Madam, – It might be said that with many other more immediate problems facing us, a preoccupation with litter should come low on the list of priorities that need addressing.
This is not the case. Our attitude to our environment bespeaks our attitudes to the other issues that need to be solved. If we, as a people, cannot be trusted to cherish our surroundings, we cannot claim to value anything that influences our lives. Indeed, the thoughtlessness that allows us to discard our detritus from our cars is indicative of the mindset that has our nation in its current mess.
As for the littering itself, I believe that there are two kinds at work. The thoughtless type, which results in most of the visible stuff along the road verges; and the infinitely worse variation that fills the ditches and drains of minor roads with a bewildering array of everything that humans dispose of.
What amazes me are the lengths to which those responsible for the latter are prepared to go. A huge amount of planning must go into the careful exclusion of material containing identification details of the dumpers. This includes removing manufacturers’ name and number plates so that the fridges, cookers, and television sets deposited illegally cannot be traced back to the original purchasers. Add to this the transport of the materials to the usually remote places favoured by the miscreants, the bulk of many of the items, and the need for the involvement of several people to execute the activity, and it is obvious that there must be a commercial imperative to the scandal.
With the escalating costs to our increasingly cash-strapped county councils of cleaning up the mess, surely it would make economic sense to provide 24-hour patrols of likely dumping blackspots to deter the culprits, along with mandatory heavy fines, plus participation in compulsory community service “clean-up” squads for those involved.
A scheme of rewards for tip-offs from the public would also bear fruit, just as the social welfare fraud system seems to be doing. – Yours, etc,