Litter Laziness

Fly Tipping...

We don’t know about you, but when we fancy exploring the countryside, we don’t want to see people’s household waste simply dumped in a discrete gateway by the side of a quiet road, or anywhere for that matter.

However we understand why an admittedly small selection of ‘efficient’ aka lazy people might sooner use this approach to clearing up, in an extremely selfish sense that is, when so-called recycling centers charge to handle anything delivered by a vehicle that even sounds like it’s commercial.

We added the term ‘so-called’ to said recycling centers because the 3 main centers around us have no place or bin dedicated to plastics, and the cardboard bin is usually full, so we’re told to put that in the non-recyclables bin, which goes straight to landfill, along with the infamous plastics, which will eventually end up in our drinking water as it breaks down into microscopic pieces.

Now the cardboard, we at Ecoffectionate don’t mind as much, because at least it’s derived from natural and so biodegradable materials, but it’s not free from having downsides. It still requires a truck to deliver and remove the bin, a machine or maybe a system of machines to sort through, chew, or shred it down to a manageable medium.

And how do we think all this woody mulch then arrives (hopefully) somewhere it will be reused, or up-cycled into something else society can utilise, or in the worst case be incinerated? Probably via another machine, probably one powered by diesel whether that’s a train, a truck, or even more potent, a ship, and probably not a brand new vehicle which would conform to the latest in emissions regulations, they might even have had a friendly garage bodge their MOT result for some under hand cash. You get the picture.

Many popular streamable crime series make us think that a pile of unwanted and usually well used materials should be a strong source of evidential remains like fingerprints or DNA, which could amount to indication toward where that gateway’s unwanted garnish would have originated. Of course it might be hard to pin the condemning activity of dumping on a specific person or group, but some clues to help certain individuals be monitored, or at the very least be kept on record, would surely stack up to become time well spent.

We were quite impressed by the public’s enlightened support in signing a petition for fast food style outlets to automatically print drive through buyer's number plates onto buyer's packaging, ready for the day they decide to toss it from their vehicle’s window. We already know the companies responsible for the packaging as they all proudly print this already, but the buyer, who is most likely the tosser in this scenario, doesn’t get traced as yet.

Anyone can raise a petition on this site, just make sure to read the guidance on what to outline and make sure that includes a clear and concise action we would like the government to take, or risk that petition ending up in the rejected pile, which simply won't be discussed, no matter how sensible it could be.

Thankfully there are already ways to report the fly tipping type of disregard for others, when we find waste in places it doesn’t belong. That link takes us straight to the UK government website, where we can enter the postcode where the rubbish has been dumped. Lower down the linked page we also see details for contacting Crimestoppers, to report cases of hazardous waste and large scale dumping: https://www.gov.uk/report-flytipping

But what happens once it has been reported? Has anyone tried this before?

Otherwise, who clears up the gateways?

Why do recycling centers need to charge to dispose of ‘commercial’ waste?

How much cash is it worth to them each year?

How much DIY waste is being produced in the government's eyes?

Does that amount tally with what recycling centers are seeing?

If not, how large is the difference and where does that waste go, if not gateways?

Anyone got the answers - share the info with us - get in touch.