Get Behind Essex - Pick Up Litter and Bin It!

Published on 3 August 2010

Epping Forest District Council is getting behind Keep Britain Tidy’s campaign to clean up England’s streets and save the country three/four billion pounds a year.

Nationally, every year it costs in the region of £858 million to pick up litter that doesn’t make it into a bin. That’s £2.3 million a day, 365 days a year and some of that money could be used for services for the people of Epping Forest. Instead it is being used for discarded cigarette butts and fast food wrappers! Keep Britain Tidy’s latest campaign is calling on people to get behind its rallying cry to clean up England’s streets.

The charity’s message is that, in these days of tough spending choices, the fact that we have to spend £858 million on cleaning up litter is a national disgrace - and the solution lies in our own hands.

Keep Britain Tidy’s chief executive Phil Barton said: “At a time when government is having to make very difficult choices about spending, it is ridiculous that councils have to devote a significant amount of their budgets to cleaning up their residents’ litter. “If everyone would just put their litter in a bin, instead of mindlessly dropping it on the floor, we could save millions of pounds a year - and that money could be used to fund vital services for the whole community”.

“It is time for the silent majority to stand up and say “enough is enough”, get behind Keep Britain Tidy and Epping Forest District Council and show those who think it is okay to throw their rubbish on the ground - at a cost to the country of £858 million a year - that there is a better way.”

Backing Keep Britain Tidy’s rallying call, Environment Portfolio Holder Councillor Mary Sartin said: “Litter can refer to anything from a small crisp packet or sweet wrapper to large bags of rubbish or even an area where several items of rubbish have collected. Often people do not consider small items such as gum or even cigarette butts to be litter but these small pieces of rubbish make up much of the litter on our streets. All litter is unsightly and can make our local areas look untidy and uncared for. Food litter attracts rats and litter as a whole denigrates our local areas. With your help we can tackle the litter problem and make our streets and District cleaner I am backing the campaign to ask our residents and visitors to the area to stop littering. Together we can tackle litter.”

The Council’s Environment & Neighbourhoods Officers will also be on the look out for any offenders who drop litter. It is an offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, with fines up to £2,500 to drop litter. The Officers will also deal with litter problems that can clearly be traced to certain types of businesses, such as “food on the go” establishments, mobile vendors or market stalls.

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