Part Two. Bill Bryson. Litter problems.

Bill Bryson looks at possible solutions to the growing litter problem in Britain.
Excerpt from the BBC Panorama production August 2008.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Bill
• Bryson
• Litter
• Liverpool

[jensww22]

I'm surprised Bryson doesn't find anything "characteristically Teutonic" (to use his racist lingo) in fining litter louts.

[SEAWEEDER1]

I work for a council and we fined nobody for littering or dumping and shops use public bins without sanctions. We know who is dumping in our country lanes but it's never enforced. Street cleaners just accept it happens and clean it up. But with council cut backs in overtime in order to keep on top of the problem it's going to get worse.

Last year we removed 184 tons or rubbish from our area with no fines issued.

[missgracegallagher]

I like the way he say Waitrose.

[Jenjenilou]

@ron7006 I agree Ron. I'm a Brit and it breaks my heart. Where I live the council go out, clean up, cut the grass .. everything looks great ... for a few hours. And then it's all back again. I'm not talking about yobs but business people from local offices, buying their sandwiches and lunch from the local supermarket and just throwing the wrappings on the ground as they eat, walking back to their offices. It's a bloody disgrace!

[lamestguyintown]

its the cities that are really bad. small towns like canterbury are alright..

[Svatopluk]

There's no political will. That's the key sentence. My local council will not lift a finger to tackle the problem, either to enforce the existing laws or create new schemes. Britain is now the dirtiest country in Europe.

[daz2004]

The deposit idea work in the US Germany and Mexico i am from the UK why cant we do it there the same as plastic bags they are banned in many countries including Mexico yet we don't do this in the UK

[ron7006]

Thanks for posting! I went to the V Festival just outside of London this summer and was in a state of shock over the amount of litter strewn about each day of the fest. Thoughout the night this litter was in fact cleaned up by the staff. (tickets cost 60 pounds per day including camping)

I'm not from England and the message I got was, 'feel free to drop litter anywhere you see fit in this country'. I actually felt like a loser for packing my trash to a bin.