Litter Litter Everywhere

Helen Tandy, Director, Eco Communities

What’s been going on in the world of litter since last week’s blog. The results of our litter survey are in. Then Tuesday is the day Helen C and I meet at The Yellow Pig Cafe for lunch. On the way I was behind a couple talking about litter. The side of the road was already starting to gather dried leaves and with that a small amount of litter. The conversation went along the lines of what do we pay our council tax for, and that it was disgusting. Yet our survey shows something different. Perhaps we have a divide between the eco supporters that read our newsletters and those that are outside the eco world. In our survey not one person put the blame of litter at the door of the council. Unless it’s based around unemptied council bins I quite agree. Even then I would like to think that if a bin was over flowing people would just take the litter home or find another bin. That was not true when it came to Greyhound Retail Park last Saturday, see below.

Our litter spotting got us into the press this week. My tweet on litter at Greyhound Retail Park was picked up by Cheshire Live.

Litter is pouring out of all bins and trolleys are now being used to dump litterhttps://t.co/TKDAQU5BFk

— Cheshire Live (@CheshireLive) August 9, 2022

I still haven’t found out more on who to contact about litter bins in the area if anyone has any ideas let us know.

When it comes to trade waste a seperate twitter storm was around Northgate Street, Chester in the last couple of days.

Cllr Richard Beecham came to the rescue on an issue that was not of the Councils making, as it was trade waste. The huge storm of discussions went on for some time. Then we had a nice mention from Andy as below.

Sadly it's a reflection on how our society has become, too many expect others to clear up behind them. Thankfully there are still litter heroes who step into the breach. If you wish to join them, you can DIY (like me) or contact @EcoCommunities_ for how you can join their scheme.

— 💚 Andy Scargill 💙🇺🇦 (@andyscargill) August 15, 2022

What is the solution to our inability to keep our streets clear or litter and stop our bins overflowing?

Retail Parks are not generally the responsibility of the Council to clear. Who is at fault? The take away businesses which encourage all the litter or those that left the litter at the side of the bin/car/floor?

Trade Waste – this is a cost to the business and so perhaps they need some help understanding how to cut waste.

Even our litter picks ad litter pick hubs cant save the problem of litter but…….

Who wants to get our litter picking again?

• You can join us on Sunday – we have a family event on at Edgars Field. INFO

• Do you want to do more solo of group litter picks? Register with us as a Litter Pick Hero – FORM LINK

Finally, after all that depressing litter news, why not watch this little poem to make you smile…..