Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
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It’s rare that I wish people ill, but with much of the world coming out of lockdown there’s one group I’ve been angrily cursing - and at the very least I’d love everyone who’s part of this group to remain in lockdown forever. Many of us, incarcerated for so long, have had time to contemplate the meaning of life and I’d hoped that we’d all have discovered what’s really important, in the big scheme of things. New beginnings for the planet, if you like… What appears to have happened is that being isolated has helped grow what I can only describe as an underclass of humans, who, now finally released, are hell-bent on doing as much damage as they can. Yes. I’m talking about those who are ruining our public places with their litter. The problem’s far worse than it ever was, when I had expected it to be better. And when you consider that some of the culprits will be carrying Coronavirus, it makes their littering so much more than just plain selfish, doesn’t it, since they could make someone ill and even kill them?
Mainstream press has been full of pictures of beaches and other beauty spots – including those in our National Parks – devastated with detritus. This littering has to stop. Local councils and even the police need to get tough on litterbugs. I’ve written in the past about people fined for accidentally dropping money, ice-creams and losing a thread from clothing. Our current problem isn’t accidental; it’s a deliberate act of vandalism; a choice. So why are the authorities making a choice to let the litterbugs away with it? The whole thing beggars belief.
I live near Epsom Downs, home to the world-famous Epsom Derby horse-race. There’s something quite magical about being up on the Downs and encountering a group of riders emerging from the early morning mists. Often you hear the hooves and feel the ground trembling before the spectacle appears before you. I’ve not been up there this year, but a post in a local Facebook group alerted me to the horrors I might find on my next visit.
Steven McCormick created a Facebook Live video out of pure frustration at the amount of litter he encountered. He also appealed to neighbours to become volunteer litter pickers to help with the “huge problem". Apparently, there’s work for them every day: https://www.facebook.com
I have to ask… Is it just Brits who do think it’s OK to litter?
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Yours,
4th June 2020