People and littering. WTF is wrong with them?

Cosmicfox · 26-05-2013 06:27PM

A person I know does it all the time, tossing stuff out the window or just casually dropping it at her arse and when I asked her why she laughed and said it's ok to litter because it provides cleaners with a job.

CrazyRabbit · 26-05-2013 06:32PM

I've been hit by cigarette butts and a bottle which were tossed out driver side car windows. Not pleasant since I was driving a bike at the time.

But, the absolute worst I've seen was last July/August on Frederick Street in Dublin. Two slags pushing their babies along in buggies, and one of them stopped to changed the babies nappy in plain view of everyone passing by. When finished, they left the open & very dirty nappy on the ground along with a bottle of empty coke. There was a bin not too far away. I got an earful after asking them to use the bin. Absolute scum.

krazyklown · 26-05-2013 06:48PM

I think its shameful how littering is such a big problem in Ireland. Its so disheartening that people are so lazy and ignorant that they expect someone else should clean up their mess.

Last night I was picking up a group of friends and a taxi man waiting at the rank just fired his empty coffee cup out the window onto the street. It made me think about how best to tackle this problem. The most effective deterrent would obviously be the application of littering fines and it got me wondering would a scheme work whereby someone who records and reports a person littering could get a percentage of the fine. For example, if i set up a camera and record someone dumping and pass on the footage to the litter warden and a fine is successfully applied then i would get maybe 10% of the fine. It would give an incentive to people to become more vigilant and become proactive in eradicating the problem. With the availability of cctv and wireless cameras and phones there probably is a certain amount of littering/dumping being recorded already but no incentive for people to action on it.

Teagwee · 26-05-2013 06:54PM

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

I live in Sandycove and it doesn't surprise me too much, particularly with the dog sh!te. Bins are fairly sparse along the seafront and those that are there just aren't emptied nearly often enough, most of them are practically always overflowing. There are a couple of solar compactors up near the Baths but in fairness I can understand why a lot of people at the other end of the green wouldn't be arsed walking that far to bin something because all the bins down that end have been full for 3 days and not emptied... Surely it costs the council the same amount in waste disposals that all their street cleaners have to do every morning so why the f*ck can't they just get their bins emptied more often or put in more of them?

There are a lot of isolated/rural/beach areas around the country that have no bins or cleaners and I wonder what the people who dump there think will happen to their rubbish after they've enjoyed a picnic or a walk? If everybody did as they did, no one would be able to enjoy these areas.

I've seen neatly wrapped dirty nappies, carefully packed bags of packaging and the 'strewn around' variety too on some of our most beautiful beaches - in all the little niches where people like to set themselves up for a day. Who do people think is going to go around every night and pick this stuff up so that someone else can enjoy the location on another day???

Why is it beyond contemplation to abide by the motto, If you took it with you, take it home! And that includes the dog-doo ...

AlekSmart · 26-05-2013 07:06PM

Cosmicfox wrote: »

A person I know does it all the time, tossing stuff out the window or just casually dropping it at her arse and when I asked her why she laughed and said it's ok to litter because it provides cleaners with a job.

Oh dear,I can see her point,however my experience tells a different tale...

One end of my route had for as long as I can recall a DCC Litter Bin at the terminus.

It was well used,by Bus passengers getting on/off,by drivers doing a clear-out,and it has to be said,by local deprived and misunderstood yoots wishing to set stuff ablaze....repeatedly :mad: then,of course those adult locals not wishing to purchase bin-tags ...:rolleyes:

Some 6 months ago,at the terminus I came upon a little group of DCC staff busy with angle-grinders and the likes.

I assumed that they were replacing the Bin with a larger one,or adding an extra one to cater for the usage.....but alas,I was informed that the DCC Cleaner whose route the bin was on had raised merry hell due to the overuse of the bin....the wrong kind of rubbish,if you like.

After an inspection by the Local Overseer,it was deemed appropriate to remove the bin in question.

So,in modern Irish mythology,there can indeed by such a thing as an Over-Used Litter Bin.

I suppose it goes some way towards explaining why I come across so many befuddled Germans these days...:o

Mince Pie · 26-05-2013 08:06PM

When I lived in the UK there were dog poo bins strategically scattered around a village where I lived. There was the odd person who didn't pick up but it was minimal compared to what I have found since moving back home. I am a dog owner myself and always make sure I pick up the poo but I find that when I eventually find a bin to dispose of it, it can tend to be overflowing and its not always convenient to take it home. As in, if I have driven somewhere nice like the beach for a day out. ( that's not to say I would ever dream of leaving it behind)
Another thing that has baffled me, bins are part of what you pay your council tax for in the UK and also the street cleaners.
I have been rather gobsmacked by the amount of tipping since I got home. There is a field beside where I live where I run my hound from time to time but it has all kinds of things just chucked over the walls from the estate on the other side. Anything from tyres, clothes airers, toilet seats, bikes to general waste.
I found someone had filled one of my own bins that I pay for with a black bin liner. It just takes the piss.

But I think when people are struggling with money and times are hard and you're trying to put food on the table I guess paying for a waste collection takes a hike.
I seriously think its a governmental issue. Its something I find upsetting seeing our lovely countryside just riddled like a tipp and getting people to pay for it is obviously not the answer judging by the attitudes shown with litter and more.

teacosy · 26-05-2013 09:22PM

I live about 300 m from a couple of newsagent type shops on a busy enough residential road. i generally pick up the few bits in front of my own house and the neighbours - not systematically, just whenever i can /whenever it needs to be done.

The litter further up nearer the shops has really gotten to me recently, so I've decided at the risk of looking like a bit of a nutter, to start picking up there too. I've done it a couple of times, and felt a bit self conscious, but fu*k it - i'm sick of whining about it when i walk back after buying milk in the shops.

So if the theory that "litter begets litter" is true, maybe i won't have any work left in a couple of months.

irish bloke · 26-05-2013 09:30PM

The worst I see for this are travellers.

They don't give a **** or even try to hide it which I find infuriating...

suicide_circus · 26-05-2013 09:40PM

people who litter are usually the same ones who deposit big phlemy gobs of snotty spit on public path ways. my favorite is walking on a beach in the evening after a sunny day and having to step over sh!te filled nappys. fooking dirtbirds.

kingtut · 27-05-2013 01:49PM

Those people are just as scummy as the people who go to the cinema and leave their rubbish behind! They provide bins for a reason !!

Yes the staff are there to help keep the place clean but that doesn't mean you have a right to be a dirty pig ! :mad:

Aglomerado · 27-05-2013 02:06PM

I've worked in a place where someone was bringing in in used nappies and stuffing them in the sanitary bins in the ladies' toilets. The contract cleaning firm who emptied them complained because it was causing havoc with their equipment. Some people are utter scum!

I also hate the deitritus that's seen in the early mornings outside fast food outlets. Bins are provided, but these mingers just feck their crap everywhere. Drunkenness should not be an excuse!

du Maurier · 27-05-2013 02:23PM

Ardent wrote: »

You wanna see Dublin 8 and The Coombe. The streets are full of rubbish blowing in the wind.

Sums up Dublin for me - a flithy city full of knackers.

I can second this tbh. There's a particular catchment area nearby where it accumulates. They don't give a f**k. As for your latter sentiment I'm beginning to actually see this - I felt I might be generalising, but it's very apparent and depressing. I find it difficult to refute an escalating abundance of these types.

I carried a watermelon · 27-05-2013 02:23PM

I live in north Dublin & a couple of years ago we had really nice weather over a bank holiday weekend. The town & beaches were packed. A lot of day-trippers etc.
Anyway the beach was left in a mess. Disposable BBQ's, crappy nappies, bags full of half eaten food, glass bottles just dumped on the grass, beer cans, it was absolutely disgusting. The are plenty of bins along the beach but some people were so bloody lazy they couldn't even pick up their rubbish and put it in the bin less than 10 metres away.
Also last year one of my daughters who was 2 at the time nearly stepped on a broken glass bottle that some fookin gobsh*ite left sticking up out of the soft sand.

NothingMan · 27-05-2013 02:27PM

kingtut wrote: »

Yes the staff are there to help keep the place clean but that doesn't mean you have a right to be a dirty pig ! :mad:

Honestly I leave my empty popcorn box and cup in the theatre when I leave. There may be bins in the common area but if even a fraction of the people in the theatre brought out their rubbish they'd be full in seconds and then what? My thought has always been the staff need to go in with the black sacks because they can then be disposed of more easily for everyone involved.

I do agree with all that's been said here, especially the cigarette butts. I know people who would be of the same mind about littering in general as people here that don't hesitate to throw a butt on the ground. It really is mind boggling and disgusting.

However, we have come a long way from when I was a kid say 20 odd years ago. Back then no one hesitated to toss a crisp packet or empty can and my area was riddled in litter. I really feel it is now the exception and not the norm and as far as people saying Dublin is just filthy that's just wrong. We may not be as tidy as some European cities but we are, for the most part, pretty good at cleaning up after ourselves these days despite the spots that let the side down.

wandatowell · 27-05-2013 02:27PM

People over filling the Tesco trolley bays so much so that cars cant pass really pushes my buttons.

Also the fact that the manager of the shop isnt on the ball and allows that to happen is annoying too

NothingMan · 27-05-2013 02:37PM

wandatowell wrote: »

People over filling the Tesco trolley bays so much so that cars cant pass really pushes my buttons.

Also the fact that the manager of the shop isnt on the ball and allows that to happen is annoying too

Unless the trolley is on a green belt or in a river it's not really littering though...

IK09 · 27-05-2013 02:40PM

The new "bin it your way" ads make me wanna litter

hoodwinked · 27-05-2013 02:45PM

i once had an old woman come up to me and berate me for littering in the city center, i thought she was crazy tbh as i would never intentionally do such a thing, she told me to follow her back to the piece of paper i dropped and she'd prove it, turned out a €50 note fell out of my back pocket unbeknownst to me... :pac:

Vudgie · 27-05-2013 03:10PM

The fly-tipping issue is getting out of control in my view.

My local refuse centre will take the majority of the non-food waste you see thrown on roads, ditches, over fences near housing etc for free so in some cases it is just pure laziness.

2Mad2BeMad · 27-05-2013 03:17PM

funny thing is
for everyone complaining
you all have littered at least once in your life :L so were all going to hell and were all scumbags

Aced_Up · 27-05-2013 06:17PM

2Mad2BeMad wrote: »

funny thing is
for everyone complaining
you all have littered at least once in your life :L so were all going to hell and were all scumbags

As a child yes.

But, Fearing any sensible response to your comment, which clearly demonstrates an ounce of responsibility, will be wasted. So I won't go any further.

wandatowell · 27-05-2013 08:48PM

NothingMan wrote: »

Unless the trolley is on a green belt or in a river it's not really littering though...

Ya it aint littering but it shows peoples careless disregard for other people and their surroundings

Coll1e · 27-05-2013 08:55PM

I recently saw a young lad drop an ice-cream wrapper on the floor of a shop in Clondalkin. Realising a few people noticed this, his mother clattered him on the side of the head saying what have I told you about dropping litter. She then picked it up, walked to the door of the shop and threw it onto the street.

the groutch · 27-05-2013 09:08PM

smokers seem to be a law unto themselves with littering, especially at bus stops. :mad:

SHOVELLER · 27-05-2013 09:31PM

Like anything in this country if there is no enforcement nothing will change.

The Minister for Environment needs to come out and enforce a no tolerance to litter approach. More litter wardens, on the spot fines, better education etc.

I cant remember but are kids taught not to litter in schools?

I have no respect for anybody who litters. These people are like beggars. A scourge.

123 LC · 27-05-2013 10:20PM

i was driving today and the people in the car in front of me threw all their mcdonalds out of their window, if i was a bit closer it would've hit the car...i didn't think people still threw stuff out the window of cars..

wolfpawnat · 27-05-2013 10:29PM

It amazes me how many people assume only the "normal" scumbags litter, not on here, but in general. I live near Ballybrack, yes littering is horrible there, I think part of it is due to lack of bins. A lot of the litter is dog dirt, which is disgusting with so many kids and buggies going through the area. But if you go over the hill to Killiney, same problem. Litter everywhere as well as dog dirt. The only difference is the income of those littering. The attitude of some people in Killiney seems to be that it is beneath them to clean up after their animals, yet they would be seen by many as those we should strive to be like in society.

I am sick of going for walks and seeing bags of rubbish in the hedgerows. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than if some a-hole left some proof of themselves in the bag and to report it! I have seen two cars before when walking where the driver was at the boot and about to take something out, then saw me and jumped back in and drove off. You can tell from the guilty faces they were about to dump, they go to the same few spots, and always higher end cars. Never some fella with a Fiat Punto!

Nailz · 27-05-2013 10:30PM

You should go to Mainland China sometime, disgusting little feckers.

Thwip! · 27-05-2013 11:41PM

Got to any place that has a Lottery Ticket Checker, people just crumpling the losing slips up and leaving them at the checker, in plain view of staff and other customers

conorhal · 28-05-2013 01:58PM

Half of the problem is the county councils. The have made the cost of a basic requirement, waste disposal, outragously expensive. Then they percieved that there was a problem with people placing household waste into public bins on the street, their answer to this of course was, reduce the number of bins on the streets. This genius move caused littering to soar and created the aditional expense of increeced street cleaning, why they don't just put more bins on the street I can't understand, it costs more to clean up litter and fly tipping then it does to empty bins. I notice that in most European capitals there are vastly more bins on public roads then there are here, and unsurprisingly, their streets are cleaner.

People and littering. WTF is wrong with them?

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