Rubbish Roundup 10th June

Rubbish Roundup 10^th June

The UK waterways clean up charity The Canal and River Trust are calling on people to pick up just one piece of litter from near rivers and canals. It said if people do this, England and Wales’ rivers and canals could be plastic-free within a year.

The charity’s volunteers spend more than 100,000 hours cleaning up the millions of pieces of plastic that ends up in waterways every year. It calls canals and rivers ‘plastic highways’ and said it was a huge problem for wildlife.

A survey carried out by the charity showed that plastic bags, bottles, disposable cups, and food wrappers accounted for 59% of the waste that was found.

Two Doncaster schoolchildren organised a competition at their school where pupils had to design posters warning people about the dangers of litter. Two winners were selected and their designs are being brought to life by the council’s graphic designers so they can be used as part of their anti-littering campaign.

The ‘This is My Doncaster – Keep it Clean’ campaign has seen the council dedicate extra resources to tackling litter, fly tipping, graffiti, and dog fouling as well as organising litter picks and community projects.

A local councillor said that the children should be proud of themselves for caring about the environment and added that if the litter problem is not taken seriously, the world could be a very different place for the children in the future.

Littering offences in Glasgow have reduced by a staggering 83% over the last nine years, according to figures released by Police Scotland. In 2010, there were 150 fines handed out for littering. Numbers peaked at 209 in 2012, and there has been a steady decline since. Last years, there were only 15 fixed penalties handed out.

A spokesperson for Keep Scotland Beautiful said that even though less fines are being handed out, the litter problem still persists. She said that everyone needs to take responsibility for litter, and added that enforcement is only part of the solution to the problem.

The charity believes that education and the provision of adequate recycling and waste disposal facilities are crucial in changing people’s behaviour around littering.