Simple Ideas for Councils to Reduce Litter
We as residents have a responsibility not to drop litter. But councils also have to come up with innovative ways to deter people dropping litter. And once it is dropped, they have legal power to serve Litter Abatement Orders on private land, for those who don’t clear it up.
No matter who dropped it, it’s the council’s responsibility to clear litter. You can report eyesores (with photos) to Fix My Street. These public reports are sent to councils, and tend to get sorted pretty quickly, if lots of people complain.
Obviously, dead animals are not ‘litter’. But it’s important to report dead animals to councils for removal. This prevents disease and road scavenging. And gives some closure to people who have lost pets.
Ideas for Councils to Reduce Litter
- Ban balloons & fire lanterns. The former causes belly ulcers in cattle, has choked at least one horse to death and when they land in the sea, kill sea turtles (who think they are jellyfish). Fire lanterns cause litter and fires (animals in a German zoo recently died, when one fell in an enclosure).
- The Gumdrop Bin offers bright pink receptacles to drop used gum (ideal for schools and streets – it’s then sent off to be recycled into industrial goods). Removing gum litter keeps dogs safe, as most gum is sweetened with pet-toxic xylitol sweetener.
- Install textile recycling banks. Synthetic fibres don’t biodegrade. Don’t send these items to Africa – people there are fed up of receiving paint-stained overalls and ‘dead white man’s clothing’.
- Install battery-recycling and cork-recycling banks in your town. There are millions of both (choking hazards) so this makes it easy to get rid of them.
Be a Drop-Off Point for Terracycle.
A few are free (sponsored by industry) but most Terracycle boxes are £100 to £200, the cost pooled by local people, offices or councils. These create one-off amnesties to get rid of hard-to-recycle rubbish in your town (from homes, offices or community clean-ups).
There are boxes to recycle everything: pens, dental waste, contact lenses, cigarette waste, bread packets, hair salon waste, safety equipment, office supplies, art waste, baby items, sports equipment, media waste, PPE, glue sticks, hotel waste, gardening waste, holiday decoration, pet food packaging, medicines, shoes, mobile phone accessories and fitness equipment.
Gradually the amount of waste sent off should reduce, to perhaps having just one all-in-one zero waste box.
Better Bins (and emptied more often!)
Wheelie bins are bulky, difficult to move, fall over in windy weather and designed to use with black bin bags (which can’t be recycled, as machines don’t recognise the colour).
- Moonie Reusable Bin Liners are a good option for ‘dry waste’ (you can’t wash them, as this would release microplastics). But they have seamless bottoms and are easy to empty into refuse trucks, and use again.
- Squosh is a service that can compact bin waste by 50%, to reduce emptying costs.
- Another option is solar bins, which use a panel to compact waste, with optional animal latches (to stop gulls and foxes pulling out the contents, which also helps prevent them getting trapped).
‘Gull-proof sacks’ have not fared well in council trials. If not taken back inside immediately after emptying, they fill up with wind and could blow away. And keeping bins inside the house until collection day, has hygiene issues.
Promote biodegradable white bin bags for household trash (empty frequently, due to liquids). Educate your residents that empty aerosols and plastic bottles can be recycled (and to pop ring-pulls back over cans to stop wildlife getting trapped). But half-empty bottles and cans need to go to toxic waste – what if locals don’t have cars? Think of some solution.
