Litter pick-up, litter policies and smokefree legislation implications

This post starts with the litter pick-up then looks at smokefree legislation and other litter policy issues....

Yesterday afternoon our Elfin group did a litter pick-up around the canal and river opposite Waitrose. Rodborough Parish lent all the litter pick up sticks - the rain didn't deter us from getting several bin liners of rubbish.

Photos: Woodcraft Folk Elfin group doing a litter pick-up at Frome Bank by the canal near Waitrose

Smokefree legislation set to increase litter problems

Smokefree legislation comes into force on 1 July 2007. Cigarette litter is currently the most common type of litter - present on 79% of streets. I have written the following to Council officers who are already on the case:

I note that the Council appears to be getting to grips with new legislation re smoking. While in the long-term this will hopefully result in reduced cigarette litter, it is likely in the short-term to increase as smokers are forced outdoors.

Clearly timing a "no-litter" campaign with the smokefree legislation will provide added impetus to its success. I would be interested to hear more re what plans are in place.

You will probably be aware that in Scotland, the smoking ban - now over a year old - has led to a proliferation of "smokers' shelters", some of which are erected at evening time by clubs and pubs and removed before the morning. Is this something that has been discussed? How will we view such structures?

All the best - Philip


I note there is also a motion to Council next week to ensure premises have ashtrays outside - having read the guidelines, 'Preventing Cigarette Litter in England', I will be checking that advice is also given re the right type of ashtray - see below the advice on seven approaches to tackle cigarette litter.

Litter remains a serious problem - things have improved in the District but we over a year ago a local campaign and website set up to get tough on the issue. At that time I had email correspondence with David Dowse the guy behind the campaign - infact at the time I got carried away in writing a response which I'll enclose below.

In terms of rubbish it maybe worth noting that the streets have a regular cleaning programme by Stroud District Council: this varies according to use - for example twice daily outside shops on both Westward Road and in Cashes Green, weekly in Cainscross car park, every 6-8 weeks for most other roads and footpaths mostly looked at if a problem is reported. In addition some Parishes like Cainscross supplement these services with a litter picker employed by the Parish for 12 to 15 hours per week.

As for rubbish bins, they are usually emptied daily in key sites while others are emptied on a weekly basis. Fly tipping is minimal in our area, nevertheless a problems do exist like at the top of Ash Lane.

Seven approaches to cigarette litter:

Ashtrays - The main message is 'choose the right ashtray'. The placement, design and visibility of the ashtray are the key determining factors as to whether it is used or not.

Signage - There needs to be clear and consistent "no-littering" signage, as well as signage indicating smokefree buildings.

Cleansing - Keep litter hotspots clean, this will encourage use of bin and ashtrays (Chartered Institution of Wastes Management provides further Cleansing Guidelines - see links).

Partnerships - Plan a "no-litter" campaign with existing partnerships and local businesses. In particular, engage businesses such as cafés, bars and pubs that will be most effected by the smokefree legislation.

Be a leader - Lead by example by running an internal campaign and providing smokers in your own organisation with suitable ashtrays.

Educate - Provide information on the problem of cigarette litter, encouraging them to change their behaviour. The guidelines provide further details on planning, targeting and shaping a campaign.

Enforcement - Local authorities can use these measures to deal with smoking litter:
* the offence of dropping litter
* fixed penalty notices
* duty to clear land of litter and refuse and to keep highways clean
* street litter control notices.

My response the new website set up by David Dowse (18/01/06), a resident of the Downfield area in Stroud who feels strongly that something has to be done about the worsening litter problems that blight our area.

Greens welcome this initiative to highlight litter problems in Stroud. Litter can have a huge detrimental impact on a community. We would welcome more cross-party support particularly for some of the underlying issues around litter and waste.

Our approach to litter is on a number of levels:

1. Local initiatives relating to litter

Greens on the Town and District Council have been involved in a number of issues relating to litter. In particular they have:

- pressed SDC for more Street Cleaning/washing in Town Centre as have traders and others: the streets should be cleansed, that isn't just litter picked but any other material (dog faeces, chewing gum, vomit, blood etc) washed off as a matter of coarse. Town centre streets should be wash regularly as part of the DC's responsibility. It should not be left to the Town Council to pay for street washing. Greater attention should be paid to the edges of buildings and corners where debris accumulates and to removing cigarette ends.
- got extra Dog Bins, waste paper baskets and also helped get cigarette stubbers on the existing bins.
- initiated a move to stop further take-aways getting planning permission in the town centre. They would support moves to encourage the owners of offending businesses to clear up their mess and wider laws to encourage more sustainable packaging through tax laws.
- supported the proposed Pop Up Pissoir - to reduce numbers of men using shop doorways.
- helped organise in the past a series of litter picks led by councillors
- more education of the public is required and should be a key element of any programme to tidy up the town (see point 3 below)
- Greater Co-operation of the police in issuing penalty notices should be sought
- in residential areas, more effort should be put in to obtaining the removal of cars from streets when cleaning streets- a warning both in evening prior to cleaning and another on the morning of cleaning.

Greens would like to see a zero-waste policy adopted locally (see section 2 below and much more on our websites)

2. Litter reduction

First and foremost we need to reduce the supply of litter - if it does not exist people cannot drop it. There is so much more potential litter created now than even 30 years ago, also much more is non biodegradable. In the past if someone threw away an apple core it rotted away now people throw away sweet wrappers and take-away packaging which do not rot. Canned drinks have replaced drinks in returnable bottles.

Waste should be seen as a resource in disguise: it represents a failure of our processes and products and a loss of money. Indeed the entire concept of waste should be eliminated from our thinking and the word resource be substituted.

Thomas Love Peacock, author wrote: "The waste of plenty is the resource of scarcity."

Our current policies show a totally unacceptable disregard for future generations. As a society we are producing more waste than ever before. When something is thrown away we lose the natural resources, the energy and the time used to make the product: these resources cannot go on indefinitely. Already oil companies are warning us of steep prices to come as oil supplies dwindle over the coming years.

When something is thrown away we also put pressure on the environment's ability to cope like extracting new resources and the huge impacts associated with getting rid of our rubbish. Just one litre of oil can pollute a million litres of fresh drinking water. While glass, for example takes thousands of years to break down but recycling two bottles saves enough energy to boil water for five cups of tea.

Stroud, once a beacon of Green ideas, has slipped significantly. In the 2004/5 we came 194th out of 393 councils for recycling with only 20.88% recycled. Forest of Dean managed 30% and many councils are getting close to 50%. See here. Although it should be noted the Forest figures are higher because they include green waste.

The UK is also at the bottom of EU recycling tables.

Flytipping is another key problem: every month there are 75,000 incidents of illegal rubbish dumping in England, according to data published last year by the government. Local authorities say the mess is costing them almost £100 a minute to clean up. Our government is in part to blame for not enacting an easy solution: manufacturers should be responsible for dealing with the waste that their product ultimately becomes. For more see here.

Last month the Department of Trade and Industry was embarrassed for the third time in 18 months when it again delayed implementing the European Waste electric and electronic directive, claiming industry was not ready. The laws, expected to come into force this year, will force manufacturers to take back and recycle everything from toasters and televisions to computers and mobile phones.

One other key problem re waste in the County is the lack of coordination. District councils responsible for some aspects, other bodies for other aspects - basically recycling rules baffle councils and public alike. Leadership by our government is noticeably lacking.

The Green party want to see a Zero Waste Strategy: this has already been adopted by Councils in this country and abroad. Zero Waste is about supporting reducing extraction from, and eliminating waste to, nature, improving economic efficiency and making more resources available to all. Indeed underlying all of this is not only the issue of resource depletion but also climate change.

The well known rallying cry is "Reuse, reduce and recycle." Yet so far we've seen very little action at government level. There are many ways this could be encouraged, not least by legislation. Some examples already proposed by Greens and others include:

- on-street recycling introduced where appropriate. In other areas litter bins are being introduced with separate compartments for paper, glass, cans and plastic. The removal of recycling bins from Fawkes Place was opposed.
- Local 'swap' days to be held
- Improved recycling collections
- "Money-back" schemes for the return of glass bottles and other reusable containers to be introduced.
- Plastic bags to be taxed at 10p a bag like in the Republic of Ireland.
- More reuse and refurbishment centres, for furniture and electrical goods, such as cookers and washing machines
- Incentives for using real nappies. These alone constitute around 5% of the volume of domestic waste. See here.
- Encourage and subsidise new business ventures which reuse waste materials.
- Encouraging retailers to reduce and reuse consumer packaging. Greens in Germany for example shifted some responsibility of waste disposal onto the manufacturer; packaging use decreased by 17%.
- Neighbourhoods encouraged to share and reuse "waste" building and DIY materials (wood, piping, paint etc) through the use of community sheds as collection points.
- Council support of cost-price compost bins to local residents to recycle organic materials, where possible sourcing them from local reused waste materials.
- Community composting schemes will be set up in co-operation with local allotment associations.

3. Public education

Public education campaigns, as mentioned already, are needed to reduce resource consumption and increase the reuse and recycling of waste. It is clear that so far we are failing to get the message across to people about why we need to reduce our waste and recycle. We really cannot go on living in this throw-away fashion: future generations will have every justification for judging us harshly.

Education needs to start when children are young and made easy to continue in adulthood. It should be 'cool' to recycle. Incentives like those mentioned above such as deposits and eco taxes can help - but people need to understand why if they are to support such moves.

4. Our communities

Litter is clearly not the only problem in our streets. As the author and English Heritage Commissioner, Bill Bryson, said: “Nothing says more, nor more immediately, of how a nation feels about itself, than the way it dresses its streets.”

The clutter in our streets like redundant and unnecessary signs, adds to the way we feel about a place. Reducing it can improve road safety, reduce crime and improve local economies. There are two reports that go into this in more detail by myself and Stroud District councillor Sarah Lunnon, entitled: "Better Streets for Stroud District". They are available free from: www.glosgreenparty.org.uk

I consider this approach could have a profound effect by rebuilding our local communities - and indeed long term could do more to tackle litter than a host of other policies!

5. The 'Respect agenda'

'Respect' has indeed broken down in many areas, sometimes to a frightening level. However Greens do not support Labour's current approach.

It is interesting that Tony Blair chose not to ask why communities seem so much stronger in France, Sweden, Germany or Italy - countries that record less fear of crime and tens of thousands fewer people in jail. The bonds have broken here not because they are out of date, but because Blair and his predecessors snapped them. They encouraged schools to sell playing fields, curbed youth work and stripped parish and municipal leadership of power.

Add to this the effect of rising inequality: the present government has still not begun to undo the increases in income inequality of the Thatcher and Major years. There is now incontrovertible evidence that higher inequality is regularly accompanied by more violence, lower trust and poorer community relations.

Labour's approach is one of social reform on the cheap: alcohol bans on buses, 'cashpoint fines', curfews, parenting orders and Asbos. The entire essence of Blair's new plan is punitive and is about increasing police powers. He has also plumbed new depths in its disregard for civil rights: reversing a fundamental principle, the burden of proof. An increasing number of professionals are also arguing that Asbos actually damage some communities and do not tackle the problems.

We cannot enforce a "respect" agenda: indeed any attempts to enforce conformity on young people would be likely to backfire. Indeed, it can be argued that some parents and 'authority' figures don't deserve the respect of their children. Respect is not given as a result of demands, fines or threats - it has to be earned.

Dr David Webster at the University of Gloucestershire recently wrote: "When politicians bombard us with gimmicks, with re-announced initiatives that leave underlying problems unaddressed, they treat us like children and insult our intelligence, and that is no way to earn to earn respect, never mind demand it."

To tackle anti-social behaviour we need to tackle the causes. To engender self respect we must rebuild communities, that are now too often devoid of the decent basic amenities (clean, safe streets, youth clubs, community centres, medical centres, banks, decent schools and shops). Many social problems are significantly alleviated when people are lifted out of the cycle of poverty, unemployment and crime. When people feel that they have a stake in society - something to lose and things to aim for which they believe they can achieve - then they make positive contributions.

Yet plans for devolution of local finance like other aspects of power seem to have been shelved again. Britain remains one of the most centralised 'democracies' in the world.

Furthermore Labour plan schools - the very institutions crucial to discipline - are to be made independent of our local communities. As Simon Jenkins wrote in The Guardian (11/01/06): "Withdraw responsibility from communities and you withdraw authority. Withdraw authority and you do not get placid submission to Blair's "summary power". You get anarchy. You get Basra. Does Downing Street never learn?"

We already know how to tackle the root causes of these 'anti-social' behaviours, but social justice and equality is expensive. We need politicians not afraid to call for the long-term measures of alleviating poverty, investing seriously in public education and the police.