Summer's here and so are the litter louts

[treadlightly]

I went for a late evening walk with the dog on Hampstead Heath yesterday reasoning that the hordes of picnicers would have left and it would be nice and peaceful.

Well, most had gone but after a hard day's reveling the Heath looked like a rubbish dump




The picture doesn't really give an idea of the full scale of the litter. It was everywhere, much of it bags of food, wrappers and bottles which was just left where the people had been. Others, obviously feeling they were being responsible, had bagged it and placed around the outside of already full litter bins. The foxes would have had a field day with it once night fell.

Why oh why can't people just take their rubbish home???

 

[Bodge]

Why oh why can't people just take their rubbish home???

Because they think that someone else will 'do it'. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

 

[BearInTheWoods]

After the Council cut the budget, I tried to get a few people to volunteer as litter-pickers in the nearby park. The Council found out and said we had to get CRB checked (to pick up rubbish?); a policeman threatened to arrest one chap for being in possession of a litter-spike ('offensive weapon').

We gave up. The place is full of refuse.

 

[Stringmaker]

After the Council cut the budget, I tried to get a few people to volunteer as litter-pickers in the nearby park. The Council found out and said we had to get CRB checked (to pick up rubbish?); a policeman threatened to arrest one chap for being in possession of a litter-spike ('offensive weapon').

We gave up. The place is full of refuse.

That is insane; in your specific example I would have gone to the local press and shamed the jobsworth idiots.

 

[Bartooon]

After the Council cut the budget, I tried to get a few people to volunteer as litter-pickers in the nearby park. The Council found out and said we had to get CRB checked (to pick up rubbish?); a policeman threatened to arrest one chap for being in possession of a litter-spike ('offensive weapon').

We gave up. The place is full of refuse.

It really is a shame that this country has been overrun by petty-minded idiots who make ridiculous laws and rules and then spend our money zealously enforcing them. Meanwhile, major problems go ignored.

Why on earth would anyone need a CRB to litter-pick in a park? Any scrote wanting to be in the park for nefarious reasons can walk in there unchallenged at any time.

I expect they would want you to wear a hi-viz jacket, hard hat and steel toe-capped boots in case you had a collision with a buggy or skateboard too. Oh, and a couple of million public liability insurance should the collision be proved to your fault. Not forgetting Hepatitis A & B, tetanus and a few other innoculations. Then there are all the courses you would have to go on - "health & safety in the workplace", COSHH, "lifting & handling", "first aid", "dealing with multicultural differences in the litter-picking environment", "Safe use of litter spikes" etc. Training would also be necessary to identify what litter is recyclable and the identification of what colour refuse sacks must be used.

Makes you want to tear your hair out (though in my case that wouldn't take very long!)

 

[BearInTheWoods]

"Safe use of litter spikes" etc.

Actually, I did learn that litter-spikes are considered dangerous in all circumstances, dangerous beyond the ability of training to control. All Council employees are required to use those sort of mechanical-grab sticks that they give to people with mobility problems to reach for things.

 

[Mesquite]

It really is a shame that this country has been overrun by petty-minded idiots who make ridiculous laws and rules and then spend our money zealously enforcing them. Meanwhile, major problems go ignored.

Why on earth would anyone need a CRB to litter-pick in a park? Any scrote wanting to be in the park for nefarious reasons can walk in there unchallenged at any time.

I expect they would want you to wear a hi-viz jacket, hard hat and steel toe-capped boots in case you had a collision with a buggy or skateboard too. Oh, and a couple of million public liability insurance should the collision be proved to your fault. Not forgetting Hepatitis A & B, tetanus and a few other innoculations. Then there are all the courses you would have to go on - "health & safety in the workplace", COSHH, "lifting & handling", "first aid", "dealing with multicultural differences in the litter-picking environment", "Safe use of litter spikes" etc. Training would also be necessary to identify what litter is recyclable and the identification of what colour refuse sacks must be used.

Makes you want to tear your hair out (though in my case that wouldn't take very long!)

Strange really... The councils where I work have no qualms at all about using volunteers and offenders to help pick up litter in the parks.

 

[BearInTheWoods]

Strange really... The councils where I work have no qualms at all about using volunteers and offenders to help pick up litter in the parks.

Might be some Union thing going on... I can understand it in a way. Nobody wants to see someone else doing 'their' job for free.

 

[Dave]

Yes. It really is bang out of order. I was on the river with a mate last night, and there were disposable BBQ's pop bottles, vodka bottles, just all manner of crap which teenagers had left by the side of the river or in the river stretching for a quarter if a mile. I even found a submerged HTC mobile phone in the river.
Winds me up. And this is in quite a remote-ish spot.

After the Council cut the budget, I tried to get a few people to volunteer as litter-pickers in the nearby park.
We gave up.

And yet most local council chiefs are raking in between quarter of a million pounds to half a million pounds per year...