If you are concerned by the amount of litter you see, whether it is in parks, town centres, on roadsides or on beaches, please do give your views to the government by filling in this consultation:
https://consult.defra.gov.uk/environmental-quality/consultation-on-proposals-to-ban-commonly-littered/
We know there is no quick fix to the litter problem but the highly-successful plastic bag charge has led to a huge reduction in plastic bag littering.
A story in The Times yesterday highlighted that one beach litter-pick project run by the Marine Conservation Society found that 13 bags/100m stretch of beach in 2013 had reduced to just 3 bags/100m stretch this year – the charge was introduced in 2015. Similarly, since Scotland banned plastic cotton bud sticks in 2019 and England did in 2020, instances of these per 100m have reduced from 15 to 6. So government interventions can have a really significant impact.
Don’t miss this opportunity to have your say and make sure our roads, towns, rivers and beaches are included in the current rhetoric about protecting the environment.
