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…Drinks cans, plastic bags, beer bottles, crisp packets, polystyrene cups, cardboard boxes, plastic spoons, take away boxes, wine bottles, a knife, chocolate bar wrappers, knackered old BBQ, mouldy mattress and an exercise bike….
Just some of the litter and rubbish I came across last week whilst walking the few minutes from my apartment to Cornbrook Metro Station, Manchester. Unfortunately this list, or one very similar, can be replicated across many towns and cities in the UK.
The message of Keep Britain Tidy has sadly faded to the point where some find it acceptable to discard litter and rubbish wherever they choose fit, usually with little to no consideration of the impacts that the accumulation of rubbish has on an area and its people.
Why not just throw your rubbish wherever you like? Once that bottle/ drinks can/ crisp packet is hastily freed from your hand it’s no longer your problem, right? It’s someone else’s responsibility. But whose responsibility actually is it? And while we are waiting on that answer the rubbish continues to pile up, layer on layer, as it is thrown by those who have decided the responsibility isn’t theirs.
Rubbish attracts rubbish, and for me enough was enough. Armed with a litter picker (on loan from JKSL) and some refuse bags, I went on a one man early morning mission to clear up just a small part of my local area (much to the dismay of my friends, some of whom thought I’d lost the plot). Two hours and 8 bags of rubbish later the area is looking a little better. I say a little better as it’s no AONB, or pristine vista across a Country Park, it is Manchester city let’s not forget, which has its own distinct charm.
So apart from the funny looks from passers-by and the blistered hands from the litter picker, what lessons have I learnt from this? 1) People consume way too much extra strength lager, cheap wine, junk food and takeaway to be good for them; 2) I am becoming more like my Dad who you’ll find litter picking around Little Baddow in Essex; 3) and this is the most important lesson… If everyone just took a little more responsibility and care for their surroundings and rubbish, our streets would be free from litter, and everyone would be that *little* happier.
28.03.16
….larger can, drinks bottle, takeaway coffee cup, sweets wrappers, dog sh*t in a plastic bag….
I’d like to think my efforts weren’t entirely wasted, but one has to wonder….
Please…Keep Britain Tidy!
Stuart Morris
I have been reading the latest articles regarding chicken production with great interest. Liz Truss the Environment Secretary has tasked the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs to make legislation less onerous on chicken farmers to allow increased food production.
This has angered animal welfare groups who feel that the progress made in reducing pain and suffering to animals will be put back decades allowing the return of animals being badly treated prior to a painful death. This case has been argued by farmers who argue that advances in veterinary services and improved conditions will ensure this doesn’t happen.
How does this relate to Japanese Knotweed I hear you ask?
Well – exactly the same thing is happening with the government’s stance on Japanese knotweed (ok not exactly the same…but similar). The industry has to date been ‘governed’ by the ‘Code of Practice’ produced by the Environment Agency and until recently easily accessed on the EA website. The Environment Secretary has asked that the industry take on more responsibility via the Trade Bodies that have sway over their members – and that to a certain extent the industry becomes self-governing.
Why, oh why, do these ministers not see what they are doing?
Legislation has been put in place for a reason.
Cutting something to save money may look good on paper but generally the rules have been produced – in simplistic terms – to stop something bad from happening. If you remove the rules – the ‘bad thing’ will start again!
Generally it’s because an industry has been behaving in a ‘cavalier’ manner. If you allow industry to self-govern the likelihood is that these cavalier operators will return and happily ignore any letters or requests for them to manage their business in a more prescribed fashion. Without the power of government legislative procedure this threat is unlikely to have any impact.
I know the theory is that DEFRA’s position is still clear and that with Japanese knotweed the Environment Agency could still enforce any serious breach of practice guidelines – but to send the message that industry should self-govern will be a disaster.
There are already TWO trade bodies – so you already have a split in the way guidance is given. INNSA (The Invasive Non Native Specialists Association) takes the stance that these types of works should be carried out under strict codes with clearly set out standards. The ‘other’ trade body has been asking for a ‘relaxation’ of the codes so that their members can work to ‘appropriate’ standards …as suits any particular project (…or more likely any particular budget).
How can this not be anything other than an environmental disaster?
Many improvements have been made in the last decade to empower developers and land owners to manage their resources in a manner that benefits us all. If we allow a weakening of this environmental policing the less scrupulous developers will simply run rough shod over guidance and return to the days of making money at the expense of our native countryside.
Aaaarrrrgggghhh…at times – I just feel like giving up.
….and DON’T START ME ON THE POOR CHICKENS….
Mike C
Pay it Forward… April 11, 2016We live in a s**t world…
Come on – you know it’s true.
It has its moments – little glimmers of light in the endless smog of the daily grind….
Maybe it’s your dog being pleased to see you when you get home? Maybe your children’s happy laughter as they bounce on your bed in the morning…? Maybe it’s a sport that you enjoy – (though not many Manchester United fans will be feeling particularly happy with this season’s performance?)
Whatever the little moments are…you still have to admit… most of life is just hard work – and at the end of it you die… without ever having made much of an impact.
Now what I’m suggesting here is that maybe we just try and get one back on the ‘man’ – get one back on ‘the establishment’…
Let’s upset the world order…
Let’s upset…… Google?
Every week I pay a fee to the Google ‘beast’ for it to push me up the ‘rankings’ to help me advertise my business. The more I pay the higher up the rankings I go…in theory. However due to the excessive d**k shaking that goes on in the Japanese Knotweed market everybody and their mate have set up a knotweed eradication company and everybody and their mate are paying Google a fee to be number one as well…
Hence when I try to regain pole position by increasing my budget…so does everybody else.
Now it occurs to me that the ONLY people benefitting from this are …GOO (F***ING) GLE….
Thousands and thousands of pounds daily, weekly, monthly for some pie in the sky idea of increased revenue…
How’s about…
WE ALL STOP
How’s about we all take the money we would have spent on Google and put it in to a charity?
How’s about we put the money into a worthwhile project? …maybe a local community project that can’t afford to deal with an invasive species?
On a ‘minimum’ week I spend £500 – so £2000 a month.
If ALL the knotweed companies stopped this nonsense for a month I bet we’d have a kitty of £50 thousand quid …
Wouldn’t you rather give that to charity than B L O O D Y G O O G L E…
….and wouldn’t that make the world seem just a little less sh***y?
Thoughts?
I will if you will…
Mike C
