There’s little more frustrating than seeing our streets full of litter. It’s anti-social, damaging to the environment and last year cost council tax payers around £700 million to clean up.
Whilst so many of us were enjoying the countless Easter events across Pendle, the Government announced plans to crackdown on litter by giving councils more power to tackle the problem. The maximum on-the-spot fine will go up from £80 to £150 and for the first time, people littering from a car can also be fined.
This welcome move comes a month after the 2018 Great British Spring Clean, which saw over 700 volunteers act as litter pickers across the country. It’s an initiative I'm pleased to support to improve public spaces and educate younger generations about the problems littering and waste cause.
Particular congratulations go to pupils and staff from St Philips in Nelson, who embraced the Great British Spring Clean challenge by collecting more than 20 bags of rubbish from their local area. They showed that volunteering is for young people and can change the environment we live in. Also ‘Pick Up for Pendle’ deserve a mention as a fantastic group of volunteers out every week, helping keep our area tidy.
Much of the litter on our streets is made from plastics, made to be used only once that do not bio-degrade for centuries. Many of us will have seen coverage of the damage this material is doing, especially to our oceans.
There’s so much that will need to change to stop this problem but the first steps are being taken. The introduction of the 5p charge on plastic bags three years ago has seen their use fall by around 90%. The plastic microbeads found in some sanitary products were banned in January and last month, plans for a plastic bottle deposit return scheme were announced. A public consultation on this is running until May.
I am glad that as a country we are working to eliminate plastic waste and tackle littering on our streets too. The government and local councils have the primary responsibility for dealing with this issue, but in truth we all need to take responsibility. In the way we live our lives and care for the local environment.