Litter picking.

[Noodley]

...they emerged from the darkness.

This rubbish must have been chucked out by the same f'kin chav scum who chucked a bag of rubbish at me start of October last year...

Get proper lights then.

Yes, it MUST have been the same person from 6 months ago - no other possibility.

 

[thegrumpybiker]

It really is a pity that the feckers can't be used as target practice, I am serious. Despoiling the environment should a be serious offence.

Are you SERIOUS?
Think how much you'll be paying in tax for all those bullets

 

[thegrumpybiker]

i have always said make the unemployed do this kind of work before getting there benefit

I'm currently unemployed and applying for benefits (and jobs of course).
I personally would have no problem being told that to get said benefits I'd be required to do some kind of community work like this, but you'd get the limp wristed do-gooders complaining about "human rights" or some such bollocks.
I also think that this sort of stuff should be the 21st century equivalent of national service. To be honest I'd love it if the job of being a litter picker was almost negated due to a surfeit of people actually giving a f*ck about the environment.

 

[Armegatron]

Havent read through all the pages but my University regularly does litter picks so it might be worth contacting your local university. Also there is a "O2" (or it might have been "Orange") scheme where you do community work and get tickets for gigs, so the organisers of that scheme may add this litter pick to the list of applicable events?

 

[2wheelsgood]

Both heartened and depressed to read this thread. It's encouraging to see how many people are concerned about the problem, dispiriting to see how big the problem is.

 

[Arch]

I'm currently unemployed and applying for benefits (and jobs of course).
I personally would have no problem being told that to get said benefits I'd be required to do some kind of community work like this, but you'd get the limp wristed do-gooders complaining about "human rights" or some such bollocks.
I also think that this sort of stuff should be the 21st century equivalent of national service. To be honest I'd love it if the job of being a litter picker was almost negated due to a surfeit of people actually giving a f*ck about the environment.

Although it would be a shame if someone who was actually well suited to that sort of job, but nothing more cerebral, found themselves unemployed because of all the unemployed media studies graduates doing it....

I'm with you on the idea of a modern national service, I'd make it compulsory after school and before University.

 

[thegrumpybiker]

Although it would be a shame if someone who was actually well suited to that sort of job, but nothing more cerebral, found themselves unemployed because of all the unemployed media studies graduates doing it....

I'm with you on the idea of a modern national service, I'd make it compulsory after school and before University.

What I actually meant was I just wish people wouldn't make a habit of dropping litter/flytipping in the first place.

As for the national service idea, don't just limit it to school leavers, I think there should be a random "jury service" type selection. The litterers seem to come from every level of society, if they had one day a year of compulsory litter picking I'm pretty sure the landscape would be reasonably spotless within a decade.

 

[Arch]

Good idea!

But I do think it's worth remembering that there are people who could, and can, do a job like litter picking, but couldn't take on tasks needing more initiative - it's a valuable task, and shouldn't be looked down on. The brain injured chap who works with us has really benefitted from the chance to do something relatively simple and routine.

My national service idea is partly to break the link between college and uni - I suspect lots of kids go on to uni 'just because', rather than really thinking about what they want to do - focussed national service might give them a chance to try something and find out if it suits them, get them into the routine of a job etc. There would be allocations to all sorts of useful lines of work - environmental, care, classroom assistance - and perhaps a lottery for a certain number of places overseas, to allow those without funds to take a useful 'gap year' and travel. There'd be a basic supporting wage for people to live at home, and better help for those for whom home was no longer an option.

I'd even suggest that those with rich mummies and daddies could go off and have their gap years at their own expense - but they'd have to bear in mind that they needed to rack up experience and maturity to mathch that of those who stayed home and did a useful job and were therefore ahead in the job stakes.

 

[Crankarm]

Are you SERIOUS?
Think how much you'll be paying in tax for all those bullets

Magic bullets grumpy, magic bullets .

Anyway as environmental supplies they could be zero VAT rated .

 

[thegrumpybiker]

Good idea!

But I do think it's worth remembering that there are people who could, and can, do a job like litter picking, but couldn't take on tasks needing more initiative - it's a valuable task, and shouldn't be looked down on. The brain injured chap who works with us has really benefitted from the chance to do something relatively simple and routine.

My national service idea is partly to break the link between college and uni - I suspect lots of kids go on to uni 'just because', rather than really thinking about what they want to do - focussed national service might give them a chance to try something and find out if it suits them, get them into the routine of a job etc. There would be allocations to all sorts of useful lines of work - environmental, care, classroom assistance - and perhaps a lottery for a certain number of places overseas, to allow those without funds to take a useful 'gap year' and travel. There'd be a basic supporting wage for people to live at home, and better help for those for whom home was no longer an option.

I'd even suggest that those with rich mummies and daddies could go off and have their gap years at their own expense - but they'd have to bear in mind that they needed to rack up experience and maturity to mathch that of those who stayed home and did a useful job and were therefore ahead in the job stakes.

Arch for PM!

 

[Arch]

Arch for PM!

Just wait until you hear my sliding scale of sentencing for people who don't wash out their recycling!

 

[2wheelsgood]

Useful website by a group of people determined to do something about the problem. They seem to be generating a fair bit of publicity

http://www.litterheroes.co.uk/index.htm

 

[Campfire]

Well, I've done my little bit for litter picking today. In two stretches of the Transpennine Trail I collected 2 large carrier bags of litter. That did not include under bushes, it only included within a couple of feet of the track. I'm limited to what I can collect. At the areas near the road, particularly near where there's a Morrisons etc or near housing, there is so much it needs a working party of people on foot to clear it. There is one bin at one place but the last leg is a problem because the bins have a small opening.

Anyway, feel quite virtuous but just wish I could carry a ittle more then I could have done the last stretch too. I just can't understand what drives people to just drop their litter. A strange thing was I found a trail of little petit Fromage Frais containers, obviously someone with a kid. Then a trail of empty Nurofen strips?????? Is that a way to get high nowadays?

 

[Cubist]

Anyway, feel quite virtuous but just wish I could carry a ittle more then I could have done the last stretch too. I just can't understand what drives people to just drop their litter. A strange thing was I found a trail of little petit Fromage Frais containers, obviously someone with a kid. Then a trail of empty Nurofen strips?????? Is that a way to get high nowadays?

Well done Campfire, wish I could say I'd done as much to help this weekend. This thread really has got me thining about some local trails etc.

By the way, Nurofen contains Codeine Phosphate in small amounts, so in sufficient quantities will give a high. Unfortunately the user will have their stomach or gullet stripped of all its lining and will suffer extreme heartburn, indigestion, ulcers etc.

 

[The Bystander]

Thread resurrection alert.

In the Before Times when groups were a thing, I have occasionally participated in a group litter pick.
In these times when we're allowed out once a day I've been tutting, sighing and rolling my eyes at litter strewn paths. No matter how loud I tutted or deep I sighed, it made no difference.

So I got hold of a litter picking stick, some council rubbish bags and a bag hoop (to keep the mouth of the bag open one handed) and combined my exercise outing with a litter pick today. Filled one large sack in about a quarter of a mile

That is all, just blowing my own trumpet