Pinched from the Guardian - Green and pleasant land?

• Tax on shopping bags.
  - Fine for companies whose 'logoed' litter is discarded (typically McDonalds - get them to pay for the clear up of their dirty clientel).
  
  Of course he ignores one of the major culprits of litter; the Govt. Since the introduction of fortnightly bin collections by LAs and Land Fill Tax, both aimed at reducing land fill, fly tipping has gone through the roof!

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<hr>both aimed at reducing land fill, fly tipping has gone through the roof! <hr></blockquote>

Thats what you get for living underground.

I still have a weekly bin collection but being single & a recycler only need to have garbage removed every 6 weeks or so - what a good boy, eh?

Couple of points though, fast food outlets should be forced to provide bins in the surrounding area. Many years ago I worked on an industrial estate where provisions were few and far between, however, a McD's opened nearby about 5 years after my start and the litter rate rose considerably. Being a simplistic bugger I can never understand why people cannot just carry this stuff until they do pass a bin - it doesn't actually weight much. Yet having said that the industrial estate in question was next to a "bad area", heaven forbid I would ever use the phrase council or sink estate to describe the place. (I'll brace myself for the replies on this one).

There is also the quantity of wrapping also - which now seemes excessive in and on everything.

Next point is the volume of cars now parked on the roads, street cleaning vehicles which could once sweep away at the curbside now cannot do so as most parking spaces in my town are occupied seemingly 24-7. Only takes a gust of wind to blow all that litter onto the pavements.

When the litter is on the path I've watched council workers use industrial-type vacuum cleaners to suck up litter. If the do not have on of those they use those elongated tongs - this is the sticking point though, I have never seen them push a brush & then shovel up litter for years.

Perhaps with regard to litter, the expectation of paying a fortune in council tax is that people should demand a better service in this and other areas and people are loathe to do it themselves - if your council is like mine such actions would see them remove the street cleaners from your area. That said I'm in my early 40's and can still remember people cleaning their doorsteps & brushing the pavements outside of their homes in the mornings.

And last but not least, too many people nowadays have a me, me, me attitude without much regard for the properties and feelings of others. Please do not get me started on the shitbags on public transport playing tinny electro-pop music at full tilt....grrrrr.....

OP - The plastic bag tax in Ireland is 15c and increasing to 22c in July. Whenever I have been to the UK and refused a plastic bag the shop assistant has looked at me as if I were crazy. I don't think that such a thing would work in the UK as the people there seem to think taxes contravene their human rights.

Is it that much now? Have to admit that it's over four years since I lived in Dublin so things are a little hazy now.

#4. Brodie Bruce, did the comedian not harrangue the bugger - preferably with a chair across the back of the head?

Oh yes indeed, the comedian did have quite a bit to say - even went as far as suggesting the people sitting near the culprit give him a good kicking ("in the name of theatre rather than mindless violence").

Walking home from the station every night is so depressing as the litter from lazy people, shops and market stalls is spread across the pavement, supposedly to be collected that night but it is often still there in the morning, if it is windy the debris gets spread everywhere. Just to top things off the local fly-tipping spot is near the back entrance to my flat, totally blocking the alleyway this weekend with the contents of someones house.

Its not just the poor 'sink' areas where this is a problem. I am talking about Northcote Road, the posh bit of Battersea! Ironically people here pride themselves on their 'green-ness'.

Rubbish rubbish everywhere!! The situation is getting worse, the real bug bear for me is dog mess, I have owned a dog nearly all my life, at the age of eight I was allowed to walk my first dog on my own, mum gave me a couple of bags as we left the house, you're old enough to walk her, you're old enough to clear up after her I was told. So four dogs later I'm still doing it!! By the way if I'm out with any of my kids they always pass sweet wrappers etc. to me to put in MY pocket if there are no bins. That always makes me feel proud.(they are 20, 15, 11)Bloody mummys boys!