Filthy Drivers: Roadside Rubbish

[Merry_Wanderer]

It was interesting to see the contrast between the UK and Denmark and Holland. Mrs M_W both commented on the lack of litter in Denmark and Holland when we cycled abroad

[Heltor Chasca]

When I see a gel wrapper on the road I think it must have been some scum of a cyclist and when I see a banana skin I suspect that is also a possibility, even a probability if it is the right sort of place.

However I find it hard to believe that the car tyres, TV sets, mattresses, MacDonalds, Coke bottles, feed sacks and the other 99.99% of roadside rubbish was dropped by cyclists.

So even as a cyclist I find the minuscule amounts of rubbish dropped by cyclists to be possibly a million times (by weight) as offensive as that dropped by others.

Some litter louts are aware of the fact that it isnt illegal to dump on private land and drop their rubbish accordingly.

I'm with you Beardy. As another 'beard' I'm keen on compostables. I like the natural energy bars made by Mule. Apart from being the only bar my body has benefited from without having to bring in 'Ram-Rod' (or whatever those drain dudes are called) I'm happy to say that their packaging is stated as compostable. Like the previous (and wonderful) earlier post 'If you can be bothered to take it there full, you can be bothered to take it home empty' I still take Mule bar wrappers home. I'm experimenting with them in my 3 ton compost.

As for banana skins. Well that's just a slapstick moment waiting to happen...hc

[reohn2]

I see it all the time,particularly obvious examples are m/way slips especially where there's TLs,and the odd three paice suite and matching carpet in some of the most picturesque locations
Generally,elements of the UK populous are a careless couldn't give a monkey's,dirty lot with little or no social conscience.
Sad innit?

[Moodyman1]

There's a real lack of civic pride in the UK. As above, when I cycled in France and The Netherlands I was surprised by the lack of rubbish.

[bikes4two]

It was interesting to see the contrast between the UK and Denmark and Holland. Mrs M_W both commented on the lack of litter in Denmark and Holland when we cycled abroad

We cycled across Switzerland last year - everywhere seemed pristine clean.

[Vorpal]

I don't see much rubbish along the road in Norway either. What's even odder, I've never seen anyone picking up rubbish along the roads in Denmark, Norway, or Sweden. They must do it, but I don't know when. In the UK, I used to see it regularly (a couple of times each year?) along the A12 and A120.

In the towns, there are street sweeper machines. And I see the occasional lost glove and things. I guess it probably helps that McDonalds and the like are few and far between in Norway.

[reohn2]

I don't see much rubbish along the road in Norway either. What's even odder, I've never seen anyone picking up rubbish along the roads in Denmark, Norway, or Sweden. They must do it, but I don't know when.

They won't pick it up if it isn't dropped in the first place .

In the UK, I used to see it regularly (a couple of times each year?) along the A12 and A120.

I always think what people from the continent think when I see the hedgerows stewn with litter .
Earlier in the week I saw a double bed dumped by the side of the road in a very rural and otherwise lovely setting,what goes on in the minds of the people who do this is anyone's guess

In the towns, there are street sweeper machines. And I see the occasional lost glove and things. I guess it probably helps that McDonalds and the like are few and far between in Norway.

But at least Mc D's do have litter picker out on the road about a mile away from where we live,though that says something in itself that they need to

The dirty 'man' of Europe isn't a bad description of the UK IMHO.

[mjr]

But at least Mc D's do have litter picker out on the road about a mile away from where we live,though that says something in itself that they need to

Mc D would need to pick the length of most major roads leading away from their litter-generators. The stuff from them and related car-fetishising grease palaces like KFC spreads far and wide. Is it because their customers are so unfit and their food so lacking in nutrition that many can barely lurch from car to house, let alone climb out and put the bag into a layby litter bin?

[meic]

I remember a long time ago at one of the English ferry ports somebody dropped some litter from a German registered VW Transporter van. Rather hilariously my (German) wife and another separate (German) onlooker went over and gave him hell.
German is a great language for reprimand and with an audience of other Germans doing their tutting thing it was quite humiliating for him. My wife said that he had justified his actions by saying "all the locals do it" but she was having none of that.

[mrjemm]

A few months ago, I'd been on a ship and got off near Bergen. On the bus to the airport, I noticed a banana skin by the side of the road near some roadworks. That I noticed a banana skin says something to me.

More recently I got off a ship in Eastern Germany. From there I got a series of trains across Germany to Holland before hopping on the ferry to UK and driving home. Germany was as well known, clean, though Eastern Germany was a bit tatty in places. When I changed trains in Utrecht, I noticed it to be considerably grubby and grimy after Germany. And then I got back into the UK...

Yesterday, in the countryside, my rear wheel hit a plastic bottle and I almost came off into traffic. Earlier on I'd seen a fridge on the canal bank, likewise some polystyrene (?) that appeared to possibly be part of a lifering. I had a flying plastic bag wrap itself around my hand. Other plastic bags were decorating most bushes and verges; those tended to be weighted from flying with canine processed organics (ahem). On the cycle path glass was frequent.

Last week in Newcastle I walked past some twenty-something lads throw some litter (can't recall what) at a litter bin. It hit the edge of the slot, bounced off and fell to the floor, they cracked up. I am not so brave as to challenge them or interfere, sorry, but besides, it's so normal to see like this, and the fag wrappers/butts casually thrown down in town/out of cars.

Look around any business park, large employer (including hospitals) or other focus of gathering, and the ground will be littered, mostly with fag detritus, but other stuff of course. Sometimes a business will put up a small sign, or a small fag bin, but usually it's a token gesture, and is not cared for beyond this.

Gotta love British culture (as in bacterial), just observe Chelsea-en-Metro...

[Merry_Wanderer]

I used the towpath cycle route into Coventry once. Only once because it was strewn and partly blocked by dumped rubbish including filthy nappies.

I must admit to thinking what a filthy hole the UK is in parts when we returned from Germany

[SleepyJoe]

Worse case I saw was a small hatchback driving past and a cigerette butt end was thrown out the window.
Not so bad as some littering but the car had two middle aged women in.
Even worse, the driver throwing the cig butt out had a dog collar on.
Yes, she was our new local vicar littering- what a good example!
Mark

[Rhodrich]

After the Prudential Ride London 100 last year, I went for a walk on my local common, and there, beside the route, found 4 separate inner tubes that had been discarded by cyclists who had had punctures during the day. This was alongside numerous gel sachets.

Picked up and binned as many gel sachets as I could find, and took the inner tubes home for repair and re-use. Quite why anyone would discard an inner tube in the bushes for the sake of a 17p patch (Wilko puncture repair kits are £1, and have 6 patches in them) is beyond me.

[mjr]

Prudential Ride is on a time limit isn't it?

And didn't they do any clean up?

[Rhodrich]

It is on a time limit, so I can understand not doing the patching at the side of the road, but there is nothing to stop you fitting a spare tube, and stuffing the punctured one in your back pocket for repair when you get back home.

Clean up was sadly lacking. There are still gel packets out there in the bushes on the common today......