99% say rubbish is an issue
THE results are in and this is how people in Greater Manchester feel about litter where they live.
As part of their Don’t Trash Our Future campaign, InYourArea.co.uk ran a survey across the UK to get people’s views on the scale of rubbish being dropped and how well they think it’s being dealt with.
Based on postcodes given by those who answered the Big Litter Survey, there were 453 responses in Greater Manchester.
Most people in Greater Manchester think there’s a problem with litter where they live – 49 per cent said it was a big problem, and 39pc said it was a major problem, while 11pc said it was a small problem, with 1pc saying there was no problem.
The litter problem locally is also making people in Greater Manchester feel bad - 55pc said seeing litter made them feel angry and 19pc said it made them feel sad or depressed, while 22pc just said they hate it!
The majority of people (62pc) also think the problem has got worse since lockdown was eased.
Just 4pc think litter has decreased, while 30pc think it’s stayed the same.
When asked what types of litter they come across most often, 88pc of respondents said fast food wrappers and cups, 79pc said drinks cans, 73pc said plastic bottles, and 65pc said plastic bags. As well as this, 47pc said cigarette butts, 40pc said food waste, 44pc said nitrous oxide canisters, 24pc said chewing gum stained pavements, and 18pc said receipts.
While many respondents across the UK said they saw a mixture of types of rubbish from lots of different brands, some stood out as more commonly dropped – more than a quarter mentioned McDonald’s, with KFC, Costa, Greggs and Tesco also mentioned more often than similar outlets.
In Greater Manchester, 28pc of respondents mentioned McDonald’s when asked which brands they saw littered more often. Respondents were clear, it’s not them causing the problem – 79pc said they never drop litter.
Just 3pc said they did drop litter, while 14pc admitted they may have dropped a very small wrapper, a cigarette butt or a piece of chewing gum. People in Greater Manchester are split on whether they would confront someone dropping litter 43pc said they would be somewhat or very likely to confront the person, while
41pc said somewhat or very unlikely. When asked why they might be reluctant to confront someone, 81pc said they would be worried about how the person might react.
Respondents were also pretty split on whether they’d report someone they saw littering - 26pc said they were very likely to report littering, 36pc said somewhat likely, and 38pc said they wouldn’t.
Most people (89pc) knew littering was a criminal offence – but few knew anyone who had been fined (1pc had been fined themselves and 11pc knew someone who had been fined).
The Don’t Trash Our Future campaign aims to get the maximum punishment for littering to a £1,000 fine or 100 hours of supervised community litter picking, and to make it compulsory for councils to enforce the law on littering.
A majority (67pc) think the maximum fine for littering should be higher than the current £150, with 20pc saying it should be more than £1,000.
The vast majority (98pc) think their local council should enforce the law against littering. More bins would also be popular - 83pc think there are too few in their local area, while 14pc think the number is about right and 1pc think there are too many.