Have you ever unthinkingly thrown a piece of gum or an apple carcass out of the window whilst driving? Well, you may now find yourself facing a £75 charge if you do so.
The government is introducing this measure in an attempt to reduce the amount of litter on and around the nation’s roads. The move is part of the new Government Litter Strategy for England – a national initiative to tackle rubbish in public places.
Seeing discarded rubbish by the side of roads, on pavements and in parks is unpleasant to us all. It also harms wildlife and pollutes the environment.
Waste disposal in the UK has clearly become a problem. The Daily Mail claimed that there were over 900,000 reports of fly-tipping in 2015/2016, with councils spending £50 million a year to tackle the issue. The Woodland Trust called 2016 the worst year ever for fly-tipping.
Cleaning up the mess
Earlier this week, the government announced plans to tackle the issue. Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom indicated that there were plans to serve convicted fly-tippers with community service orders, with cleaning and picking up rubbish used as a deterrent. This is on top of the £400 fine introduced last year.
The government also wants to scrap the charges that some rubbish disposal facilities apply to those disposing of household and DIY waste. Ms Leadsom has labeled the current charges as, “unfair and unacceptable.” Cutting them out would make using tips and recycling facilities a more attractive option.
Successive government cuts since 2010 have caused an increasing number of cash-strapped councils to charge residents for disposing of their waste. However, it is actually illegal for council-run tips to charge, so if you are asked to pay to use your local one, be sure to appeal.
The problem is exacerbated by criminals pretending to be waste carriers. They pick up residents’ rubbish for a small fee, then dump it illegally somewhere.
The government hopes that the planned changes will slash the demand for these kinds of services, and thereby greatly reduce fly-tipping. Ms Leadsom comments:
“Litter affects us all, harming wildlife, polluting seas, spoiling towns, and giving visitors a poor impression. Our strategy will tackle this by building an anti-litter culture, making it easier for people to dispose of rubbish, and hitting litter louts in the pocket.”
Whilst we at PetrolPrices.com welcome the measures to reduce litter, we are skeptical about how effectively these rules will be enforced. What do you think? Are these measures enough?
IMAGE CREDIT: Pixabay (Public Domain).
How are they planning to enforce this exactly? It’s illegal to use a mobile when driving but I see dozens any time I take a car journey of more than 15 minutes.
Exactly Myron, I live on a major A road (A30) both here and out and about here in Cornwall I have only seen one police patrol car in oven a month, so who’s going to nick you?
Public funding cuts by central government have made policing a joke, like the NHS and social care.
Fly tipping yes, throwing McDonald bags yes, coffee cups, and plastic drinks cups yes, apple core into the hedgerow ???? That will along with other fruit waste decompose in a matter of weeks if not days so where is the problem with that. How will this be policed though. Are the council expecting drivers to send them dash cam footage ??? What about councils that charge for green garden waste ????
as per your picture, people sometimes stop in laybys and dispose of their litter in or around a bin that is full. The reason it is full is that it is too small or not emptied often enough. The answer therefore is bigger ( possibly unsightly) bins that are emptied more often. The litter problem will diminish considerably. Bio degradable materials will help.
I never, ever drop litter. I was train by my parents to take rubbish to a bin or home. But I do throw apple cores into the hedge for the blackbirds. Have done all my life. Is this really considered littering now?
Yet another unenforceable law with so few police about to do anything about it.
The biggest problem in the Calderdale area is that the very service that we, as Council Tax payers, are paying for to collect our refuse are the biggest culprits for dropping litter and living it where it falls. The refuse collectors leave a trail of litter in their wake every time they call. On top of that, the street cleaning has been cut back so far that the streets in some areas are rarely cleaned at all. The council uses the excuse that “…there are too many parked cars in the way.. “
Like most people, I was brought up to put litter in a bin. I despair of those who are just too lazy to bother.
We carry a pack of nappy bags in the car. We use these primarily for our dogs pooh, but they also double up for rubbish. If there isn’t a bin where we stop, we take it home and put it in the bin. Is it SO difficult?
Years ago, a motorist in Huddersfield travelling in front of us, threw a cigarette butt from his car window. Unknown to us, it blew into our car through our rear window, and badly burned our year old daughter. We had to rush her to hospital.
I also had a load of yobs throw a glass bottle from a moving car in London, without any regard for following traffic.
I would have NIL hesitation in reporting any driver who did this now. Dash cam evidence is a useful tool.
Chucking litter isn’t smart. It’s dirty and ignorant.
This new law will not be enforced, just like the lane hogging law,waste of time even passing the law
A web site should be set up by police for people with dash cameras in their cars to send them what they have caught from people in front of them throwing things out of the window. I think this should include discarding cigarettes as well.
Why not take the example of County Kerry in Ireland. We visited there a couple of years ago and there was not a single piece of litter to be seen. Also there were no litter bins in laybys and very few to be seen in towns and villages. However there was a huge €3000 fine for those who littered Either the fine was the deterrent or perhaps the people living or visiting there have more respect for each other and the environment.
Like others commenting here I was taught to take my litter home or bin it but apple cores which are degradable i don`t class as litter as wild life will eat it or it rots away in a very short time & again who is going to police this, nobody as their are no police patrols on the roads anymore.I think many in this country have a problem with litter, went to Hull for a ferry, docks awash with litter, arrived in Europort, Holland & you could eat your lunch off the docks it was that clean,what is wrong with the people of this country, maybe no pride in where they live.
Sorry to read that Andrea Leadsom was a Ms ideology affirmer.
One NEVER unthinkingly throws anything out of a car window: all litter is selfish and arrogant. And discarding a still-lit cigarette is outright dangerous, especially if it is blown back into the car and lands on your skin or clothes!
It’s also councils charging for uplifts from homes, I know they have overheads but in communal shared residences in particular people just dump beds, mattresses, white goods etc in the common areas at night and nobody requests an uplift to avoid paying. Others unbelievably dump it in local areas rather than use a free council dump.
The problem here, of course, is going to be Policing it.
We can’t expect Police officers to be looking for people chucking rubbish out of their car and it will only be on the off chance that they spot it. I think it’s one of these new laws which is full of good intentions but in a practical sense will be impossible to manage.
I think its a great idea and also those lazy people who happily dump all of their unwanted rubbish anywhere at all should be fined heavily
Driving through Cardiff a few days ago I actually saw a sandwich wrapper thrown from the passenger window of a local authority REFUSE TRUCK !! Are rubbish collectors exempt from littering laws????
How about local councils hiring private companies with dashboard cameras? The private contractor gets a percentage of the fine and the Council gets the rest. They could also be used for speeders or dangerous driving.
I find it really disgusting but I honestly don’t know the answer.
They should be given a immediate on the spot fine and if they don’t pay up they should have their cars towed away and scrapped.
What amazes me is not only the people that do it but also the passengers that say nothing, they should all be fined.
I think it would help if they would stop using polystyrene and plastic and made all food containers biodegradable.
Same should apply to drivers and passengers flicking cigarette ash out of the window. Modern cars are fitted with ashtrays and door bins, so all this should be taken home and disposed of there. 100% behind this measure, but can see it being difficult to enforce properly.
As regards mobile phone use, don’t get me started. Employers need to realise it is not important for ‘mobile’ employees to be in constant touch with the office, and employees need to switch off and put their precious phones where they can’t be reached.
Surely modern in-car technology could be developed to disable phones within 5 yards of a car or block mobile phone signals reaching the inside.
Why does our government think that fining people is always the answer to the problem, or maybe they are just looking for ways to increase their revenue, like many have said, very difficult to police, refuse collection in my opinion is dire in the UK, 35 years ago I collected people’s waste in my transit for £10 a load and would take it to the local dump, it was an honest living and provided a much needed service, but had to stop as the council wanted £60 a ton to take it from me, not everything fits in a wheely bin and skip hire is often too expensive, the council will take your larger waste but want a detailed list of every item so they can charge you a small fortune, if flytippers were allowed to use council dumps they would not risk getting caught dumping in the streets, even as a builder I am not allowed to take away the spoils from a job without a license, I know, lets just fine joe public again hmmm
Yet another law that the police will not be bothered to take notice of costing Government time and our tax payer’s money. Riding a bike on the pavement attracts a fine of £200 but the useless police do not stop that. Two people were killed in Cornwall some years ago because cyclists knocked them off the pavement into traffic.
There is a simple solution to this problem …. more and more drivers are fitting onboard cameras to their vehicles. The cameras have a varied ability to record and download so why don’t the local authority pay a £50 / £100 reward to any driver who downloads the evidence of littering or illegal dumping upon a successful conviction. The convicted perpetrator in addition to the fine levied for the offence has to pay the reward which is passed onto the law abiding citizen
I am not in favour of a mandatory fine as this does not help to educate the offenders, nor is it likely to make them change their behaviour. I would prefer to see them required to perform at least one days work on a Community Payback scheme picking up litter from the sides of the roads, providing they are medically fit enough to do so, otherwise they could pay the £75 fine. Should they not perform the Community Payback then the fine would double to £150.
How are they planning to enforce this exactly? It’s illegal to use a mobile when driving but I see dozens any time I take a car journey of more than 15 minutes.
Exactly Myron, I live on a major A road (A30) both here and out and about here in Cornwall I have only seen one police patrol car in oven a month, so who’s going to nick you?
Public funding cuts by central government have made policing a joke, like the NHS and social care.
Fly tipping yes, throwing McDonald bags yes, coffee cups, and plastic drinks cups yes, apple core into the hedgerow ???? That will along with other fruit waste decompose in a matter of weeks if not days so where is the problem with that. How will this be policed though. Are the council expecting drivers to send them dash cam footage ??? What about councils that charge for green garden waste ????
as per your picture, people sometimes stop in laybys and dispose of their litter in or around a bin that is full. The reason it is full is that it is too small or not emptied often enough. The answer therefore is bigger ( possibly unsightly) bins that are emptied more often. The litter problem will diminish considerably. Bio degradable materials will help.
I never, ever drop litter. I was train by my parents to take rubbish to a bin or home. But I do throw apple cores into the hedge for the blackbirds. Have done all my life. Is this really considered littering now?
Yet another unenforceable law with so few police about to do anything about it.
The biggest problem in the Calderdale area is that the very service that we, as Council Tax payers, are paying for to collect our refuse are the biggest culprits for dropping litter and living it where it falls. The refuse collectors leave a trail of litter in their wake every time they call. On top of that, the street cleaning has been cut back so far that the streets in some areas are rarely cleaned at all. The council uses the excuse that “…there are too many parked cars in the way.. “
Like most people, I was brought up to put litter in a bin. I despair of those who are just too lazy to bother.
We carry a pack of nappy bags in the car. We use these primarily for our dogs pooh, but they also double up for rubbish. If there isn’t a bin where we stop, we take it home and put it in the bin. Is it SO difficult?
Years ago, a motorist in Huddersfield travelling in front of us, threw a cigarette butt from his car window. Unknown to us, it blew into our car through our rear window, and badly burned our year old daughter. We had to rush her to hospital.
I also had a load of yobs throw a glass bottle from a moving car in London, without any regard for following traffic.
I would have NIL hesitation in reporting any driver who did this now. Dash cam evidence is a useful tool.
Chucking litter isn’t smart. It’s dirty and ignorant.
This new law will not be enforced, just like the lane hogging law,waste of time even passing the law
A web site should be set up by police for people with dash cameras in their cars to send them what they have caught from people in front of them throwing things out of the window. I think this should include discarding cigarettes as well.
Why not take the example of County Kerry in Ireland. We visited there a couple of years ago and there was not a single piece of litter to be seen. Also there were no litter bins in laybys and very few to be seen in towns and villages. However there was a huge €3000 fine for those who littered Either the fine was the deterrent or perhaps the people living or visiting there have more respect for each other and the environment.
Like others commenting here I was taught to take my litter home or bin it but apple cores which are degradable i don`t class as litter as wild life will eat it or it rots away in a very short time & again who is going to police this, nobody as their are no police patrols on the roads anymore.I think many in this country have a problem with litter, went to Hull for a ferry, docks awash with litter, arrived in Europort, Holland & you could eat your lunch off the docks it was that clean,what is wrong with the people of this country, maybe no pride in where they live.
Sorry to read that Andrea Leadsom was a Ms ideology affirmer.
One NEVER unthinkingly throws anything out of a car window: all litter is selfish and arrogant. And discarding a still-lit cigarette is outright dangerous, especially if it is blown back into the car and lands on your skin or clothes!
It’s also councils charging for uplifts from homes, I know they have overheads but in communal shared residences in particular people just dump beds, mattresses, white goods etc in the common areas at night and nobody requests an uplift to avoid paying. Others unbelievably dump it in local areas rather than use a free council dump.
The problem here, of course, is going to be Policing it.
We can’t expect Police officers to be looking for people chucking rubbish out of their car and it will only be on the off chance that they spot it. I think it’s one of these new laws which is full of good intentions but in a practical sense will be impossible to manage.
I think its a great idea and also those lazy people who happily dump all of their unwanted rubbish anywhere at all should be fined heavily
Driving through Cardiff a few days ago I actually saw a sandwich wrapper thrown from the passenger window of a local authority REFUSE TRUCK !! Are rubbish collectors exempt from littering laws????
How about local councils hiring private companies with dashboard cameras? The private contractor gets a percentage of the fine and the Council gets the rest. They could also be used for speeders or dangerous driving.
I find it really disgusting but I honestly don’t know the answer.
They should be given a immediate on the spot fine and if they don’t pay up they should have their cars towed away and scrapped.
What amazes me is not only the people that do it but also the passengers that say nothing, they should all be fined.
I think it would help if they would stop using polystyrene and plastic and made all food containers biodegradable.
Same should apply to drivers and passengers flicking cigarette ash out of the window. Modern cars are fitted with ashtrays and door bins, so all this should be taken home and disposed of there. 100% behind this measure, but can see it being difficult to enforce properly.
As regards mobile phone use, don’t get me started. Employers need to realise it is not important for ‘mobile’ employees to be in constant touch with the office, and employees need to switch off and put their precious phones where they can’t be reached.
Surely modern in-car technology could be developed to disable phones within 5 yards of a car or block mobile phone signals reaching the inside.
Why does our government think that fining people is always the answer to the problem, or maybe they are just looking for ways to increase their revenue, like many have said, very difficult to police, refuse collection in my opinion is dire in the UK, 35 years ago I collected people’s waste in my transit for £10 a load and would take it to the local dump, it was an honest living and provided a much needed service, but had to stop as the council wanted £60 a ton to take it from me, not everything fits in a wheely bin and skip hire is often too expensive, the council will take your larger waste but want a detailed list of every item so they can charge you a small fortune, if flytippers were allowed to use council dumps they would not risk getting caught dumping in the streets, even as a builder I am not allowed to take away the spoils from a job without a license, I know, lets just fine joe public again hmmm
Yet another law that the police will not be bothered to take notice of costing Government time and our tax payer’s money. Riding a bike on the pavement attracts a fine of £200 but the useless police do not stop that. Two people were killed in Cornwall some years ago because cyclists knocked them off the pavement into traffic.
There is a simple solution to this problem …. more and more drivers are fitting onboard cameras to their vehicles. The cameras have a varied ability to record and download so why don’t the local authority pay a £50 / £100 reward to any driver who downloads the evidence of littering or illegal dumping upon a successful conviction. The convicted perpetrator in addition to the fine levied for the offence has to pay the reward which is passed onto the law abiding citizen
I am not in favour of a mandatory fine as this does not help to educate the offenders, nor is it likely to make them change their behaviour. I would prefer to see them required to perform at least one days work on a Community Payback scheme picking up litter from the sides of the roads, providing they are medically fit enough to do so, otherwise they could pay the £75 fine. Should they not perform the Community Payback then the fine would double to £150.