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Archive for August 24th, 2011

Bin It

There are many things about road users that irritate me and I while I could blame it on my age – you know, the Grumpy Old Git syndrome, these are things that have annoyed me since I was young.

On this occasion it is people who litter our roads.  Now after my minor rant about the Highways Agency yesterday, today I find myself in full agreement with them over their anger at roadside litter-bugs.

Whilst their anger is at people who litter our motorways, it really should refer to any road user.  The H.A. currently collect 240,000 bags of rubbish from the motorways each year.  Using the current figure for the number of motorway miles in the UK, it means they collect 109 bags of rubbish per mile per year or one bag every 3.34 days per mile.

Why did I break down the figure like this…well just to illustrate how much rubbish is being left at the roadside or worse still, thrown from a moving vehicle.

The H.A.’s message is to ‘Bag it, Bin it’; i.e. take your rubbish home with you.  They state that this would free up resources elsewhere and not contaminate the countryside, possibly cause floodings, harm wildlife and create an eyesore.

I agree with them entirely but my concern is this… We shouldn’t need to tell people this, it should be instinctive.  We now live in a society where large numbers of people need to be told to do everything that should be done as a matter of course.

Do I feel this will make a difference? Well, no, I don’t.  Two points to clarify this:

1/ If you need to be given this very basic instruction on how to behave then you should be ashamed.

2/ If you are someone that really couldn’t care about dropping litter, then it will make no difference anyway because you will continue to leave rubbish whenever you stop by the roadside (or in service areas) or throw it from your vehicle.  

After all, it keeps someone in a job doesn’t it – and yes, I have heard this excuse used!