Kent
■ Most people won’t be able to pay huge fines for fly-tipping, so instead I would make the punishment fit the crime by getting them to pick up litter and clean up fly-tips. This would save councils money and time and teach the transgressors a valuable lesson.
After a few months clearing up rubbish in their spare time, they wouldn’t fly tip again in a hurry. Robert Way, Bournemouth
■ We had all the littering and flytipping on beaches and at beauty spots in lockdown – now there are used face masks left everywhere.
These louts clearly care nothing for the environment.
I totally support increasing fines for littering and fly tipping to £1,000 and then make the perpetrators clear up their rubbish.
If this doesn’t work, threaten them with prison.
John Murray, Lincoln
■ Although fly-tipping is disgraceful, councils must share some of the blame.
They have forgotten about people of my generation who don’t own smartphones or computers. I recently went to my local tip and was refused entry as I hadn’t booked a time slot online.
I rang the council who said they could collect the items for £40. I still have them in the hope of finding a slot in 2021.
F McCullough, Coventry
■ Many years ago I visited Singapore which was spotlessly clean. I was told littering would lead to an on-the-spot fine or prison.
If the authorities were as strict in this country we would no longer read about littering and fly-tipping. Colin Bower, Nottingham
■ If local councils made it easier to get rid of unwanted items of rubbish it would solve a lot of the problem. After all, isn’t this what we pay our council tax for?
E George, North London