I admit Jon and I have been a bit neglectful in carrying out our normal rubbish walks, as work, bad weather, and a decline in daylight have kept us housebound recently. However, we more than made up for that today with a three-hour walk around Chippenham, collecting 6 bags of general rubbish between the two of us and 4 bags of recyclables … which turned out to be 16 glass bottles, 65 plastic bottles, and 89 cans.
Although the colours are similar, this McDonald’s litter isn’t exactly camouflaged … Compared to many of the fast food companies, McDonald’s has a litter plan in place and recognises that they have a role to play in cleaning up. However, I would really like to see McDonald’s and the other main chain shops (Burger King, KFC, Subway) move beyond cleaning and also focus on educating their customers. Perhaps a fun, clever ad campaign that shows litter louts as the tossers they really are?
And it’s not just the big chain fast food restaurants that contribute to the litter problem in the UK – the remains from a number of local takeaways are commonly found. But at least the chain shops are branded so they can be named and shamed … the locals are currently safe in their anonymity. If they had to slap a label on the containers, would they try harder to prevent their products from being littered? But why not use this to their advantage – perhaps offer a small discount on the next meal if the packaging is brought back to be properly disposed of?
I have continued to use the Twitter hashtag #notabin for things that are definitely not bins. This sign is one such example spotted on today’s walk, and this wall is another …
The car park at a local school was not immune from a build up of litter over the holiday period …
… and seasonal rubbish, from stray tinsel to a number of Christmas crackers were also on view today:
Not a new species of caterpillar … now that Christmas is behind us, let’s look forward to a litter-free 2016!