Litter Dilemma

Drax

Yesterday I was walking through the local park for lunch when a bunch of school lads (about 10 of them) approached me. Most of them were munching through sambos etc. Just as I came up to them, one of them dropped their sandwich wrapper as if it was nothing. As I felt my blood begin to boil, I contemplated saying something to the young scoby to the effect of 'pick up that wrapper or you'll be eating tarmac', followed by the images of me lying on the ground having the bejasus kicked out of me. I let it slide, but spent the rest of my lunch feeling like complete wuss. Being a former student of an all-boys secondary school, I have witnessed the pack-animal instinct that can sometimes happen!
What would you have done???

Now where's my litter warden fancy dress costume...

NextSteps

Given them a filthy look, staring meaningfully at the wrapper.

(only probably not so filthy that it couldn't be denied if necessary!)

Mossy Monk

you should have shaked your fist in an angry fashion

trout

Drax wrote:

What would you have done??? Now where's my litter warden fancy dress costume...

I leave very near St. Anne's park in Raheny ... you'd see this quite often... and it does boil your blood

what i do is pick up the wrapper, hand it to the offending lad (and it's almost always a lad) and politely say "excuse me, you seem to have dropped this"

typically you get a sheepish grin and the wolf pack mentality focuses on them instead of me

on rare occasions, you'd get a few muttered profanities from a safe distance

course, if i wasn't 6 ft 3, and accompanied by a german shepherd, i might take a more prudent approach :cool:

layke

Camera Phone + garda station.

Fine issued.

Smug look for you!

HelterSkelter

layke wrote:

Camera Phone + garda station.

Fine issued.

Smug look for you!

And people complain that the Guards don't come out quick enough when their car is being stolen, someone being beaten up in the street. It's because of time wasters like this.

The Sweeper

If I were going the camera phone approach, I'd do camera phone + their school principal. I remember ours used to go loopy if any of us were caught doing anything untoward while wearing our school uniforms.

kevmy

Probably should have told him to pick it up and started shouting at him and acting like one of those crazies. It's a very effective way of getting them to do what you want.

By the way were there litter bins nearby? I know you should take it with etc. etc. but I know that when I walk home from town (Galway) there is a ~20 min walk where there are no bins unless you want to go out of your way. It's a real pain in the hole. A couple of bins along the way wouldn't exactly break the council but they just won't put them in.

r3nu4l

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

If I were going the camera phone approach, I'd do camera phone + their school principal. I remember ours used to go loopy if any of us were caught doing anything untoward while wearing our school uniforms.

QFT! We would get endless monologues over the PA system about 'disgracing the uniform' (never realised I'd joined the army!) if any of us were caught dropping litter, fighting, having fun* while wearing our uniform.

*well that's the way it seemed to me anyway

irlirishkev

Drax wrote:

Yesterday I was walking through the local park for lunch when a bunch of school lads (about 10 of them) approached me. Most of them were munching through sambos etc. Just as I came up to them, one of them dropped their sandwich wrapper as if it was nothing. As I felt my blood begin to boil, I contemplated saying something to the young scoby to the effect of 'pick up that wrapper or you'll be eating tarmac', followed by the images of me lying on the ground having the bejasus kicked out of me. I let it slide, but spent the rest of my lunch feeling like complete wuss. Being a former student of an all-boys secondary school, I have witnessed the pack-animal instinct that can sometimes happen!
What would you have done???

Now where's my litter warden fancy dress costume...

It's gross, but you really have to be careful what you say to some people. Like you say, they all could have jumped on you. Probably wouldn't have, but it's possible.

I see it all the time. The most common one is the cellophane and silver wrapping on cigarette packets. They're riipped off, dropped on the ground, and the wind blows them away... Makes me very angry. But generally, the kind of people who litter, are the kind of people you don't want to start giving out to..

Package

you cant save the world man,, get over it, go and have a talk with sting!

biko

If there's a bin nearby you can say "You lost something but don't worry, I'll get that for you", pick it up and put it in the bin. Then give him a look like you feel sorry for him being a bit simple.

User45701

well its only litter and if noone whatsoever littered there would be quite allot of people without jobs regardless of how dirty it looks it is allot of peoples lively hoods.

Its only rubbish so i would not get physical over it but if i was relay pissed off and was in the mood i would correct them over there littering to see if they initiate a physical confrontation and if they do then they deserve whatever they get, however you never mentioned what age they where or what age you are so i cant relay judge theres or yours combat effectiveness

DublinWriter

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

If I were going the camera phone approach, I'd do camera phone + their school principal.

Dude...I think you'd be the one ending up in trouble if you were caught secretly videoing school kids!

senordingdong

Should have thrown a brick at him.
From the distance.

Exit

Putting more litter bins in doesn't necessarily make these people follow the rules. I know I've seen a dude standing right beside a bin at a bus stop, and when he finished his bottle of coke, he just dumped it on the ground.

The Sweeper

DublinWriter wrote:

Dude...I think you'd be the one ending up in trouble if you were caught secretly videoing school kids!

Saddest part of all of this? I probably wouldn't get in trouble, coz I'm a gurl. The OP, however...

Smellyirishman

User45701 wrote:

well its only litter and if noone whatsoever littered there would be quite allot of people without jobs regardless of how dirty it looks it is allot of peoples lively hoods.

I am desperately searching for the sarcasm, but I just can't find it. How dis-heartening. (Perhaps it is implied by the stupidity of the remark)

Perhaps that's also why people should continue to stab and shoot people, so prison wardens can keep their job?

DublinWriter

User45701 wrote:

well its only litter and if noone whatsoever littered there would be quite allot of people without jobs regardless of how dirty it looks it is allot of peoples lively hoods.

I really don't know what's worse, the litter you obviously drop or the litter spewing out of your mouth.

Have a little bit of pride about yourself, your community and the country in which you live.

Your attitude speaks volumes. Filthy is as filthy does.

DublinWriter

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

Saddest part of all of this? I probably wouldn't get in trouble, coz I'm a gurl. The OP, however...

Oh, wanna bet? Your feminist sisters fought long and hard for you to be tried on the same basis as your male counterparts!

Equal oppertunities for all, I say!

Black Swan

No win situation?

phantom_lord

Blue_Lagoon wrote:

No win situation?

pretty much,

Seth Brundle

User45701 wrote:

<tripe snipped!>

I read another of your posts earlier and thought you were a bit dim. This just confirms it!

crosstownk

I live right next door to an all boys, private, secondary school and the amount of litter thats dropped is incredible. I'd know the school term was on by looking at the litter. I've (nicely) said it to lads who stand and smoke and throw drinks cartons, cigarette boxes, butts, half eaten breakfast rolls, etc, etc into my garden and on the footpath outside. I even pointed out thaat my wheelie bin is less than 5m away but still they drop litter on the ground. I approached the principal who promised to sort it out, but I've noticed no change.

What I do know is that i was a schoolboy quite a few years ago and I probably did the same and paid no heed to what any adult had to offer. Thats the way some young lads are. So now I just clean up the litter myself and make the odd token phone call to the principal - just to let him know that nothing he has tried has worked.

DublinWriter

crosstownk wrote:

I live right next door to an all boys, private, secondary school and the amount of litter thats dropped is incredible.

I'm old enough to remember the term 'Dirty Dublin'.

The litter situation in Dublin in the 70's/early 80's was appalling. There was rubbish strewn around everywhere. If you ever see the Billy Connoly film 'Big Bannana Feet' watch for the scene where he's being interviewed walking down O'Connell St for an idea of what Dublin was like during that period.

In 1981 Dublin Corporation started a big-inituative with primary schools that involved promotional films (yes, films!), a school litter warden sceheme and lots of other stuff. I think anyone of my generation who went to school around the same time were completely brainwashed by that promotion from an early age never to drop litter.

Why can't they do the same in schools now?

Drax

kevmy wrote:

By the way were there litter bins nearby?

Good point kevmy, but there are no bins in the park. To be honest bins or not, this 'hard man' would still have done it. He couldnt have been seen to be a wuss now in front of all his mates by putting the wrapper in his pocket :rolleyes:

Package wrote:

you cant save the world man,, get over it, go and have a talk with sting!

User45701 wrote:

well its only litter and if noone whatsoever littered there would be quite allot of people without jobs regardless of how dirty it looks it is allot of peoples lively hoods.

Quite possibly one of the most ridiculous comments I've read on boards.... Are you a litterbug or something?

User45701

kbannon wrote:

I read another of your posts earlier and thought you were a bit dim. This just confirms it!

Drax wrote:

Quite possibly one of the most ridiculous comments I've read on boards.... Are you a litterbug or something?

No
I was posting in this thread and then it occurred to me how many people are actually employed in ireland cleaning up litter so id thought id post about it.
Does anyone know how many people would be employed cleaning up litter?

Pythia

Same kind of thing happened to me and my mum. We were walking down Grafton St and a girl who was about 15 dropped a glass bottle on the ground and it smashed into a few pieces. My mum told her she should pick it up in case the glass hurt someone. She told my mum to eff off and it was none of her business.

Flukey

If I see litter near a bin, I'd often put it in. It would be nice if everyone put their litter in the bin, but there is no reason why we can't put the litter we see in the bin at times, even if we don't know who dropped it there. We all can do our bit.