Crackdown needed on new generation of litter louts: Neil McNicholas

But then I had a driveway installed with a double gate with the result that there is now a 10ft wide opening in the wall and you wouldn’t believe the amount of litter that blows into my garden through that opening.

It’s mostly the tickets people buy to park, which they apparently throw on the ground after they get back to their cars – maybe by way of protesting for having to pay to park.

It also includes crisp packets and sweet wrappers which would suggest children shedding litter like confetti as they walk along. Obviously their parents don’t stop them and neither does the threat of a penalty for littering…which, of course, no one enforces anyway so why worry.

Hands up all those who remember the original ‘Keep Britain Tidy’ campaign?

It was introduced way back in 1955 as a result of an initiative by the Women’s Institute whose membership was clearly concerned about the nationwide problem of litter. It is now a national charity which would suggest that, even after 65 years of trying to influence attitudes regarding litter, there is still a problem.

Our children and young people are having their heads crammed full of more teaching on the subject of the environment than any generation before them. They may be great at saving polar bears and snow leopards, and cheerleading for Greta Thunberg, but then haven’t we all seen the pictures of the 1,100 acres of fields after the Glastonbury Festival?

Last year there were an estimated 1,650 tonnes of rubbish left behind which cost £780,000 to clear up and all because, presumably, festival-goers didn’t care enough to dispose of their rubbish properly and simply left it all behind for someone else take care of.

As that generation grows up (and I use those words advisedly), their littering habits apparently grow with them. In recent weeks we have seen on the news the state of popular tourist spots and beaches around the country hardly recognisable under vast blankets of trash.

Who do they think is going to clean it all up after they have left? And these are people who shouldn’t have even been there in the first place if they had respected the lockdown/social distancing rules before they then also disregarded the litter laws. They obviously don’t care.

Last year local authorities in England alone dealt with over a million incidents of fly-tipping, an increase of eight per cent over the previous year despite supposed increased penalties. These people don’t care either and are not in the least bit deterred by the anti-social nature of what they do.

First thing every morning, I see a council employee working his way along both sides of the high street picking up all the litter that was dropped the day before by people who come to enjoy the town and its shops – especially now that they are open again – but who apparently have no qualms about trashing the place in the process.

If they had found it like that when they arrived they’d be complaining to the council, but they don’t mind leaving it like that for others to “enjoy” and for that gentleman to clean up after them. And please let’s not hear anything about “Well it keeps him in job”!

And as we know, in many communities and especially in the country, there are bands of public-minded volunteers who go out every day to pick up what other people have thrown out of their car windows as they passed.

The fact that it’s against the law to throw things from a moving vehicle, not to mention laws against littering, makes no difference.

It’s a sad reflection on the attitude of far too many people to the laws of the land, especially if there’s little risk of being caught.

And this, I think is where we may discover the root of this particular problem: there is no personal discipline anymore, no respect for the word “no” and no consequences for ignoring it.

If people have learned as children that they can do whatever they want with impunity, then they will continue to do so as adults.

The lockdown has brought out the very best in a great many people and this we should celebrate, but sadly it has also highlighted the totally unacceptable attitude of a minority who continue to show little or no regard for anyone else but themselves.

Neil McNicholas is a parish priest in Yarm.

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