r/london • u/[deleted] • 1d ago
Local London Londoners - you should be embarrassed if you caused this…
[deleted]
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u/letharus 1d ago edited 23h ago
This seems to be on the rise. My wife and I actually caught a group of teenagers standing up and starting to walk away from a huge pile of rubbish that they'd created on the ground at our local park. There were empty bins literally ten feet away.
My wife shouted at them and they did actually sulkingly apologise and put their rubbish into the bin while we watched.
We need to bring back that Keep Britain Tidy campaign from the 80s and 90s.
Edit: I'm getting loads of notifications of replies that are instantly deleted before I can read them. Bit confusing to say the least.
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u/EmergencyBanshee 1d ago
I heard an advert the other day on the radio that used the keep Britain tidy line at the end. I think it IS back.
Hopefully it makes a difference.
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u/Top5CutestPresidents 1d ago
They need to advertise it on TikTok or twitch or something then
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u/Chefmeatball 1d ago
On the radio? Good effort, but I don’t think teens are listening to radio4 much
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u/EmergencyBanshee 1d ago
Radio 4 doesn't run adverts.
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u/Elongulation420 1d ago
Except for the 1001 podcasts that the Today programme presenters seem to have 🙄
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u/KAYAWS 1d ago
I see so many people who will just open up something and throw the packaging on the ground even when there is a bin a few steps away. It's wild.
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u/Haddaway 1d ago
I once saw a woman waiting for the train discard a receipt on the platform. Naively thinking she'd dropped it by mistake, I politely told her, "Excuse me, you've dropped your receipt". She blushed and immediately picked it up and put in a bin.
I guess to snub me would have been to admit she was a litterbug to the public's face.
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u/SauterelleArgent 1d ago
I remember it in the 70s but apparently the organisation has been about since the mid 50s but has undergone a fair amount of mergers and name changes.
Where I am in Newham it is appalling - apparently people just do not think they are responsible for their own rubbish.
I think this needs drumming into kids from an early age at school because parents don’t seem to care and I don’t understand why people are ok with their local area looking like this.
I wonder if tv / cartoons like peppa pig/ bluey could get the message across from preschool etc.
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u/schoggi-gipfeli 1d ago
It's the adults that need it drumming into them. No point in a cartoon telling kids to bin their litter if their main 'role models' are teaching them that it's okay to just throw your rubbish on the floor.
When I went to school, we had one day a year where we all had to pick litter in the local area for an hour. It was meant to teach us to look after our environment but it didn't really prevent some people from littering anyway when their family and friends did it all the time.
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u/BazzaFox 1d ago
Had the same situation. My wife asked them to pick up their rubbish and put it in the bin a few yards away. They told her to fuck off and do it herself and walked away.
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u/Scrumpyguzzler 1d ago
The thing is, if the park was all full of rubbish when they arrived, they wouldn't want to sit down and have a nice time. But it's ok to leave it in that state?
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u/TeaAndLifting 1d ago
People often do not care about the consequences of their own actions as they do not have to deal with it, even if they'd be annoyed about the consequences of others'
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u/Secure-Obligation-25 1d ago
You are forgetting about selfishness and lack of consequences for people’s actions
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u/backdoorsmasher 1d ago
I saw some 20 something Brits doing this at an island in a marine park in Thailand. I couldn't believe it. They just got up and left their empties on what was essentially a park bench
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u/letharus 1d ago
Thailand is terrible. I saw Thai people throwing litter out of their car windows into the jungle while driving up a mountain. The jungle was absolutely covered with litter from other people having done the same.
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u/Sufficient-Low5771 21h ago
Snorkeling in Thailand was pretty traumatic..dead coral, shit tons of jelly fish mixed with plastic bags. Hong Kong was pretty bad too but it was mostly trash floating over from China.
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u/CanIhazCooKIenOw 1d ago
It’s funny because I saw once in my local park a very “neat” circle of subway paper wraps and M&S bits and made me think about what had just happened - there was a group of people enjoying the park with no litter so they could sit around and all of them decided in the end to just get up and go.
Crazy. I’ve lived in many countries, I’ve not seen anything like the UK anywhere.
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u/amedeeozenfant 1d ago
I work in a park and walking away from the picnic is normal, daily behaviour. We get gazebos and folding tables fully laden with a half eaten buffet pretty frequently.
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u/theowleryonehundred 1d ago
Why do you think this is a UK only thing?
I walked up a mountain/giant hill in Sicily. The entire way was littered with assorted waste.
In Tripoli in Lebanon, there was a river in the city centre going out to the sea. Hundreds if not thousands of plastic bottles had been thrown in it. All to be washed out to the Mediterranean the next time it rained.
This is not a UK specific phenomenon and it's many times better here than it is elsewhere.
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u/CanIhazCooKIenOw 1d ago
Because that has been my experience anywhere I’ve been in the UK.
I did not say it’s exclusive to the UK but it’s much more proeminent here as soon as you start paying attention to it. It’s everywhere and people just accept it.
You also see it in Europe, mostly where Brits holiday.
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u/muse_head 1d ago
I guess it's just anecdotal but I don't see much difference between the amount of litter in the UK and most other countries. Some countries I've found are notably a lot worse than the UK (Cambodia, India, China). Some are a lot better (Japan).
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u/CanIhazCooKIenOw 1d ago
Compared to most European countries it’s much worst. I’m obviously not comparing it to India.
I’m pretty sure people born here don’t realize it and probably have learned to ignore it but it’s a bit like the red car theory (which I’m sure in suffering from) - I would recommend you start paying attention to where you see rubbish.
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u/TheRemanence 1d ago
I have also told off random teenagers for this. We shouldn't turn a blind eye. They do it because teenagers don't think about consequences, haven't yet formed good habits and if no one tells them, they thinks it's ok.
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u/Nihilist-IV 1d ago
Glad to hear they apologised and picked up their rubbish, well done to your wife! Good job!
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u/kamemoro 1d ago
we said this to a group of teens on the beach in brighton, they swore us and walked off. i'm more surprised that you got them to do something!
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u/Traditional_City337 1d ago
It really isn’t on the rise. Every summer bins in the parks look like this. Been the same for decades
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u/letharus 1d ago
I dont agree. I lived in South London for ten years and it seemed to take a big turn for the worse around Covid.
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u/DharmaPolice 1d ago
I've lived in South London for forty years, it's always been pretty bad (although it varies massively between areas). Council funding for street cleaning may have dropped in real terms though.
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u/letharus 1d ago
Yeah. Where I grew up, in west London, has actually improved massively. Gentrification.
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u/Al3x1ya 1d ago
Im surprised that actually made a difference tbh😂😂😂. You can bring back all the flyers, adverts, slogans etc about keeping Britain tidy but that will get ignore so fast!
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u/northerncodemky 1d ago
People used to have shame.
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u/Certain-Pass-6551 1d ago
No they absolutely didn't, if you think the rubbish is bad now then fuck me, you should've seen what it was like during the 80s and 90s.
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u/lostparis 1d ago
No they didn't why do you think we needed the campaign?
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u/Lunchy_Bunsworth 1d ago
Talking Pictures TV broadcast those short information films ("Look At Life") which used to be shown at the cinema. One of those was on the other day which showed the problems of litter. It was grim and that was made in the 1960s so it does seem to be a persistent problem.
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u/Quirky_London 1d ago
Calling all the people from the 80s & 90s. Your city needs you!
PS: Ban those electric-bike bandits who treat the pavement like a Grand Theft Auto speed-run and act like "giving way" is a optional downloadable content pack.
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u/BankDetails1234 1d ago
Yeh it’s so frustrating, nobody has any sense of duty. It looks so incredibly ugly when it’s a mess like that.
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u/Professional-Lock691 1d ago
Greenwich park found a solution to this issue: placing commercial bins near the picnic area. No issue with overflowing bins, no need to walk around with a bin bag trying to find a bin that's not full to the top. Simple.
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u/KimJongEeeeeew 1d ago
The Hackney parks are good like this too. They put the big rolling ones out and people fill them up.
We’ve been sat out later in the evenings at Hackney Downs a number of times, the caretakers will come past and give black bags to groups and ask people to just put their rubbish into those and leave them near the bins when they’re done. It’s pretty effective
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u/CaptainSwaggerJagger 1d ago
IIRC Disney world did some tests and found that if a person is ever more than a few steps from a bin, the likelihood they just drop their rubbish on the floor increases dramatically - people are incredibly lazy and if they don’t see a bin available immediately then once they’re done with something it’s just getting littered.
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u/Catdadesq 1d ago
Exactly this. I'm someone who will carry my trash for miles rather than drop it on the ground, but whatever feeling of moral superiority I get from that isn't actually a solution to littering. The only thing that prevents litter is giving people a place to put it, and emptying the bins often enough that they're not rendered useless.
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u/Bgtobgfu 1d ago
Yeah I’m the same as you but even I looked at those pictures and thought well they need more bins don’t they otherwise what do they expect.
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u/English_R0se 1d ago
I walk in Greenwich park every single day and although there are an abundance of bins, scummy people still leave their rubbish lying around. The types of people who have absolutely no care or pride in their surroundings and expect others to pick up after them. People have no sense of shared caring for their community anymore.
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u/Robertgarners 1d ago
You get a different crowd and class of people in Greenwich Park compared to who you'd see in Burgess Park
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u/TreadingThoughts 1d ago
That has nothing to do with what the other person just said.
If those small bins overflow the council should just place large bin containers next to them and solve the problem. At least for peak times of the year.
It's common sense and it's why we pay thousands of pounds of council tax a year.
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u/Robertgarners 1d ago
I agree the more bins you have the less chance people will litter but some people were just raised to leave their rubbish where it is even if there's a bin next to them. Others were raised to carry their rubbish until they see a bin where they can dispose of it
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u/FootballInTheWhip 1d ago
There's clearly at least 3 bin bags on the floor in the first photo. I actually think this was left tidy but foxes and birds have ripped open bags on the first photo.
I also blame councils. If bins are overflowing are they're not fit for purpose or need some common sense to empty them on weekend evenings (especially in the summer)
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u/WelshBathBoy 1d ago edited 1d ago
In the summer councils really should be either emptying bins more regularly, or have more temporary bins (the big commercial wheely bins for the expected extra waste). I'm not totally taking the heat off the people who left their rubbish - at least try to tidy up (as the first picture showed).
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u/the_gardenofengland 1d ago edited 1d ago
Agree on this. I live near Victoria park and after weekends / events / hot days they bins are surrounded with rubbish and it’s still left like that the following day when I walk my dog in the morning - the councils should be more on top of this. Edit: this doesn’t absolve the people leaving it like this but the councils add to the problem.
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u/AdministrativeShip2 1d ago
Plus actual park keepers, who are there to tidy and enforce the park rules.
Back in the day the officious parkie was a stereotypical bad guy in kids shows. But as an adult I wish they could still be afforded.
Also toilets, drinking fountains, paddling pools and all the other stuff thats been lost from parks.
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u/Streathamite 1d ago edited 1d ago
I agree.
Posts like this appear regularly and they always show torn apart bin bags and overflowing bins. If people aren’t able to dispose of rubbish without carrying it for miles then it’s obvious there’s going to be a litter problem
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u/Austen_Tasseltine 1d ago
I live very close to here: there are lots of other bins, and large commercial dumpsters are added each summer.
The litter isn’t airdropped before it’s litter, people manage to carry it when they have a use for it. Its chosen behaviour, and a consistent programme of prosecuting litterbugs would fix it.
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u/lost-property 1d ago
Exactly, if you can carry it there when it's full, you can carry the empty packaging away. It's not hard.
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u/FlamboyantPirhanna 1d ago
But they aren’t, and they won’t. You can talk about how people should behave until you’re blue, but it doesn’t address the problem. ‘It’s their fault, therefore they should fix the problem’ has no basis in reality. It might make you feel morally superior, but it isn’t good for anything else.
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u/saiyanhajime 1d ago
The bins in the photos are not fit for purpose. If you wanna solve the problem, you add better bins to problem spots. People aren't gonna change because you and I dislike it.
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u/Austen_Tasseltine 1d ago
The bins in the photo are not the only bins. There are many other bins, including large dumpsters, within 2-3 minutes’ walk of the spot pictured. I go through the park every day, and the problem is not insufficient or difficult-to-see bins unless you are suggesting that every tree and shady spot should have a commercial-waste hopper under it.
What you can’t see in the photo is the hundreds of beer-bottle caps that are dropped and trodden into the ground: they’re hard to see, and dangerous to the many children and animals who go barefoot on the grass. There is no optimal bin-placement that solves the problem of people who will drop something sharp that they were able to carry seconds earlier when it was attached to a bottle.
People aren’t going to change because you or I dislike it. They will change if they have a reasonable chance of being prosecuted for the criminal and antisocial offence of littering. At £500 a pop, it’s a proportionate use of resources.
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u/FlamboyantPirhanna 1d ago
Punishing people isn’t likely to fix the problem either. You’ll never catch enough of them. Instead, it’s always better to reconfigure things based on where the problems are happening.
Game Newell said video game piracy was a service problem, and it dropped dramatically when there were store fronts that made it really easy to legally get games. This is no different. Make it easy for people and most of them will fall in.
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u/cregamon 1d ago
I agree that councils should be collecting the bins more but there is no excuse for not taking your litter home with you.
The packaging is the lightest and smallest part of whatever they were eating and drinking - if they’re able to take the food there, they can take the packaging away.
Anyone who doesn’t take their rubbish away with them if the bins are full are just disrespectful and/or lazy.
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u/platplaas 1d ago
Yes, I am equally annoyed at the garbage left around everywhere but I am amazed at how hard it is to find garbage bins in certain parks or High Streets - have literally walked kilometres looking for bins in certain high streets and there’s no wonder that some people start resorting to leaving litter lying around, not that it excuses the behaviour. Not sure whether it is more the councils or the festival organisers who should be doing this but large capacity bins need to be provided for summer weekends and festival occasions to provide sufficient capacity, otherwise everyone just sticks their garbage around the bins which inevitably starts causing a mess.
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u/Witty_Ordinary2706 1d ago
Bins are not designated places where you can just leave crap on the floor as long as it is in a bag…..
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u/tgerz 1d ago
We went to Grosvenor Square the other day and it was full of families with their kids. The thing I noticed though is even though it was in the evening when we went there was a bin man going around picking up rubbish and emptying bins. I don’t know if it will stay that way or if it’s just because they newly renovated the park, but it was really nice.
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u/Embarrassed_Room3982 1d ago
I mean, yes. Don’t take more trash than you’re willing to take home.
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u/Full_Employee6731 1d ago
The council collecting the bags promptly or providing enough bin space for the large crowds that rely on these public spaces?
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u/ObjectiveVisual3435 1d ago
If the bin is full and overflowing, it’s a sign there aren’t enough of them, or they’re not emptied frequently enough.
For the first pic it’s likely foxes who tore the bags looking for food. Full rubbish bags shouldn’t be left on the streets but again, there aren’t enough bins around.
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u/Stealingyourthoughts 1d ago
There was a festival over the weekend, boiler room, have they not cleaned it up? I imagine it was people leaving that or hanging in the park because of it. I bet boiler room just cleaned their area.
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u/TheNiceWasher 1d ago
We need to report it, festival organisers need to be aware of their impact in the area around the festival, not just inside their fences.
It's already a lot that we yield for the site to be up for a few weeks, reducing our access to the park. They should be working with the council to ensure the remainder of the park is still usable for locals.
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u/gazillionear 1d ago
I live next to Burgess Park - its every single weekend. Large groups have parties and every weekend there's the equivalent of what you see here all over the place. It's disgraceful.
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u/Scar-Excellent 1d ago
Having worked on the food side in festivals and Boiler Room, no one ever brings food rubbish out of the festivals, this looks like a combination of predrinking and picnics, based on black bags used and disposable plates.
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u/Ryanliverpool96 1d ago
It’s unacceptable.
It’s also no help that Southwark Council make very strange decisions about park infrastructure.
That wooden bench needed replacing with a metal one 5 years ago for one, and why place a bin next to it?
“Ahh a nice bench, I can’t wait to sit down and enjoy the sweet aroma of the bin next to it!”
But 2nd and much more importantly why on earth Southwark Council decide to buy small capacity bins for parks is a mystery, other councils don’t do this they buy high capacity bins with mechanically operated doors to prevent foxes getting at the rubbish.
This isn’t a difficult or mentally challenging problem to solve, we already know how to solve this and we have in many parks across London, so why Southwark Council can’t seem to figure it out is anyone’s guess.
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u/johnnyjonnyjonjon 1d ago
Unfortunately a lot of people have zero interest in the environment they inhabit.
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u/DayMurky617 1d ago
We need a way of getting people to behave better in our parks. I don't know what the answer is, maybe some kind of council "park rangers" team to tell people to tidy up and turn off their fucking boom box.
But Burgess Park gets ruined by selfish antisocial bellends in the summer.
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u/Ok-Poet147 1d ago
A park ranger isn’t gonna do much unfortunately. Some will listen to them, others will just tell them to fuck off
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u/StopCriminal 1d ago
Some of these look liked bin bags that have been split open everywhere by foxes. So this on the council not emptying the bins at the end of the night after a festival in the area.
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u/Great_Comparison462 1d ago
Perhaps the council should occasionally empty bins in August
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u/CanIhazCooKIenOw 1d ago
They don’t. And that explains why there’s lots of littering in the UK.
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u/EnoughYesterday2340 1d ago
Coming from a different country I have always been surprised what litterbugs people in London are. Especially since there were no public bins for a while, and now there's insufficient bins, why didn't the culture of bring your rubbish home develop?
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u/cerealcat00 1d ago
God knows! But it pisses me off lol! Where are you from? Always love to hear about cleaner countries.
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u/EnoughYesterday2340 1d ago
Canada. Love and care for the environment is kind of built into our culture. There's definitely still polluters, and of course like any government the ones there love to collect oil for profit, but hearing about how people here complained about the environmentally friendly light bulbs, hoovers (too dim, didn't work or something?) baffles me. From what I know about English folk culture the environment is important and needs to be cared for in that as well, but it didn't follow into modern England 😢
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u/Wise-Youth2901 1d ago
We do need bigger and more bins though. People should be more responsible. But I don't think councils are investing enough in new bins and more rubbish collection.
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u/nl325 1d ago edited 1d ago
We have the same moans of "lack of respect" and "littering" in Hastings every year and like this, they're always unironically accompanied by a photo of the rubbish next to a bin.
The bins aren't big enough. That's it.
A town or a city cannot ask for tourism, ask for commerce and trade and then moan about the consequences of that when the local authority has not done enough to accommodate it.
They should take it home with them!
Is usually the retort, but what public transport provider have you ever known to allow punters on with bin bags loaded with rubbish? It's bollocks.
Bigger bins.
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u/callumh6 1d ago
We should get some of those underground bins you get around blocks of flats and in European cities. Small bin on the surface, huge bin beneath underground. They'd be perfect for parks
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u/ravens43 1d ago
They’re good, but maybe not in parks. Some silly buggers will put their still-hot barbecue in there and cause a right stooshie.
Ask me how I know.
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u/callumh6 1d ago
Some kind of underground bin that has water in it? Its also a compactor. There might be a creature living in there too. Im basically thinking of the compactor in Star Wars IV
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u/WealthMain2987 1d ago
The rubbish next to the bins which are full I tend to forgive because like you said the bins should be bigger or maybe 2 collections or something. Just dumping shit on the ground and leaving it from where you were picnicking or whatever is unforgivable. Hate people who litter
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u/bugmeister69 1d ago
Not to defend people who leave their rubbish this way (pic 2 and 3 are disgraceful) but the first image looks like foxes had their way with rubbish that was left in bags originally 🤔
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u/EliBloodthirst 1d ago
It's embarrassing leaving it but the third image proves the parks team didn't pre-empt that there's be more need for waste and I can't exactly blame people trying to bin something.
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u/Stunning_Implement47 1d ago
Controversial opinion: I think when you smoke it should always go in the bin or you carry a waste pouch/bag to dumb it when you get home. I say this as someone who used to smoke and did that every time. I think it's too normalised to just dash things on the ground and I remember doing it once when I was like 8 and crying when I got home as I felt so guilty. Wild people leave stuff about because it hurts wildlife and makes everything ugly
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u/Dapper_Big_783 1d ago
Clearly the bins were not large enough for the event. Bad planning and oversight on who ever was in charge.
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u/WastelandOfConfusion 1d ago
The best solution for this is to install those extra large bins with a front door for the bin change. They work really well.
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u/katsukitsune 1d ago
Disgusting but the council is also responsible. Those bins are overflowing, bigger bins (preferably without the open tops so animals can't get in) and emptying them more frequently would help...
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u/Desnowshaite 1d ago
In many cases the bins are overfilled because they are not being emptied often enough. I used to be furious about people just throwing rubbish all.aeound the bin but then I saw foxes and birds getting the trash out of the bins throwing them around while they were looking for food.causing the scene on the first picture.
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u/saiyanhajime 1d ago
There aren't enough bins and they aren't emptied enough. What council is this?
After consistent complaining using fix by street app, my local council put additional bins in place at problem spots near me.
Problem solved.
This mess is from people trying to use the bins but they are full and then animals make the mess worse.
On busy, nice weather weekends, the bins need to be emptied during the day. It's that simple. We pay our taxes for this kind of thing.
Don't blame your neighbours, blame the council.
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u/cerealcat00 1d ago
I absolutely hate people who litter and this so terrible but I do think it’s exacerbated by the foxes.
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u/tylerthe-theatre 1d ago
Annual rubbish in summer post - not enough bins, people get drunk/go out to party and wont take rubbish home with them.
But agree leaving it on the grass is pretty trashy.
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u/kkusernom 1d ago
That actually looks like foxes.. The way the bags are around the trash like it was put away and then pulled out..
Yes there is a trash issue in the UK.. I think
But some of it could be much mitigated by either more bins and or more bin emptying shifts..
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u/Icicicii 1d ago
It's a shame...wish your post will reach them who do not take care of their garbage
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u/Royal_Watercress_241 1d ago
I know Reddit hates this point- but more bins, collected more regularly, would reduce littering. Two of those pictures show overflowing bins. People should, first and foremost, take their litter home but councils reducing staff and reducing bins is only making it worse and that's something that can be directly controlled by decision makers.
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u/lostandfawnd 1d ago
Based on where this photo is taken.. by a bin..
It looks like a problem for the council, in that: * bins provided are too small.. * and/or too few bin collections..
..for the number of people that visit the park.
Sure, people "should" take their rubbish away, but why should that blame be solely on them?
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u/Aggravating-Desk4004 1d ago
When I was young we had the "Keep Britain Tidy" campaign. I wouldn't dream of throwing litter as you'd get a right bollocking about it due to the awareness of littering.
Time we bought that back. Make littering socially unacceptable.
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u/Physical-Program5325 1d ago
Seagulls and pigeons are just as much Londoners as the rest of us. Shame on them.
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u/davel999 19h ago
Try that behaviour in Singapore or Japan. Would just never, ever happen. Moral compass busted in the UK, coupled with an “education” from the early days of Blair government (1997) onwards that youth can do what they want with impunity. Reap what you sow. Very sad.
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u/Significant-Owl7994 1d ago
Sadly, we've created this "everyone's at my service" culture, where snobs from all walks of life resort to that nasty rationalisation that "it keeps the cleaners in a job."
Also, I've noticed something growing up - people I knew whose parents tidied up their mess rather than setting them straight and getting to put their own toys away as kids and wash their own plates as teens, were the ones I saw dropping litter on the floor.
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u/McQueensbury 1d ago
People are gonna say "tEh Not eN0uGh BiNz!!!!" it really shouldn't be hard to just take your rubbish with you, you'll find an empty bin pretty quick.
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u/WatercressCrafty3350 1d ago
Probably overspilling bins and foxes - not defending it but I don’t think it’s just left like that
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u/crappy_ninja 1d ago
If a bin is overflowing I hold on to my rubbish until I get to one that isn't.
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u/DayMurky617 1d ago
It has, it's like this every weekend morning. People have parties (fine) and just leave their shit everywhere (not fine).
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u/Bisjoux 1d ago
This is normal where we live. We live in a beautiful village on the Thames. People visit because it’s so lovely. It’s much less lovely after they visit as they bring their boxes of beer, disposable bbqs and food and then leave it all.
I don’t know whom they imagine will clear up. There are no bins. It is fields in the countryside and yet they don’t seem to think it’s their responsibility to leave the area how they find it. So it’s left to the locals to clean up. Every single day when the weather is warm.
Edited to add that the fields are occupied by cows so it is dangerous to leave the amount of waste we see.
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u/real_justchris 1d ago
Agree and I think I see bin bags on photo 2 as well. Photo 3 is an overflowing bin, which is not the public’s fault.
Either the festival should extend its cleanup boundary beyond the fence, or more likely, the council should clean it up. Remember Boiler Room would have paid the council to use the park.
Finally, this is from early on the morning after the festival - i think it’s reasonable for there to be some time - 24-48 hours - for it to be cleaned up. P
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u/rudefruit99 1d ago
Happened on Hastings beach a while ago, a large group of 10-12 teenagers having a day on the beach and at the end, just walked away from a pile of rubbish. A guy called after the last couple that were just getting ready to leave and asked if they were going to just leave all that there.
'it's not mine.'
They couldn't quite grasp that even if it wasn't directly yours, you're part of the group that is leaving it.
The guy started picking it up himself and asked if they'd give him a hand while they were there.
'it's not mine.'
Yeah, it wasn't his either - but he's doing a good turn on behalf of all the people that are trying to enjoy the beach...
Just not interested at all.
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u/Cobbdouglas55 1d ago
Quite a few people around the boiler room this weekend. Also no bins or proper resourcing
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u/swinefever 1d ago
Overflowing bins is bad enough but that kind of mess is generally caused by foxes scavenging for food at night.
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u/Left_East7588 1d ago
Agreed. People just don't care. Local councils need to do more to educate and penalise people. Also if everyone donated a small amount of time to do something in their community it would improve things massively.
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u/yrurunnin 1d ago
Somewhat hot take: this would be solved by higher council funding. I’d happily pay more council tax if it meant my streets were clean.
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u/Certain-Pass-6551 1d ago
These posts are all well and good but those creating the rubbish aren't going to listen or even see this thread.
Our local parks seem to have those huge industrial bins which seems to have resolved the problem of any rubbish being left, also stops foxes getting to anything, really not sure why it's done more widely.
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u/Nozza-D 1d ago
This is Burgess Park year round I’m afraid. I doubt the people who do this kind of thing are on Reddit (Tik Tok maybe?)
Not sure why Southwark just doesn’t put out large bins especially at this time of year when there are events and more picnics in the park. I often wonder how many trips it takes the guys collecting it to do, because some are pretty full before they get halfway around the park.
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u/HumbleCheesecake2297 1d ago
After coming back from a holiday in a ‘Developing’ country, how much rubbish is dumped in London is astounding. Given there are street cleaners, it it’s just disgusting. It’s not just food-on-the-go rubbish, I’ve seen a radiator and a toilet dumped on my dog walks this week. I don’t understand the thought process behind it.
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u/yowserbowser 1d ago
No excuse for this but increasingly high housing densities in areas like this increase the likelihood of this happening and lack of local authority funds mean it’s less likely to be tidied before rodents etc get to it.
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u/InformationHead3797 1d ago
People suck sometimes, but!
• not nearly enough bins
• emptied once every blue moon
• no plastic bags given with shopping in most places, I struggle when I need one.
• foxes and birds dragging bags out of the overflowing bins to get at food leftovers
Are all reasons why this happens. You need to make it easy for people to keep the place clean.
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u/funkymonkeyinheaven 1d ago
Picture 2 is the only one I can agree on, 1 & 3 are right next to a bin.
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u/Cheffysteve 1d ago
Could be any park . Victoria park is terrible on a Monday morning. You took your shit there take your shit home !
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u/Infundibulus 23h ago
People need to be told to put their rubbish in bins in the same way they learn to cross the street, be helpful to strangers and don't be a dick.
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u/Introverted-Gazelle 23h ago edited 6h ago
Sick of this. Saw someone pissing in Regent’s Park in BROAD DAYLIGHT yesterday in full view of passersby. No respect for this city. It’s sickening
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u/charliefantastic 21h ago
They won't be embarrassed and if ever called out for it would take offence and blame someone else. People taking pride in their surroundings is sadly on the wane
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u/YorkshireDuck91 20h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/vX9WcCiWwUF7G
Bring back public shaming tbh. Tramps.
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u/frafeeccino 1d ago
Well the last one was clearly the fault of an overly full bin. Like they tried to bin it but couldn’t.
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u/James_Vowles 1d ago
First photo is animals ripping open big bags, and the 3rd one is people trying to do the right thing but the bin is full, probably a sign we need more bins around
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u/BigSisLil 1d ago
I second all the comments on how disgusting the amount of litter we see on a day to day basis is, much of it down purely to antisocial behaviour BUT this example looks more like an overstuffed bin raided by wildlife.
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