Islington has a litter problem.
Over the past two years, there were 2,634 fly-tipping incidents recorded in the borough. From January 2013 to November 2014, the council issued 5,914 fixed penalty litter enforcement fines, collecting £229,500. In England, the Communities and Local Government Committee estimated on Saturday that cleaning up litter costs the taxpayer up to £850m a year.
Read More: Islington clamps down on local ‘anti-social’ litter problem
Shame on the vile fly-tippers of Islington
Now, a report by the committee recommends tougher penalties to counter the financial cost of litter clean-ups. But Islington councillor Janet Burgess thinks that educating people would be more effective.
Hefty fines or more education – which is the best way to tackle Islington’s litterbugs?
Sam, 26: “It really has to come down to both. There needs to be more education as to why people shouldn’t just drop litter on the floor, but at the same time that needs to go hand in hand with enforcement of penalties for people who do.
“Do I think the council needs to have officers standing there issuing £50 fines to everyone who drops a cigarette on the floor? No. But I think there needs to be education – but education can only work if there’s actually enforcement along with it too.”
Albi, 20: “I don’t really agree with the council raising fines, it’ll just cause more problems. If people get higher fines, they’re not going to be willing to pay. It’s just going to cause more problems. It should be more teaching people, but also not putting any fines. Just give warnings, and they can also give you lessons about how to help the environment.
“Littering is a big problem around here, especially with chewing gum and stuff like that. But also, there aren’t enough bins around certain areas, so people just decide to throw stuff on the street. For example around City Road, there aren’t enough bins.”
Atif, 22: “I know educating people won’t actually work. You can tell people not to litter, but they’ll still litter. If someone tells you but there aren’t people watching you, you’ll still do it.”
Andrea, 27: “More education. If you have a good education, you know not to throw litter around. Making people pay if they litter could help, but if people don’t have the behaviour to not litter, they’ll still throw it.”
Craig, 30: “I think it’s about education to begin with, see how that goes for a few years, then maybe progress to fining people if the education isn’t bringing results.”
Grant, 49: “I always thought it would be better if they had more bins everywhere. I don’t know if that’s an option C. It just seems like a lack of bins in really congested areas. I know they can’t put them by underground stations for security reasons but I think bins in other areas would help a lot.”
Jon, 24: “Litter enforcement fines are a sham, and are just designed to make councils as much money as possible. Litter enforcement officers are not clearly advertised as what they are, and loiter by smoking hotspots to catch people, rather than stop them littering there with their cigarette butts.
“If they want to stop cigarette littering, they need to have a lot more boxes for cigarettes out there, because that’s where people can dispose of them.
“If you put them out on top of normal bins, which isn’t littering, they would blow off in the wind. People are scared of starting fires if they put them inside normal bins, because with paper or plastic – they’re very flammable substances, very easy to catch fire on. Currently the system isn’t working.”
Joyce, 50+: “Should be both really, shouldn’t it. It would help if you educate them, then they wouldn’t have to pay so much fines.”
Juliet, 23: “I think educating. It’s always better to prevent than punish.”
Mariano, 31: “Both. Educate. Teaching in schools – it’s really important from the beginning to try and change the mind of the population. And over time, it will improve. But in the meantime – fine them. That also works.”
Maya, 21: “Educating people is more important. I think the government should teach children not to litter.”
Michael, 46: “I don’t know – I wouldn’t want to fine anyone, but who needs ‘education’ about littering? If you don’t understand that you don’t just throw your stuff on the ground – how would you educate people, what would you tell them?”
Tim: “I think that that’s a bit of a scheme. I got fined for dropping a cigarette in Leeds. An £80 fine for dropping a fag somewhere. Obviously it’s not right that everyone drops cigarettes.
Elle: “No but it’s the way that the people watched and waited until you dropped it, and then went over to fine you.
Tim: “I read an article that a lot of councils use it to make money. Also they’re employing exterior companies who make a commission on the fine. I’m against that. As soon as you monetise something like that – that’s not really a solution to the problem.
Elle: “People shouldn’t drop litter, but you shouldn’t have people waiting for you to drop a cigarette and then fining you because that’s just going to cause tension. Obviously littering is wrong, but that’s not the right way of doing it. It’s about encouraging people to realise that if you drop litter, you’re just making your city look shit. Fining people is not the way to do it.”
Does your area have a litter problem?
What do you think should be done to tackle it?
Let us know @islingtonnow with the hashtag #CleanIslington
I`d start with school kids doing regular litter picks round their neighbourhoods every couple of days. You have to get people into the habit of not dropping litter early. More litter bins (lots more) and make sure they are regularly emptied . Also make the fast food chains fiscally responsible for the litter they create. Same for the soft drinks and alcohol industry. There may be lots of varieties of soft drink but only a couple of manufacturers of it. Same for alcohol. Name and shame manufactures who`s product is most littered .
Smokers are an easy target but a fag butt is just as much a piece of litter as a gum spit, coffee cup or fast-food wrapper; catching them is far more difficult as that’s usually out of hours and a single instant act rather than one preceded by a predicable period of a burning cigarette!
Either way a zero-tolerance policy across all types of litter, reinforced by fixed penalty notices has been shown to be an effective way of getting to people’s brains via their pockets and bring about the necessary behaviour change. Braintree DC is a great example of such success.
Sadly education and well meaning campaigns haven’t been any thing like as effective and, fundamentally, everyone already knows that it’s not right to litter. Most are just too lazy or inconsiderate to care.
Interesting idea about naming and shaming manufacturers, terry – but would they really care?
@Zilch UK – What are they doing in Braintree? Yes it does seem like smokers are disproportionately targeted.
Hello,
When people buy a product and there are packages, they carry the packages until they have consumed the product they bought. They are left with the packages. They have managed to carry the packages with the product inside. Why can’t they keep the packages with them and bin it at home. There should not really be needs for so many bins. Bins cost a lot of money to maintain and service. While I am not for 0 bin, I am not in favour of adding more bins. As said, if you have been able to keep the packages with you with the product you can keep the packages longer.
As for the cigarettes butts. There is a simple solution. put it back in your cigarettes packets. How complicated is that ?
Furthermore, I am amazed by the lack of local authority and government long term initiative to tackle such problem. One thing which works very well for bottles (be it glass or plastic) is deposit. Germany introduce a new system about 10 years ago. Each bottle has a barcode and each supermarket or store has a recycling machine that scan the bottle and give you a ticket to claim for your money back. You can buy your bottle anywhere in Germany and dispose it anywhere too (and not only in the store you bought it).
It is known that a lack of cleanliness or hygiene in people is a sign of illness or disorder. I would say that this can be said for a nation too !!! England is becoming a giant bin and I am horrified every time I come back from a business trip from the continent.
Litter is every one’s problem.
Have a good weekend
Bob
A lot of answers here are definitely heading in the right direction. A combined strategy of Educate and Eradicate ( Litter ) is needed. This would be achieved through the combination of the following strategies:
1 ) Public Education – for example Grime equals crime & clean equals clean
2 ) Infringement Penalties to back up the education.
3 ) Support from all levels of government – this can be achieved through the installation of correct street assets such as bins etc.
4 ) Revision of current cleansing resources and the programs that they support – you might have the correct manning, but is it hitting the right areas to achieve the best cleansing outcomes.
All these small steps have synergies with each other which will in the long term achieve the expected level of cleanliness appreciated by the general public.
This is my passion, bringing improved cleansing outcomes to public places. If any one wishes to contact me, please visit our website http://www.citycleansingconsultancy.com/