Why you must use litter bins to win the war on rubbish and decay

Emptying them is a costly exercise, so larger bins mean fewer collections but also the greater capacity means less chance of them overflowing.

Among the most common types of litter these days are canned drinks and plastic bottles, crisp bags, chocolate wrappers and takeaway packaging, plastic carrier bags that blow about in the wind like miniature parachutes and of course the little plastic bags full of dog “poo”. Cigarette buts are still a massive contributor and remain a big problem as most are not biodegradable. For a time stubbing out panels were fitted to the bins but this caused some plastic ones to melt.

Since the 1950s, the amount of litter has consistently grown which prompted the first Litter Act in 1958 and the litter bin design exhibition in 1960 in The Embankment Gardens in London.

The “Keep Britain Tidy” charity was established in 1954 and the Tidyman logo began to appear on packaging as well as on the bins themselves. To make the bins stand out, local authorities carried out all sorts of changes.

The colour of Scarborough’s bins was changed from green to cream and the small bins commonly fixed to bus stops began to be replaced with floor mounted ones.

Materials also changed and the concrete and wood models which were more stable began to appear in the 1960s and many of them can still be seen all over Yorkshire. Many of these have the original Tidyman badge intact but have black bin liners for ease of emptying and greater hygiene.

Some were specifically marked for dog waste and that trend continued with stand alone dog user bins but these are now being phased out by some local authorities.

There have been many campaigns to make people more respectful of the environments in which they live and work and to use the bins or take their rubbish home.

Despite these efforts, the streets are still full of discarded material, often quite close to a bin. All too often abandoned food attracts vermin and is a health hazard which is why most bins today have solid tops with slots.

Streets full of litter give a neighbourhood a bad image and can be an early sign of more general neglect and decay. First littering then larger items like mattresses, broken bicycles, and even cars. Litter can be the start of a slippery slope into decay, distress and devaluation.

You may think that the solution is easy to find and that all locals would have adequate incentive to keep litter off the streets but councils spend over £1bn pounds each year dealing with litter and its big brother fly tipping. The maximum fixed penalty notices for littering increased to £500 in 2023 but this has not yet noticeably reduced littering.

Littering is an act of anti-social behaviour but can be stopped immediately if everyone uses the bins on our streets or takes their rubbish home.