Yorkshire litter epidemic; personal responsibility is only answer – Yorkshire Post Letters

From: John Rayner, North Ferriby.
Litter left by Leeds United fans celebrating the team's promotion to the Premier League.Litter left by Leeds United fans celebrating the team's promotion to the Premier League.
Litter left by Leeds United fans celebrating the team's promotion to the Premier League.

I WAS concerned to read Tom Richmond’s column (The Yorkshire Post, July 25) that “all that is required is ... to link the barcode to ... the purchaser ...” and his suggestion that somehow the Data Protection Act is involved in the authorities’ inability to identify and prosecute litterers.

Firstly, the DPA does not simply prevent disclosure of data – merely that data held must be used only in conformance with pre-declared purposes for which it is to be held with the consent of the individual.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It is entirely within the scope of the Act for an organisation to declare as a purpose a use which would enable the identification of litterers – but not surprisingly few public-facing commercial organisations would do this overtly, expecting their customers to agree knowingly (assuming they would all read trading T&Cs fully).

Workers clear up litter left by Leeds United fans celebrating the team's promotion to the Premier League.Workers clear up litter left by Leeds United fans celebrating the team's promotion to the Premier League.
Workers clear up litter left by Leeds United fans celebrating the team's promotion to the Premier League.

So what about ‘the barcode’? What barcode? Any product wrapper found in litter, if it still shows a barcode, will only identify the product line – perhaps within a specific promotional variant, but certainly not the date or location of purchase, and certainly not the purchaser.

Only an itemised till receipt will link a product to a place and time of purchase, but not to a specific purchaser – although the seller’s records from the serial number of the receipt would hold the full payment account details.

Police already have power to seek warrant for disclosure of such data for criminal investigation purposes. This is the mechanism already used by councils to chase fly tippers (or rather their clients) on the rare occasions when suitable documentation is found in the tipped waste.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Truly, the way to stop littering is to recover the once widespread respect for community that has very sadly been lost through many social trends across many decades. Personal responsibility is learnt as children, from parents and other respected adults; once that respect is lost, acceptance of anti-selfish life lessons goes also, and it will probably take a long time and/or some more draconian approaches to discipline to get it back.

Are we yet seven generations from the first ‘sins of the fathers’?

From: Henry Cobden, Ilkley.

SINCE lockdown, the amount of litter left along the river Wharfe near Ilkley has increased many times over and is depressing. There must be a better way of persuading people to take their rubbish home.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.