Why is it that some people think it’s OK to leave litter on The Stray? (A central public green space in my hometown of Harrogate, North Yorkshire). Not just the odd sweet wrapper, but the remnants of a whole ‘picnic’.This morning, at about 06:00 I walked my dog, near the bit of The Stray that currently has the Fair on it, and was presented with a scene of carnage. I was really saddened to see such a scene – glass bottles thrown about, plastic food wrappings and (the worst bit) 2 used nappies.
What kind of example are these parents setting their kids?
Is it a total ignorance to the fact they are wrong doing? Is it some kind of bravado ‘two fingers up’ to the system, a stick it to the man kind of gesture? Is pure laziness “no one’s looking – let’s leave it” reasoning? Is it that they have the ‘it’s keeping someone in a job’ attitude? It could even be a statement about how we pay a fair bit more tax than some of our neighbouring towns and cities, so therefore they should get their monies worth? These are all anecdotal. There’s got to be some reason why people leave litter on The Stray. Is could be that they honestly don’t know what do do with it, or think they are doing no wrong. The odd ‘accidental’ litter drop – can’t be helped but to leave stuff like glass on the floor – especially as one has a nappy aged dependant, prone to barefoot explorations this time of year – is disgusting and dangerous.
How do we fix it?
The Council – I’ve not seen eye to eye with them on all matters over the years, but as far as litter management and parks management goes, they do (in my opinion) do a really good job. They’re pretty much ‘on it’ when it comes to the day after a sunny day on The Stray and regarding bin placement – I feel there’s enough bins around our open spaces – but – they are only ‘fire fighting the problem’. I believe we need to think ‘fire prevention’ and get the the heart of the matter. Is it an educational gap? A fault of our ‘modern’ culture and society where the word Respect is in common parlance, but the action (in the traditional sense) isn’t?
This morning, I tweeted about the nappies, and asked “How do we educate?”
Two responses;
@sharoncanavar wrote “that’s shocking. Dunno what the answer is though, I’ve asked people to pick up before & just got abuse”
@DeanMDyble wrote “it’s a disgrace, bring back the birch and possibly some hanging.”
I must say, I empathise with Sharon – I once saw two very young girls pushing toddlers in pushchairs. One of them threw a bottle up in the air to see it smash. Shocked, I confronted them and got a load of abuse for my trouble. I did say they “didn’t deserve to have children” which I actually felt bad for doing.
Regarding Dean’s response – To illustrate with a stereotype; the only person of authority ‘these people’ (specifically the kind of people who leave glass and nappies on The Stray) listen to at the moment is perhaps Jeremy Kyle. Perhaps JK is the key.
Perhaps though, there is something us good eggs can do about it. I don’t think we can tackle it as individuals (see two example above) and I don’t think we want to turn The Stray into a police state, but could the answer be education? Could it be punishment? Awareness?
Idiots! they should all do community service on the spot fines. Undercover litter cops. Dunno how they would prove it was them though
I concur, walked round hebden late last night and same deal.. Disgusting, says a lot about a person that can happily discard their picnic, cans, tobacco packets and bottles etc and not think twice.. Probably the same noblets walking round town with their tips off in scorching 15 degree heat…
Some people are unfortunately of the persuasion that someone else will fix it for them. I’m always perplexed by seeing people leaving, say, an empty drinks can on top of some kind of street fixture that isn’t a bin (or shoved behind a BT box or on top of a postbox). They must think it holds some kind of authoritative value, therefore will “do” instead of the bin down the road. The man owns it, so the man can deal with it.
I gave up trying to remonstrate with litter bugs after seeing a woman wind down her rear window to let her 2 year old chuck his litter out of the car into the street. Saddest thing I’ve seen in a longtime. She was quick to jump out and start being threatening for me being ‘disrespectful’, but then she was still wearing pyjamas at 4pm so I suspect her personal dignity would have to be improved before she gave a shit about anything outside her own little world. Bah.
in 100% agreement with you. The litter is disgraceful and a horrible eyesore, such a shame on a beautiful piece of land we should feel privileged to have. Glass bottles and burnt out barbecues across the the Stray is disgusting, but hopefully this area will clear up when the Fair leaves. As for the other areas, tighter regulation needed and a higher community support/police presence.
Perhaps we could photograph the litter louts then plaster their images on twitter after forwarding to Harrogate council. I already do this for people who don’t clear up after their dogs.
Tolerate it. Problem solved
Disgusting behaviour. The culprits should be made to live on the local landfill for a week.
It makes my blood boil. I run on Regents Park most mornings and it’s the same thing. Either buckets of KFC with cans of lager or Waitrose bags with the remnants of some preppy picnic left in a heap and spoiling what is otherwise a beautiful part of London. The thing that gets me is there are giant bins provided and they can’t be arsed to walk just 30 metres. As for the barbecues, they’re banned on Regents Park yet people use them anyway so even when you ask nicely people are going to do what they want anyway. People want to enjoy attractive open spaces but they don’t want to contribute even a moments effort to keep them that way, it’s always someone elses problem. I must stop now or I might explode.
Just come back from France – no litter in 400 km and 4 days of driving around. None. Just a LOT of pride in their towns/villages. I think there is a rise of people who have no respect or pride in the area they live in. ‘Someone’ else will sort it. No sense of personal responsibility. It broke my heart to come home to my own litter-strewn streets. Including a horrible fly-tipping hot spot. I don’t know what the answer is 🙁
The other thing I am increasingly aware of, now I have a dog, is how much broken glass there is EVERYWHERE. Particularly of the small green stubby beer bottle (ie cheap) variety. That sickens me. Particularly when my dog got two cut paws in two separate incidents in two separate locations within a fortnight.